Biggleswade AC Masters athlete Darren Janssen sets new V35 club record in the decathlon
Congratulations to Biggleswade AC Masters athlete Darren Janssen who set a new V35 club record in the decathlon. The decathlon is a multievent competition comprising of ten events over two days. Day one consists of 100m, Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump and then 400m. Athletes comeback on day two to take on the 110mH, Discus, Pole Vault, Javelin and finally a gruelling 1,500m.
"This was my first Decathlon that I competed at V35 category, which sees a drop in hurdle height for the 110mH. It was a nice weekend down in Carshalton, weather was reasonably good but we had strong winds which made the races more challenging as sadly it was mostly headwinds. In terms of performance it was an up and down day which is the norm for Decathlons. Its very difficult to have 10 good events and a lot of the challenge is mentally refocusing and not letting a bad performance put you off in future events. The competition started well with a reasonable performance in 100m and long jump. I was having issues with my ankle last year which made landing in a long jump pit painful. That has now gone and it is a big relief to get back jumping pain free. Performance took a down turn in shot put with my worst performance of the season. No time to dwell in self-pity, attention immediately focussed back on high jump. I hurt my head by banging it on an upright earlier this year, since then I have been nervous high jumping and had to take a break as I was not able to mentally perform. A huge relief that I was able to make a reasonable performance and getting over this mental block was a great moment for me. Day one ends with the 400m, which is a really tough race. This was probably the highlight of my Decathlon. In my heat I was 30m behind first place at 150m to go and my strong finish allowed me to come from 30m back in 3rd place to pip a 1st place finish at the line. Mentally it was nice to go home on a high ready for day two.
Woke up for day two with the usual sore stiff legs and the first task is to fasten the pole vault poles to the roof rack of the car and drive back to Carshalton with those legs. Once arrived it is back to warming up and getting my legs loose for another day of competing. My time for 110mh was not great but a strong head wind made going faster challenging, so overall I was happy with the performance. A second low point came in the discus, usually my strongest event when I can get a good throw the pressure was getting to me and sadly I could only deliver a sub-par throw. Not a disaster as you can easily foul 3 times in the discus and score nothing but certainly not happy with what I delivered. Yet again, no time to dwell as pole vault, a real technical challenge, was up next. I had changed my run up this year which has helped as my vaulting performance had dropped noticeably in the last couple of years. The performance was average for the season and a bit of fatigue was setting in. The first half of the 2nd day was not as much as I hoped for but things were about to change. Event 9 of 10 is the javelin. At the back of everyones mind at this stage is planning and preparing for the pain of the 1500m but it was time to focus on delivering a good throw in the javelin. I was able to hit a seasons best and my 2nd furthest ever throw. Just what I needed to boost my day two and give me the confidence for the final event. Event 10; the 1500m! 45min rest and it was the remaining athletes left to line up at the start line. I have increased my endurance running so was expecting a new personal best but this did put extra pressure on me. The gun goes off and here we go. I always remind myself as I go there is only two ways to run a 1500m - slowly or in agony! The head wind down the back straight was quite strong which made the challenging endurance test even harder. I kept my tempo for first two laps but a bit of fatigue meant I dropped a tad on the 3rd lap. My old club mate, and good friend Dan Steel was up ahead and I was gaining on him. Using him as motivation onto the last lap I started to kick. Legs very tired now and heart rate very high, just reminding myself its just one more lap and its all over. I kept winding it up around the back straight and I caught up Dan. He was going for a new personal best in the decathlon and went out hard. Sadly for him he was not able to hang on in last 500m. I was disappointed for him but he still had an amazing weekend following a season of bad injuries. Last 200m to go, the pain is through the roof now but only thing to do is to stay strong and try to get faster. Down to 120m left and its a full out sprint, every fraction of a second is more points and its time to empty the tank. At this stage you are practically begging for the finish line and end to the pain. I crossed the line with a new personal best and that was with the wind. A great way to finish.
The ending scenes of a decathlon is all the athletes laying on the floor exhausted, a well deserved lay down. However, the weekend of competing does bond everyone and once recovery has finished everyone embraces for a big hug and its great fun to compete with my friends."
Congratulations to Darren for setting the club record.