Havering's short-handed senior Southern League squad, hit by the absence of several members injured or self-isolating, had to settle for second spot in their second round East London Division match at Woodford on Sunday.

Flic Clarke and Claire Brennan got the meeting off to a good start with a double win in the 400m hurdles and Brennan took pole vault honours, as Katie Ennis won the B string and added B string discus honours.

Clarke returned to win the B sprint hurdles as Chloe Williams’ season’s best took the A string.

Another win double came in the 1500m as Natalie Sewell won the combined A and B race and Ginte Bailey’s PB was first among B string runners.

Romford Recorder: Natalie Sewell (centre) in 1500m action.Natalie Sewell (centre) in 1500m action. (Image: Tony Benton)

Isabelle Bartlett won the B high jump as Ellie Watson was A string runner-up, as was Alice Brown in the discus.

The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Alex McCree, Clarke, Sewell and Aaron Freshwater also finished second.

The men found wins hard to come by but turned in consistent performances as Matthew Agnimel got the judges verdict in the 200m after a photo finish which saw just 2/100ths cover the top three.

Rob Warner had a comfortable win in the steeplechase and Alex Ford improved his 3000m best by over 15 seconds for third, as James Stewart marginally missed a PB in winning the B string.

Romford Recorder: Alex Ford and James Stewart in the 3000mAlex Ford and James Stewart in the 3000m (Image: Tony Benton)

Kieran O’Hara and Luke Chester were both second in the 800m, as was Somto Okpalauko in the 400m.

In the field, golden oldie Stuart Tufton won the B vault as Toby Bishop improved his PB to take second in the A and was also second in the B long jump.

Duane Jibunoh scored well, winning the B javelin, as Hal Hutton was second in the A, and Jibunoh was second in the A shot and discus.

All-rounder Arron Bonning had a hat-trick of B string seconds in shot, discus and triple jump, and was third in the hammer and high jump.

The five teams in this East London Division lock horns again at Woodford on Saturday, August 14.

Four senior men competed in the Essex 5000m track championships at Chelmsford and fastest was Ben Davis who was fifth in the A race with a PB of 15:25.3, around 15 seconds inside his previous mark.

Rob Warner was 12th overall in 15:57.3 to win the vets championship, with the third fastest ever time by a club M40.

John Whitehead was close to his best in clocking 17:08.1 for seventh in the B race, while Matthew Bland returned to the track to clock 17:55.4 in the C race.