Woodford success in the DNA

A significant contingent of WGEL athletes were in Glasgow for the DNA athletics event on Saturday 5 February, with athletes selected for both Scotland and England.

The first club athlete to appear in the match, in a head-to-head shot put format, was Craig Charlton for Scotland. He lost his duels, recoding a best of 14.97, but such was the format that his final match-up to determine 5th place was against Portuguese thrower Francisco Belo whose final 20.36 was the longest in the competition. Anna Clark ran for England in the 800m. She had been expecting to race against Laura Muir and victory in the event still went to Scotland despite Laura’s withdrawal and Ireland and Spain both fielding Tokyo Olympians in the event. Anna stuck with the elite trio in front of her and was rewarded with a significant indoor PB of 2:08.47 for fourth place, just 0.01 outside her outdoor best. Cameron Fillery finished third for England in the 60m hurdles in 7.91. The DNA event was decided by the performance in ‘The Hunt’, a relay with a staggered start based on performances in the previous event, with the finishing order determining the overall positions of the nations involved. Yemi Mary John ran the third leg, over 400m, for England but had a lonely run as the Spanish team began with significant advantage and had extended it in both the womens 800m and mens 600m legs. England had started alongside Ireland, but had pulled clear by the time Mary took the baton and she ran strongly for a 53 second split, the fastest on the leg, to ensure second position in the match. Wales improved to fourth in the final event ahead of Portugal and Scotland. Prior to the scoring events in the innovative format, Ben Potrykus ran an indoor best of 3:50.99 at 1500m, albeit slower than he would have hoped for in the invitation event providing opportunities for athletes to run qualifying times which the match format was not conducive for. Howard Bell, Declan Gall and Rebecca Matheson were in the Scottish squad as reserves, while William Grimsey was unable to compete having been selected to do the high jump, an event he would have been favourite to win.