BAL Premiership - Match 1 Sheffield

2014 saw Woodford's men's BAL team earn an immediate and emphatic return to the Premiership. On Saturday at Sheffield they began their quest to consolidate that position. Not at full strength at this early stage of the season with a mixture of injuries, exams and other reasons for unavailability Woodford's team manager Gladys Bird went to Sheffield hoping others would be similarly affected. Woodford ran out 6th in a very tight competition, just 17 points from 2nd and will hope for a more fortunate result in the June 6th fixture at Lea Valley. Hosts Sheffield comfortably won with 327 points, ahead of Sale 289.3, Shaftesbury 286.5, Birchfield and Enfield each on 286.3, Woodford on 272.5. Newham on 241 and Glasgow 177. Woodford's performances were led by a hammer double from Mark Dry and Andy Frost, a shot double from Youcef Zatat and Anthony Oshodi (pictured right), and a win for the 4x100m team.

In cool and windy conditions Scotland's Commonwealth Games hammer representatives Mark Dry and Andy Frost (pictured below) got Woodford off to a winning start. Mark took the "A" string with 70.60 secs, and Andy the "B" with 65.74m. The shot saw Youcef Zatat, last week's BUCS champion, take the "A" string, just short of his pb with 17.12m, and Anthony Oshodi the "B" with 15.56m. Earlier Youcef had competed in the discus and, although currently just an occasional performer in this event, he threw a personal best of 48.31m for 5th, whilst Chris Linque won the "B" with 45.23m. Rounding up the throws, it was pleasing to have Simon Bennett back in action for Woodford and he placed 7th in the "A" with 54.43m, with Jay Boddington,back in BAL action after several years, 6th in the "B" with 47.97m. 

Leading the jumps performances, Dan Gardner was 2nd in the "A" pole vault with 4.80m, as physio Chris Awde stepped into the "B" for 6th= points with a clearance of 2.20m. Dan had earlier, in the absence of a specialist, had a token triple jump effort where he gained valuable 5th "B" string points with 13.25m w (+2.1), with Thasalong Tshireletso 4th in the "A" with 14.47m (+1.5). Thasalong struggled in the long jump however, with two no-jumps and 4.85m run-through which saw him 8th in the "B". Adrian Stamp also struggled in the windy conditions with his run up, as he had two no-jumps and a modest 6.16m (+0.7) for 7th in the "A". The high jumpers fared well, Robert Wolski, who gamely competed whilst suffering from flu, cleared 2.10m but, after the narrowest of failures at 2.15m, had to call it a day as illness got the better of him. He nevertheless finished 3rd in the "A". Although disappointed with his 1.95m clearance, Jack Lochans was pleased that this was good enough to win the "B" string and gain valuable points. 

On the track, the 400mH began proceedings and Ewan Dyer, originally down for the "B" string, was elevated to the "A", and from the outside lane placed a good 4th, only fractionally outside his pb with 52.60 secs. Missing another specialist, some time steeplechaser, and still with the London Marathon in his legs, Tom Beedell stepped in to fill the gap in the "B", and his 64.36 secs was 7th. Tom was also called in as cover for the 3000m, with both original selections being lost to injury and illness in the 48 hours prior to the competition. Clearly heavy legged, Tom gamely placed 8th in the "B" with 9m22.42 secs. In the "A" string, Ed Shepherd (pictured below), originally due to race over 1500m, agreed to be flexible as the meeting developed and he moved up to 3000m and, sticking with the pace, took on a high quality leading group at the bell and, although losing out in the home straight, finished a commendable 3r,d 2 secs outside his pb with 8m19.28 secs.

Over 800m, former 400m specialist Nathan Wake just lost in the "A" race where, after a 61+ secs first lap, he led into the home straight but just lost out, finishing 2nd with 1m53.84 secs. Omar Mansour ran the "B" and, although short of speed work, was disappointed with his 1m59.32 secs for 8th in the "B" having been clearly troubled with an ankle problem during the 2nd lap. As the depleted m/d resources were juggled, Omar showed what a good Clubman he is, insisting on running the "B" 1500m to allow Ed Shepherd to cover the 3000m gap, and fought well for his 6th place with 4m04.76secs. This saw James Stockings, another pleasingly back in BAL action, elevated to the "A" string, where he lost out as the pace really picked up in the latter stages, recording 3m59.07 secs for 7th - but a time which would have placed 3rd in his original "B" string. Continuing the theme of good Club men, Ryan McKinlay and Tomaz Plibersek lined up for the steeplechase. Ryan, for long our reliable "A" man, has missed a significant amount of training and, although pleased to help out, scored as the "B" man in this occasion with 10m02.55 sec. Tomaz was the "A" scorer and, having recently returned from Boulder, looked in very good form. In a good race Tomas was only just shy of his best ever as he finished 5th with 9m22.48 secs. Lacking specialist high hurdlers, Tomaz and Ryan then lined up for the 110mH, and with DNF's and DQ's around them, they picked up more points than could have been imagined, both finishing 6th; Tomas in the "A" with 25.14 secs, and Ryan in the "B" with 21.93 secs.

Despite the chilly conditions the sprints were of a high standard. In the 100m Omololu Abiodun was 7th in the "A" 100m with 10.78 secs (+1.5), and BAL debutant Jermaine Hamilton was 5th in the "B" with 10.94 secs (+1.3). Both lined up again over 200m where, in the "A", a good quality race, Omololu was 5th with a solid 21.42 secs (+1.3) from the inside lane. In the "B" Jermaine was 4th with 21.75 secs (+0.7). Over 400m Dan Awde, running from lane 7, lost out to fellow international Rabah Yousif as he finished 2nd in 46.62 secs. Again missing another 400m specialist, sprinter Justin Duru's game effort of 52.22 secs was only good enough for 8th in the "B". Justin had earlier run 11.09 secs in the non-scoring 100m. The sprinters later combined very well to take a close fought 4x100 as Joseph Dewar, Abiodun, Hamilton and Awde held off Sale by 0.03 secs to record 40.62 secs. Missing another 400m man, Ryan Mckinlay stepped into the breech to join three specialists, Ewan Dyer (49.1 secs), Dan Awde (47.8 secs), Ryan (52.8 secs) and Nathan Wake (48.0 secs) to place 6th in the 4x400m with 3m17.61 secs.

With several athletes missing this was a good team performance and Gladys Bird will be hoping that all events in the next fixture at Lee Valley can be filled by specialists to ensure a higher overall result.