The Rosenhiem League Final was finaly run, following the postponment of the fixture, due to the stabbing of an athlete, by a fellow athlete, three weeks ago.

The startling progress of Croydon Harriers' U20 International Martyn Rooney continued last week with two more top class runs in open meetings.

Last Wednesday he went to Watford in search of a good electric time over his favourite 400m distance only to discover that the vital equipment had been removed for replacement. Undeterred, he raced round his lap in a fine 47.6secs.

In the same meeting U17 George Thatcher indicated his talent over 800m moving from last to third, for a personal best .

On Sunday Rooney repeated his success over the longer distance of 800m

Croydon's 400 metre runner Donna Fraser missed out on an Olympic medal again as the British women's relay team clinched fourth in Athens on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Croydon Harrier narrowly missed out on an individual bronze in Sydney 2000, and failed to make the individual 400 metre final last week.

In Sunday's 4x400metre relay final, Fraser ran a solid if unspectacular opening leg which gave team-mates Catherine Murphy and Christine Ohuruogu work to do on the second and third legs respectively.

The gap with leaders America, Russia and Jamaica was too much for Lee McConnell to make up in the anchor leg and she brought Britain home in fourth.

Having suffered a harrowing three years of injury, Fraser will be glad to have reached another Olympics and may now target next years' World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Match result : 1st Croydon 162 , 2^nd Richmond & t 124 3^rd Windsor s e & h 123 , 4^th Ealing s & m 54

800m Martin Rowe 2:09.2 3rd

100m Sean Kuuya 11.9 3rd

1500m Martin Rowe 4:36.5 3rd

Shot Chris King 8.57 3rd

High Jump Peter Roberts 1.50 2nd PB

Long Jump Peter Roberts 5.31 2nd PB

Javelin Peter Roberts 35.46 3rd PB

Match Result

1st Serpentine 39pts

2nd= Herne Hill Harriers 38pts

2nd= Hercules Wimbledon 38pts

4th Croydon Harriers 23pts

5th South London Harriers 6pts

Overall

1st Herne Hill Harriers 21.5pts 220pts

2nd Serpentine 20.0pts 198pts

3rd Croydon Harriers 15.0pts 147pts

4th Hercules Wimbledon 12.5pts 107pts

5th South London Harriers 6.0pts 63pts

Detailed Results (pdf)

An under strength team came up against three of the strongest teams in the division and could only finish 4^th. .

4^th Croydon 91

Sportcity Stadium, Manchester 3rd July

Croydon Harriers' outstanding 400m prospect, Martyn Rooney, and Archbishop Tenison's sprint starlet Joscelynn Hopeson both shone like beacons of emerging talent in the damp, blustery chill of the Sportcity Stadium, Manchester.

So well did Rooney bounce back from his disappointment of the previous weekends AAA Championships that he clinched two victories, and gained coveted selection for next week's World U20 Championships in Grosetto, Italy.

The tall John Fisher School student calmly re-established himself as a 400m force, by running away with the invitation 47.52sec to win comfortably by over half-a-second.

His time, a personal best and good enough to have taken third place in the match race, might have been even faster had it been possible to combine both events.

Later he followed up magnificently on leg two in the match 4x400m relay, bringing the baton home first in 47.1sec, the second fastest time of the day. Great Britain maintained their lead throughout, to win in fine and crucial style to win, and clinch the match into the bargain. Their winning time was 3:10.2, and the match result, too close for comfort, was a Great Britain victory over Australia by 83 points to 81.

Joscelynn Hopeson, still only 16, travelled to Manchester expecting to do battle against the Aussies solely in the 4x100m relay, and the invitation 100m, but also handled the additional challenge of a place in the match 200m.

She surged strongly away from everyone in her 100m to score an exciting win in 12.32sec into a 27m/s wind. Later Hopeson was the first Brit home in the 200m in 2nd place, far from a favourite distance for her, in a fine Pb of 24.34sec. Finally she contributed a brisk opening leg in the short relay, as part of the team effort which saw the Great Britain team come home a close second, .09sec behind the visitors who set a new Australian U20 record of 44.94sec.

