Woodford’s men’s track and field team enjoyed a strong finish to their BAL Premiership season at Copthall on Saturday where a strong 3rd place finish on the day, also left the team in 3rd place in the League overall for the season. But for some late withdrawals due to injury the team would have pushed for the win in this match. Points on the day saw a strong result from Newham who had been sucked into the relegation area, win with 356 points, from Birchfield with 321, Woodford 315, hosts Shaftesbury 304, TVH 260, Cardiff 259, Sheffield 222, and Swansea who were certain to be relegated prior to this final fixture a distant 8th on 130. Overall League standings saw Birchfield comfortably retain their title with 31 points, from Shaftesbury 23, Woodford 22, Newham 19, Sheffield 17.5, Cardiff 14, TVH 13.5 and Swansea 4, which meant TVH joined Swansea in being relegated. As always this was a strong all-round team effort, notable for three events (including two wins) plus a relay from Jack Lawrie, a further 1500m win (and personal best) from Phil Norman, with further wins from Tosin Oke, Daniel Rowden, and Will Grimsey.

Photos (by Alex Wardle)

Results

Daniel Rowden: Ran a controlled race to win the 800m comfortably

At the end of an intriguing match which saw sharp changes between the top 3 clubs through the day, WGEL finished runner-up to hosts Luton but ahead of Serpentine in match 4 of the Southern Athletics League (SAL) on Saturday 14 July. From the start it was obviously a 3-way battle, with our regular rivals this season Ilford set for fourth and West Norfolk and West Suffolk providing cameos from a handful of good athletes without supporting teams.

Results

Photos (by Alex Wardle)

It quickly became clear that Serpentine were aiming to win via filling the teamsheet, and with no gaps they took a notable lead early on. However as the day wore on quality told and it became a battle between the hosts, who were strongest overall in the women and Woodford with a stronger men’s squad. Bad luck and injuries in our men’s team ultimately made the difference after a fine struggle on a warm day at a venue whose bowl shape seemed to lock in heat but encouraged some good performances by minimising wind.