BLACKHEATH & Bromley Harriers enjoyed victory in the opening British Athletics League Division Two match of the season at Norman Park.

A mixture of classy performances and a willingness to cover events where regular athletes were unavailable, ensured the team finished 22 points clear of second-placed Southampton.

There were a number of contenders for the club’s athlete of the match with the award going to Luke Smallwood.

He won the 400m in 47.60s beating Notts AC’s Michael Warner, who was twice the league’s athlete of the match last year and last week won the British universities title.

Smallwood also helped the team by volunteering himself for the high jump and long jump, and finished his athletic afternoon by anchoring the 4x400m team to third place.

As he was also operating the photo finish, he was the first team member to arrive and the last to leave.

Dan Putnam, who was second in the 400m at the British universities, moved down in distance and won both the 100m and 200m races, while Oweka Wanogho made it maximum points in the B strings.

The other A string wins came from athletes returning to the team after breaks of at least a year.

Andrew Jordon set a seasons best of 61.57s to claim the A string hammer, with youngster Tom Parker marking his debut with victory in the B string.

Phil Sesemann prevailed in an exciting 1,500m and Scott Huggins launched himself over 4.60m to win the A string pole vault with Sam Brown making it maximum points in the B string.

There were top three A string places for Mike Van Den Dobbelsteen (second javelin), Steve Timmins (third shot), Alex Gibbins (third 3,000m steeplechase), Andy Rayner (third 5,000m) and the 4x400m quartet of Craig Morten, Ed Harrison, Richard Davies and Luke Smallwood.

Morten had earlier won the B string 400m hurdles.

After such a good start, Blackheath & Bromley's squad will be looking to build on this performance at the second fixture at Derby on June 8.

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