At Barnet Copthall stadium, in the final Club competition of the Track and Field Season, the Clubs' Cup Final, called The Jo Smith Trophy, Sale's combined men's and women's team were one of the country's top eight clubs invited to compete. ( Event Pictures Here)

"To say that we were under strength would be an understatement" were the words of men's team manager.  With nineteen events to cover, the men had only nine hardy souls in attendance and the women, suffering from a congested fixture list, had only twelve athletes to cover the nineteen events, it was hardly surprising that the joint team could only manage 5th.  Fortunately, however, several of our top internationals supported the Club and they deserve great credit for turning out with the Commonwealth Games just around the corner.

September is not everyone's favourite time for competition, so among the men, credit to Ryan Oswald, Chris Craig, Debo Ademuyewo, Nick Gayle, Jonathan Ferryman, Jack Andrew, Scot Thompson, Rimas Martisauskas and Nayef Abed for turning out.  We had two wins on the day - one each on the track and in the field.  Rimas provided the glory in the Shot, taking the win by 60cm in 17m70, to finish his season on a high, and our 4x100m team also took a comfortable victory, the team comprising Nayef, Debo, Chris and Ryan.

In the field, Jack Andrew took a fine 3rd in the Pole Vault with 4m60, while Jonathan Ferryman matched his efforts with a surprising 3rd place in the Long Jump, an unfamiliar event for him.  Jonathan went straight from the pit to the start line of the 400mH, where he came 6th and then trudged off to do his favoured event, the Triple Jump, where he came 5th.

Scot Thompson did all the throws besides the Shot, and only narrowly missed out in his attempt to clear 50m in all three.  A superb Discus saw him start with 52m04 and he finished with 55m45 for the Javelin, only the unfamiliar Hammer (47m82) prevented him from achieving his target.

On the track, Nick Gayle took good points for 2nd in the 110mH (14.18), while Ryan Oswald and Chris Craig came 4th (11.03) and 3rd (22.26) in the 100m and 200m respectively on a day of strong headwinds.  Debo Ademuyewo completed an ever present season with 5th in the 400m (49.04).

As, throughout the season, the women's strength was in the Field and there were wins for Stephanie Pywell (High Jump), Rebecca Peake (Shot) and Rosie Semenytsh in the Javelin. Important second places were claimed by Sara McGreavy (100m Hurdles), Rachel Deegan (800m), Emma Lyons (Pole Vault) and Laura Douglas (Hammer), with Alison Rodger stepping in to take third in the Discus. Lucy Evans gave her all in the 100m and 200m and Katia Lannon, Lateefah Burton and Hannah Griffiths scored vital points, with all concerned totally exhausted after the match, but once more showing superb team spirit.