More Indoor News, Including Essex Champs.

Whilst some Woodford athletes were busy at Sheffield in the National Indoor Age Group Championships, others were also in action more locally at Lee Valley in the Essex Indoor Championships (including the Eastern County Championships) which covered all age groups. There were many good performances, with county titles for Matthew Adum-Yeboah, James Canless, Ashleigh Simmons, Caitlin Hancock and Azzurra Cioni. There were further medals and good performances from others. There was also news of good performances overseas from some of Woodford’s senior athletes.

Matthew Adum-Yeboah’s title came in the senior men’s 60m where, in his first competition of the season and his first as a senior, Matthew won his heat with 7.01 secs and then the final with 6.95 secs. In the senior women’s equivalent, HCA and 2nd Claim member Jo Ryan took the title in 8.03 secs from Eloise Lewis with 8.07 secs, a season’s best for both. In the shot Hugh Williams was 2nd with 11.65m (but first Essex athlete). There was also a senior silver medal for  Becky Wilby in the 800m with 2m30.64 secs. Peter Caton, now a V45, placed 5th in the 800m with 2m15.23 secs, and also 5th was Temi Olusesan, in the 400m with 66.87 secs after a heat of 67.58 secs. In the 60m heats Ayooluwa Osundun recorded 7.63 secs.

In the U/20 age group in the men’s 60m Roshaun Edwards and Ben Corbett finished 2nd and 3rd, with personal bests of 7.53 secs and 7.65 secs respectively. There was an Essex silver (Eastern bronze) medal for Zahara Malcolm in the 400m with 62.43 secs after a 62.59 secs heat and in the 60m Levania Ugonna-Mba recorded a p.b. of 8.32 secs. For the U/17 men James Canlass won the 60m title with 7.22 secs after a 7.3secs (ht) heat. Nate Harding placed third (but second Essex) in the 1500m with a personal best of 4m26.56 secs. There were two medals for Ashleigh Simmonds amongst the U/17 women, gaining a bronze in the 60m with a personal best of 8.01 secs after an 8.07 secs heat and then taking the 200m title with another personal best of 26.52 secs after winning her heat in 26.82 secs. In the heats of the 60m Tiya Canning Lawrence recorded 8.35 secs and Ciara O’Donnell-Roberts 8.97 secs; both were personal bests. Ciara later placed 8th in the long jump (7th Essex) with 4.15m. In the 60mH Maia Fisher finished 5th with 9.58 secs after a 9.47 secs clocking in her heat. Maia also placed 2nd (Essex) and 3rd (Eastern) in the shot to gain silver/bronze medals with a personal best of 9.78m.

In the U/15 Girls, there was an Essex gold medal for Caitlin Hancock (Eastern silver) in the 200m, where she ran a 27.56 secs PB in the final after a 27.79 PB heat. Caitlin also took the Essex silver  medal (Eastern bronze) over 60m with 8.33 secs, having qualified from her heat with a personal best of 8.27 secs. Later, in the long jump, Caitlin claimed yet another Essex silver and Eastern bronze with another personal best of 4.95m. In the high jump Grace Olusegun was 2nd with 1.51m, a personal best after earlier finishing 4th over 60m with 8.44 secs, also a personal best. In the U/15 Boys age group Gregor Samson was 5th over 800m with a personal best of 2m 26.73 secs.

In the U/13 girls events there were two 2nd places; for Azurra Cioni in the 60m with 8.72 secs after 8.70 secs in her heat and for Jasmine Hall in the 800m with a p.b. of 2m34.66 secs. Azurra however went better in the long jump where she took the title with 4.23m.

Some of Woodford’s top senior athletes have also been in action indoors. In Metz, France, Cameron Fillery recorded times of 7.82 secs and 7.84 secs over 60mH. Cameron is currently 4th ranked in the UK. Youcef Zatat, the UK’s number two in the shot, competed at Vaxjo, Sweden where his distance was 17.60m. Eugene Amo-Dadzie, currently equal first on the UK rankings, recorded 6.62 secs over 60m at Lodz, Poland to win his heat, but did not start the final. In the US at Fayetteville, Cindy Sember improved her season’s best to 8.14 secs to move top of the UK rankings over 60mH.