Overall for the Olympics?
7:33am Monday 10th October 2011 in Athletics By Pat Calnan
Scott Overall
Scott Overall made an outstanding debut over the Marathon distance as he finished 5th in Berlin in 2.10.55. The Blackheath & Bromley athlete’s time is the quickest by a Briton this year, over three and a half minutes quicker than anyone else. It is well inside the Olympic Games A standard of 2.12.
It is the equal 24th fastest time ever by a Briton and the 4th fastest this Century. Club member Mark Steinle is the quickest with 2.09.17 and he commented “Awesome run by Scott, would be nice to see the club record go in the Olympics”.
Scott himself said “I couldn’t believe it when I crossed the line. When I got to 40k thought I had got the time wrong, so I was cruising on the home straight. I thought I’d lost it.
It was only when I saw the clock at the end that I thought, ‘Blimey I’m going to run 2:10 here’.
I always came here to run the Olympic qualifying time and after going through halfway in 65:17 I just kept pushing and pushing. I was on my own from halfway and if I had had a pacer I may have gone quicker.
All in all, not a bad debut. I’ve run the Olympic qualifying time but I haven’t been selected yet.”
He is certainly now in with a chance of an Olympic place but will have to wait on the selectors. They meet on the 5th of December and 23rd of April 2012.
Scott is not the only athlete from the Club who has been in action abroad recently. Montell Douglas won the 100 metres at the Kamile Skolimowska Memorial meeting in Warsaw, Poland. The British record holder, who herself will be seeking Olympic selection in 2012, timed 11.52 for victory with the famous Merlene Ottey in 4th.
A few days earlier Montell competed in the Decanation in Nice, France where she was third in the 100 metres in 11.69. Also here were middle distance runners Shavaun Henry and Ben Harding. Shavaun was 8th in the 3000 metres steeplechase in 11.46.92 while Ben competed for an England team in a rarely run 4x1500 metres race. The French team were well clear of the field but Ben was involved in a cat and mouse last leg with the teams from Germany and Poland. He brought the team home in third place in 15.39.59, his own leg being 3.58, a decent run considering he received a late call up and had not been able to train specifically for the event.
He was back competing last weekend at the South Of England Road Relays at Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot to help the Senior Men finish in 16th place. This means they have qualified for the National 6 Stage Road Relays which take place at Sutton Coldfield on the 15th of October.
Ben ran the opening leg and timed 20.24. Michael Skinner is just returning to training and racing but he ran 18.26 on the second leg moving up 28 places in the process. His time was the equal 19th fastest time of the day. Alex Gibbins (19.50), Andy Rayner (19.30), Jack Swallow (20.46) and Colin Norris (19.41) completed the team. The B team of Jamie Darling (19.57), Will Mercer (21.20), James Donaldson (22.52), David McKinley (20.32), Richard Hall (21.38) and Richard Daniel (22.55) finished in 48th.
The Senior Womens team finished in 11th place. Elaine Murty brought them home in 10th on leg one in 13.27 and this proved to be the equal 18th fastest time of the day. Clare Parkin slipped a couple of places on leg 2 with 14.55 and Mel Kane stayed in the same position on leg three with 15.19. Joint team captain Jennie Butler moved them up to 11th on the last leg with 14.55.
There were some mixed results in the younger age groups. The Club had no one in the under 17 mens race and Amber Reed was the sole representative in the womens race completing the first leg in 11.51.
The under 15 boys team of Richard Webb (10.47), Josh Dowling (11.28), Thomas Desborough (11.37) and Will Fuller (10.42) finished in 24th place. Anthony Caballero (12.12), Kieran Turner (13.38) and Jonathan Court (13.10) formed three quarters of an incomplete B team.
The girls finished in a useful 26th place courtesy of Lucy Sidey (11.57), Leah Everson (12.26) and Niamh Bridson Hubbard (12.10).
Best placed team of the day was the under 13 girls. Naomi Kingston finished 2nd on the first leg and her time of 8.20 proved to be the 5th quickest of the day. Shannon Riskey slipped a place on leg two with 9.01; and despite timing a very good 8.53 on the last leg Jessica Keene closed in 5th. Mary Guy and Yasmin Austridge timed 9.27 and 9.34 for the B team but they needed a third runner to complete a team.
The boys team of Remi Ullah (12.05), Josh Davidson (11.47), Scott Bulmer (13.28) and Charlie Davis (11.30) finished in 28th place.
Helen Godsell ran in the Great North Run the previous weekend finishing in 1.53.41. Better known as a sprinter who has won numerous National titles, she is aiming to run the Marathon next year. While for many people running a marathon is a great achievement, Club member Colin Poole is currently preparing for his 300th . At the age of 74 he will tackle the Beirut Marathon on the 27th of November. In doing so he will be raising funds for his favourite charity the RNLI (Lifeboats).
Four years ago when Colin ran his 200th marathon his target was £2,000 which was reached and exceeded by many generous supporters. His target for 2011 is now £3,000, ten times his marathon count. So far he has reached around £1,000.
The RNLI is a registered charity without government support which at present requires some £150 million plus to operate. It launched some 8713 times during 2010 from the 235 operating lifeboat stations and rescued some 8313 people.
In addition the RNLI operates a rescue service on some 150 beaches around the UK which in turn attended to 16664 rescues and assisted 18779 persons. This represents 10758 hours spent in rescuing people.
Up to now Colin has run in 22 different countries and participated in 58 international marathons, has completed a number of Ultra Marathon events which range from 27 to 54 miles and some 87 cross country marathons. Four of his marathons have been through tunnels!
He ran his first marathon in 1988 in London at the age of 50 a timed 4.22.35. Six months later he ran in Dublin and finished in 3.22.22 a remarkable improvement. From then he was hooked.
Legs permitting his next target will be to complete 400 marathons, which he will probably reach when he is close to the age of 80.
People wishing to sponsor Colin should visit www.justgiving.com/colin-poole Blackheath & Bromley caters for all ages, abilities and disciplines. For further information on your particular interest please e-mail enquiries@bandbhac.org.uk Alternatively leave details on the Club answer phone service on 020 8462 3115.
For all the latest Club news visit the website at www.bandbhac.org.uk
