THIS was the second meeting of the season and the wonderful facilities at Wigan's Robin Park were enhanced by the warm sunshine that thankfully prevailed all afternoon.

With a team depleted in the distance and hurdle events, but packed full of enthusiasm, the performance was always going to be interesting, and every member of that team was determined to do well.

There were several notable personal best performances. William Preston and Kevin McDermott in the field events, ably supported by sprinters James Colbeck and Matt Lee in both the jumps. Two cultured middle distance races from the vastly improved Luke Harreld, and another polished 800m performance from Gary Crowshaw, all held together by strong contributions from all the team members.

The team was declared at 11-30, and the first event was away at 12-00. This involved the team's latest recruit, William Preston. William achieved 3 personal best performances in the field events, scoring vital points for the team. He was out on the track all afternoon, starting with the pole vault, first event, did the hammer, then the shot, and only finished the Javelin at 5-00. Another performing personal bests in the field events, was Kevin McDermott in the discus and shot, with only his javelin throw stopping him creating a hat trick of P.Bs at two consecutive meetings.

A 23m throw by Mike Arain in the discus boosted the points total, whilst in the high jump Gary Crowshaw and Matt Lee were both jumping well. The technique of the hammer throw proved somewhat elusive to Ian Roberts, although he had improved considerably during his three throws. James Colbeck and Matt Lee had both secured outstanding wins in the long and triple jump.

The club had at long last achieved the target of having competitors in every field event, one of the corner stones to achieving a competent team.

However, there were considerable gaps in the track races that require filling before the club can progress. There were no club members competing in either of the hurdle events, nor on this occasion in the 3K steeplechase, or the 5K.

Switching Adrian Holder from his many field events to concentrate on the sprints, covered the absence of Huw Davies. Adrian was 30 metres into his 200m when he pulled his calf muscle. Showing his team spirit, Adrian limped up his lane to complete the race before heading for an icepack. His sprint partner, Matt Lee, continued his domination in the 100 and 200m events, as well as those field events.

James Colbeck was pleased with his 50 seconds in the 400m, whilst cool Jason Land did well to record 56 seconds in the B event.

So to the 800m where both the club's members produced controlled performances. Gary Crowshaw has now developed the ability to dominate the race, which he did as he lowered his P.B. to 2.05.

However, it was more the style and authority that impressed. He can and will go below 2 minutes before the season ends, but there is much more yet to come. In the 800m B event, it was the turn of Luke Harreld to produce an outstanding tactical race. Only just back in training, Luke ran a sensible first lap, then with 300m to go he took the race by the scruff of the neck. He made a decisive injection of pace that split the pack and gave him a 10metre lead. Now running flat out, Luke was only just overtaken at the line by the Rossendale runner but he achieved a P.B. Two more weeks of training and Luke would not have been caught. Now he had a rest for 2 hours before the 1500 m event.

The relay events are always exciting, and as the final track event, they generate considerable interest, not least from all the fellow athletes watching.

The Bury teams had to rearrange due to Adrian's injury, which meant further races for those tired limbs. The 4 x 100M team comprised Jason Land, Gary Crowshaw, James Colbeck, and Matt Lee, before James and Gary ran the first and last legs on the 4 x 400M with Luke and Ian joining them. Both these teams scored good points. Thanks to Lawson Duerdin, as the graded official, and Alex Colbeck, the team finished 4th just behind rivals Rossendale.

The next Northern Track Meeting is at Oldham on July 6th.