Croydon Harriers triple jumper Enyioma Anomelechi, inhibited by a slight injury, who competed as a guest, came fifth with a 14.60m effort.

U20/U23 Champs Bedford 26-27^th June 2004

Croydon Harriers' 17-year-old 400m runner Martyn Rooney could not continue his dramatic progress and finished a disappointed seventh in the U20 400m at Bedford last weekend.

The tall Thornton Heath runner has emerged from the relative obscurity of the UK Athletics Young Athletes League into the limelight of a South of England title, U20 international status and first place in the U20 rankings in the last few months.

Seventh place in 49.12sec does not tell the full story. Had Rooney been able to reproduce his semi-final run of 48.04sec in the final, he would have been a bronze medallist. Even his heat time of 48.52sec would have earned him fifth. But the youngest of all the finalists appeared tired in the high-quality final, which was won by north of England champion Rabba Yusuf (Border AC) in 47.55sec.

The John Fisher student has been called up for the Great Britain U20 team in the 4x400m relay. And he has an invitation run in the individual 400m for the international meeting next weekend. This will give him one more chance to clip 0.3sec off his 47.5sec 400m best to attain a U20 World Championship qualifying standard.

Croydon Harriers other championship competitor U23 Ugochi Anomelechi tackled the triple jump in which he cleared a creditable 14.24m for seventh in a field of 14.

The Croydon Harriers' boys and girls team achieved their first win in 2004 at the Erith Stadium. They beat Herts Phoenix, who had been one place above them in Southern Division one.

Two of their boys were awarded the track and field athlete-of-the-match titles too. Surrey U17 400m champion Laurence Dight took the track title in 51.2sec, 1.8sec clear of the runner-up.

The field award went to Tsidi Dagadu, the Royal Russell School U15 high jumper for his clearance of 1.70m.

A badly depleted team finished last despite the valiant efforts of those present. Matt Hall and Manny Nsudoh Hall having the most successes, Matt Winning in the Pole Vault (A), High Jump (A) and 100H (B) and Manny the Long Jump (A), high Jump (B) and Discus (A). New comer Sean Kwana performed well winning the Long Jump (B) and running 3^rd in the 100m but unfortunately picked up an injury. Jon McCallum claimed 1^st in the 5k but his continuing achilles injury made it an uncomfortable victory and it unfortunately is probably his last run on the track this summer.

1^st South London 134, 2^nd Blackheath 120, 3^rd Chichester 117, 4^th Croydon 101

800m Dave Warren 2:28.4 1st

Croydon Olympian Donna Fraser progressed her Athens preparation with a brisk winning 200m at Bedford on Sunday, writes Mike Fleet.

The effervescent Croydon Harrier bounced back from a lack-lustre 400m in Ostrava, oozing confidence to show her sprint rivals a clean pair of heels.

A good start set her up well into the bend, and she sped comfortably clear into the straight, impressively stretching to victory in 23.14sec, 0.32sec ahead of the runner-up.

Donna can now look ahead with confidence to the Spar European Cup in Bydgoszcz at the weekend, when she will represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the 400m and 4x400m relay.

Donna is also hoping to help the Harriers League team with an appearance or two as part of her Olympic build-up. Her club colleague, junior international Martyn Rooney, gained valuable high level experience with a run in the 800m. Slightly leg-heavy following his Surrey Schools record breaking run of the previous day, Rooney still acquitted himself well to finish second in a new personal best of 1:55.03.

Surrey Schools Championships With two Croydon teams representing schools in the north and south of the borough, team success was hard to come by, in the Surrey Schools Championships at Kingsmeadow, but there were many outstanding individual achievements from athletes with Croydon school and club connections.

Thirteen county titles came Croydon's way, while another 11 local boys and girls were runners-up and further nine finished third.

Pride of place went to U20 international Martyn Rooney. The John Fisher student from Thornton Heath, running for Sutton in the senior 400m, won with plenty in the tank to clock 48.3 for a new championship best performance holding off fellow international into the bargain. Dynamic Laurence Dight had a landmark run in the intermediate boys 400m cracking 50sec for the first time in a nail-biting contest. The Shirley High one lapper won by 0.2sec, in 49.9sec.

