UK Women's League Final fixture
Woodford's women's UKWL team finished a very good 2nd in the final fixture at Manchester on Saturday with 206.5 points, just behind winners Cardiff 208, Blackheath 189, Harrow 180, Trafford 173.5, Bristol who led into this fixture 162, Wigan 156 and Crawley 121. Both Wigan and Crawley were relegated to Division Two, and Blackheath and Woodford gain promotion to the Premier Division. We believe Woodford are promoted as Division One Champions, having finished 1st, 3rd and 2nd in the three fixtures. However, the preliminary results suggest Blackheath are Champions, but this is currently under scrutiny. This was another fine performance from the Woodford women as many athletes took on additional events to ensure all gaps were covered. Strongest individual events were in the hammer which saw a double victory from Lucy Marshall and Myra Perkins and in the javelin where there was also a double from Sylvia Cruz and Eike Vardja, but there were many fine performances all round.
Photos (by Alex Wardle)
In winning the "A" string hammer Lucy Marshall got the better of Myra Perkins who won the "B" by the smallest of margins with 58.17m to Myra's 58.16m. Lucy also gained valuable points in the discus with 29.45m which placed 6th. Sylvia Cruz was 4th in that "B" event, having won her specialist event the javelin with 46.36m and also placed 2nd in the "B" shot with 11.29m. In the "B" javelin Eike Vardja made it a Woodford double as she also won with 29.30m., and gained good "B" string points in the triple jump where she placed 4th with 9.80m (+2.0). In the other jumps, Kitty Eleyae was a good 2nd in the long jump with 5.60m (0.0) with Katie James placing 4th in the "B" with 5.10m (-0.2). Kitty also gained additional points in the triple jump where she placed 6th with 10.19m (0.0) and in the "B" 100m where she was 6th in 12.87 secs (-0.5). The pole vault saw Caroline Adams place 4th with 3.40m, and in the high jump (right) Moe Sasegbon was 3rd = with 1.60m as Ayamba Akim was 5th in the "B" with 1.50m. Hepathlete Moe was also 2nd in the "A" shot with 12.79m and 3rd in the 100mH in 14.36 secs (-0.8). 
In other track action, Sarah Busby filled the "A" string sprints and in good standard races placed 4th over 100m with 12.15 secs (-0.2) and 5th over 200m 24.99 secs (-0.8). Jo Ryan had a good win in the "B" 200m with 25.20 secs, having earlier placed 5th over 400m in 57.05 secs. Anna Nelson was a good 2nd in the "B" with 58.31 secs, having earlier placed 2nd in her preferred event , 400mH where she recorded 61.96 secs as Katie James was a valuable 6th in the "B" with 77.24 secs. The 800m brought good points as Chloe Bradaley finished 2nd with 2m11.75 secs, and Anna Clark won the "B" with 2m15.36 secs. The 1500m saw Bernadine Pritchett 7th with 5m06.15 secs and Zoe Watson 6th in the "B" with 5m22.80 secs. Zoe was also a good 4th in the 3000m with 11m18.68 secs, as Rachel Lund was 6th in the "A" with 11m16.74 secs and also 5th in the 2000m s/ch (left) with 8m20.54 secs.
The 4x100m was a very close race with just 0 .65 secs covering the top 6 teams with Woodford's team of Kitty Eleyae, Jo Ryan, Moe Sasegbon and Sarah Busby placing 5th with 48.79 secs. The 4x400m team of Jo Ryan, Anna Clark, Chloe Bradley and Anna Nelson placed a fine 2nd in 3m55.58 secs.
Winning promotion back to the UKWL Premier Division was a just reward for the team's efforts this season, where in all matches in addition to some very fine individual performances great team spirit was shown by all athletes. Team Manager Keith Newton will be hoping that the women will be able to consolidate that well-deserved promotion next season.