Whilst some of Woodford’s better athletes were in action at the British Championships in Manchester others especially younger athletes competed more locally at the LICC meeting at Lee Valley and also at an open sprints meeting at Newham. Several personal best performances were recorded.
On the 14th March Abigail Reid, in her first All-England Schools XC and representing Essex, finished an outstanding 7th from a field of 360 in the Junior Girls race which earned her selection to represent England at Falkirk in the Home Countries International the following weekend. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the race was cancelled. The ESAA decided to award the England vests to all those selected and Abigail only recently received it, along with the England badge. A fantastic achievement for a bottom year athlete who achieved her main aim for the season.
Last weekend saw the British Championship in Manchester. An unusual time to run the national championships, but this has been an unusual year. Our club athletes, overall, produced one of their better performance in recent years, with not only three of our club members winning titles, but we also had many finalists and medallists. On behalf of the club, congratulations are due to all those who took part and put the club colours to the fore at the championships. The full results are on the club website. It has been a difficult year to train and travel to gain competition and credit is due to those who achieved their peak performance under difficult circumstances. Sadly, for many this would have been an Olympic year, but hopefully they can carry the form of 2020 into next year when hopefully the Olympics will be held in Tokyo.
Athletics is primarily an individual sport, no matter what efforts are made to gel a team out of group of dedicated, individualistic minded sportsmen and women. Nevertheless, our elite athletes probably may not realise what an impact their performance has on the younger members of the club. They are an inspiration to those up and coming young members of the club. This year has seen a great increase in the number of under 11s (our WASPs section) and the under 13s joining the club. I am sure that, for some of them, seeing the performances by club members last weekend will inspire them, whatever their abilities.
Once again, congratulations to all those who took part in the championships.
Cowsi Magol
Club President
A chilly and breezy Manchester hosted the British Championships on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. With the 2020 outdoor season having been heavily affected by Covid and the restrictions to both competition and training for athletes, this end of season meeting gave athletes the opportunity to test themselves domestically at a high level. Several Woodford athletes were in action and performances were led by Dan Rowden’s superb win over 800m which was adjudged the best performance of the Saturday. There were also British titles for Phil Norman and Cindy Ofili, with silver medals also picked up by Cameron Fillery, Will Grimsey and Shanara Hibbert.
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