Intermediate long jumper Ashley Harris cleared a fine 6.78m, fractionally further than his winning senior team-mate I Mba, while Gary Wilson took senior second at 6.74m. Tawanda Mukusha was third intermediate at 6.35m. Junior long jumper Gavin Roye left it to the last round to pull out his winning 5.70m leap.

Brit School hurdler Angelita Broadbelt neatly negotiated the 10 barriers in her 100m race to clock 15.4sec.

Trinity sprinter Jermaine Alexander took the junior 100m title in a tight finish, into a testing wind in 12.0sec.

Archbishop Tenisons' outstanding sprinter Jocelynn Hopeson, headed her 100m final in 12.4sec into an adverse wind. Croydon High intermediate shot putter Amy Mulley, produced the big one, a fine heave of 9.67m to win in the last round.

Other Croydon winners were Trinity's Mark Elsworthy senior boys 2000m in 7:07.8, A Spring in the intermediate boys triple jump with 13.07m, Trinity's Emmanuel Bamgboye in the Junior boys 200m in 25.2sec and Keleshia Smith senior girls hammer with a throw of 26.33m

Croydon Harriers' most recently selected international, Martyn Rooney, donned U20 Great Britain colours for the first time at Loughborough.

At 17, the tall John Fisher student from Thornton Heath was in action twice, running against athletes one or two years his senior.

In the invitation men's A 400m, he left himself too much to do, but finished third out of six with a classy 47.6sec finish, fractionally outside his 47.5sec personal best. Two and a half hours later he opened the GB U20 4x400m team account, and kept in touch throughout. He was second fastest in the squad with an unflattering 48.6sec split as the team finished third.

In the National Young athletes league, Croydon Harriers gave league leaders Cambridge a run for their money in their second Southern League Division One match at Croydon Arena on Sunday.

The Croydon boys and girls put up a spirited display, which with an improved points total of 349, earned them another runners-up spot. They are well-placed in fifth in the 16 strong set-up.

The boys dominated, and the developing strength of the girls' side earned them second. The clubs young sprinters scorched to some superb wins and times. The Croydon boys won 11 of the 12 short sprints, 100m and 200m on offer. Danny Doyley's U17 double with times of 11.2sec and 22.4sec was exceptional, Emlyn Akoto provided superb support in the U17 100m with a 11.3sec win.

U15 ace Jermaine Alexander won with times of 11.6sec and 23.9sec, while at U13 level, Shirley High student Ehi Obiote was a revelation with wins in 26.1sec and 12.9sec to clinch the track athlete of the match award.

South of England 400m bronze medallist Laurence Dight shone, finishing second ahead in 51.0sec and he headed his 200m in 23.2sec. Croydon had three outstanding U17 field winners, with pole vaulter Tom Crawford clinching a 3.60m victory, Ashley Harris leaping to 6.23m in the long jump and Luke Adekoya heading the shot by 1.80m at 12.56m.

The U15 field athletes produced three maximums for Tsidi Dagadu with a 1.73m high jump, pole vaulter Ryszard Buk advanced to 3.25m and long jumper Gavin Roye won at 5.62m.

Girls captain Cecilia Barriga led by example with a 1,500m win and was second in the 800m. U15s Daisy Collingridge and Odette Campbell won the 800m, running 2:36.9 and 2:45.9 respectively. Thrower Natasha Matthews scored wins in the shot 7.79m and discus 19.84m.

Martyn Rooney, Croydon Harriers' 400m revelation, took a few fast steps further along the road to stardom at the South of England Athletics Championships in Watford on Sunday, The 17-year-old he strode majestically away from a strong field to win the 400m in a personal best (PB) time of 47.5sec.

200m NS Ken Crooke 40.7

1st Serpentine 58pts

Some excellent performances saw Croydon finished a 1^st on the day after being in second early on Croydon dominated from mid afternoon to pull well clear.

Young Croydon Harrier Martyn Rooney emerged as an athlete of real star quality in the Surrey Championships at Kingsmeadow at the weekend, writes Mike Fleet.

