Athletics: Phoenix on verge of promotion

9:21am Wednesday 11th August 2004

WYCOMBE Phoenix Harriers produced an amazing performance in the penultimate round of the Southern Women's League Division Three when they finished in either first or second place in 52 of the 55 events.

Their astonishing performance at the Mile End Stadium virtually guaranteed them promotion to Division Two.

They notched 30 first places as they won the meeting by a country mile and took second spot in 22 others as they dominated from start to finish.

They finished on a massive 191 points with second placed Braintree their nearest challengers with a meagre 88 points in comparison.

Club chairman Chris Aperghis said: "For any club to do what we did would be a magnificent performance but to do it from where we have come from makes it even more fantastic."

Just two years ago the club was struggling to find competitors to take part in each event, now it is dominating across the board.

The Groom family led the way in the club's latest success producing two personal best medal winning performances as they collected a fistful of medals.

Laura, in the senior women enjoyed a winning 8.81metres jump in the triple jump, while sister Alice jumped 1.59 metres to win the high jump before also winning the 75m hurdles and the discus to complete her hat-trick.

But the Grooms were not done. Hannah went on to claim victory in the 1500m.

It wasn't just about the Grooms though.

Kerry Sample, in the U15s, also notched a hat-trick with victories in the high jump , long jump and 75m hurdles.

Teamwork also played a major part as Phoenix collected medals galore.

Wycombe won the 4X400m relay with an incredible 31 seconds to spare and also took the two 4X100m relays by margins of four and six seconds.

Meanwhile, the club's men's team are also on the brink of promotion. They have completed their matches and are now just waiting for other teams to play catch up before their fate is decided.