Croydon Harriers Veterans Track & Field teams got of to a good start in their 2004 campaign when both the men and women took second place in the first match of the Southern Counties Veterans A. C. League held at Crawley last Tuesday evening. Top scorer for the men was M50 Ricky Toomey, who started with an 8.27 Shot Putt for 4th (5 points) at 6.30 pm. At 7.00 pm he ran the M40 100 metres in 15.1 sec. for 6th (3), and rushed across to the the High Jump for another 4th place (5). At 7.10 pm it was the Hammer throw where he was 3rd with 17.29m. (6). Next came the 2000m. walk for another 3rd in 12 min. 31.4 sec and another 6 points. After 5 minutes the Long Jump started and he got 6 points with a 3.69 effort. His final event was the last leg of the 4 x 100m relay to give him a total contribution to the team of 31 V4 points. All this was done with a happy smile on his face, which was another plus for Croydon. lan Statter. as an M40 was restricted to his own age group. His 24V4 points total was acheived with 1st in the High Jump at 1.40m for 8 pis. 1 le won his speciality - the 2000m Walk by over a minute in 10m 43.5s. for another 8, was 2nd in the Long Jump - 4.23m (7) and ran the 3rd leg of the relay for another 1'/,, .Croydon's M50 sprint duo. Graham Pope and Dave Hayward, took care of the othe 100m berths. Graham was 3rd in the M50 "A" string with a fast 13.3s, whilst Dave won the M50 "B" in 13.6s. Both better over 400m, Dave won the M40 race in 60.2 sec.and Graham the M50 in 61.5. Dave ran the first leg of the relay and Graham the 2nd. Their combined efforts plus Ricky Toomey & lan Statter gave Croydon 4th relay spot in 55.5 seconds. The middle distance races over 1500m. yielded Croydon another 27 points. Dave Warren had some stiff opposition in the M40 race but battled on to take 4th in 5m 02.9s. Colin Oxlade. after his sterling efforts in the 2000m walk for an M40 "B" 3rd in 14m 59s, ran well to take 2nd in the M40 "B" 1500m in 5m 18.9s. The M 5O's & M60's ran together in a separate race and Norman Hemming kept ahead of Robin Dickson to take 2nd in the M50 with 5m 31.6s. Robin was 35s well clear of all other M60's in winning the elder statesman's race in 5m 38.6s. Chris King took 2nd in the M40 shot with an 8.14m putt at the start of the meeting, later winning his main event, the Hammer Throw, with 33.08m.

Martyn Rooney produced the performances of the meeting; first setting an excellent new personal best at 400m running inside 49 seconds for the first time with a time of 48.8s and secondly in the 4 x 400m. The first three in the team Martin Rowe, Ashley George and Nick Torry, all ran excellent legs but left Martin with what looked like an impossible 40m odd deficit to make up, Martyn caught the leader 50m from the tape and cruised home in 1st . Martin also showed good team spirit by covering the 400mH ,which he won comfortably, Javelin and helping the 4 x 100m team to second in a time slower than his individual 400m!

Report in Croydon Guardian:

Croydon Harriers men successfully opened their Southern League track and field programme with a runners-up spot at Havering on Saturday.

An enthusiastic team effort, which featured some excellent results, was peaked by a superb 400m win by Martyn Rooney in 48.8sec. The 17-year-old John Fisher athlete, having earlier run to a comfortable win in the 400m hurdles, registered a thrilling new personal best. He rounded off a highly successful afternoon by making up a big deficit in the 4x400m relay bringing Croydon home to victory.

Martin Rowe won the B 400m in 55.6sec, the 400m brought the club maximum points. Rowe also won the B 800m in 2:06.5 with Robbie Powell runner up in the A race in 2:05.0 In the 5,000m star tri-athlete Steve Bayliss came second in 16:28.4 and Nick Torry notched a B string win in 16:37.5.

Pole-vaulter Warren White shone in the field events with 3.40m clearance for victory, as Harriers took second place in the four-club match by one crucial point and losing to Havant by seven points.

Croydon Harriers' boys finished third of six in their opening match of the athletics season at Kingsmeadow last Sunday