Skip to main content

NAL Third round – Woodford

The third round of this season’s NAL Premiership was contested at Woodford on Saturday. Bright and warmer weather than expected greeted the athletes although the breezy conditions did lead to a number of performances being wind assisted and presented athletes with a stiff headwind on the back straight. Results are currently only provisional with some doubts over the eligibility of certain athletes due to some issues with the Open Track system but at this stage it looks as if the final results were Blackheath 580.5, Birchfield 542.5, Woodford 488, Jaguars 441.5, Swansea 377.5, Bristol & West 317, Southampton 315, Cardiff 273. Considering the (provisional) results of the other Premiership fixture this will leave Woodford in 5th place overall and comfortably qualifying for the “top eight” fourth round match at Bedford on Aug 20th where the other qualifiers (again provisionally) will be TVH, Blackheath, Harrow, SBH, Windsor, Birchfield and Trafford. As with the other Clubs Woodford were missing some athletes for a mixture of reasons but all those who competed did so admirably and contributed to a decent overall team result.

Highest scoring event for Woodford on the day was the men’s long jump where there was a double victory. Che Richards who has enjoyed a very consistent season took the “A” long jump with a leap of 7.53m whereas former leading U/20 Calum Henderson in his first competition since the indoor 2020 season took the “B” string with 7.05m. In the other men’s field events there were also several decent performances, in the high jump Joba Ashiru was again close to his best with 1.92m for 5th whilst in the ‘B” although a little below his best Curtis Wood was 2nd with 1.87m. Joba also was 3rd in the triple jump with 12.72m and surprisingly Declan Gall won the “B” string with 11.80m. Declan had earlier contested his specialist event the 400mH where he was 3rd with 54.31 secs and stood in for the “B” 110mH where he surprised himself (and others) with his 2nd place in 16.42 secs w (+2.2). In that “A” race Ollie Cresswell just lost out on the dip by 0.01 secs but nevertheless clocked a good 14.37 secs w (+2.3). Paul Howard helped out in the other jump event, the PV and his clearance at the opening height ensured 7th place ‘A” points. Missing several top throwers decent points were still gained where in the discus Devon Douglas was 7th with 39.09m and Hugh Williams was 3rd in the “B” with 34.93m. The same pair covered the shot and Hugh got the better of Devon placing 7th in the “A” with 11.78m and Devon 4th in the “B” with 11.33m. In a less strong than normal hammer competition Hugh also covered that “B” event and his 27.25m was second in the “B” as club stalwart Fergus Harford was 7th in the “A” with 29.26m. The javelin saw another stalwart in action as M45 Simon Bennett placed 3rd with 53.55m and another M45 Gideon Stander in his first competition for many years was 2nd in the “B” with 47.61m

On the track there were mixed fortunes. In the 100m Nabil Tezkratt suffered injury to his hamstring whilst challenging for the lead 20m from the finish and although hobbling across the line for an eventual 8th was ruled out of the rest of the meeting. At this stage it is uncertain as to the extent of Nabil’s injury but we wish him a speedy recovery. The “B” string saw Matthew Adum-Yeboah 4th as he improved his p.b. by 0.02 secs with 10.83 secs (+1.6). Matthew then took the “A” 200m where in a fast race he was 4th with 21.77 secs w (+3.1). The wind dropped for the “B” race and Sikuru Onibanjo had a fine run to record a new p.b. of 22.12 secs (+0.1). Missing Nabil (who the previous week had ran a p.b. of 47.13 secs), the 400m athletes had to be re-assigned with Adrian Richards stepping into the “A” and his 51.85 secs for 7th was a decent run in the windy conditions. With now a gap in the “B” 400m Uche Egbon volunteered to cover it and in first ever race over the distance he placed a fine 3rd with 52.52 secs in a well-judged effort. It had already been a good day for Uche who recorded a p.b. of 11.22 secs (+0.8) in the non-scoring 100m, where in another non-scoring race Sikuru won and recorded his fastest ever, but windy time of 10.75 secs w ( +2.9) with another U/20 Merveilles Massembo behind him with 11.09 secs w (+2.9).

The middle distance races were interesting in the breezy conditions, some starting slowly and others quickly. Two home grown youngsters Videsh Weerakody and Max Richards covered the 800m. Videsh was 7th in the “A” with 1m58.61 secs and Max a solid 6th in the “B” with 2m02.99 secs. Videsh then took on the 1500m where together with Adam Kirk-Smith they worked their way through the field as others faded after a fast start Adam’s 4m03.05 secs was 4th in the “A” and Videsh who lopped five secs off his p.b. was 2nd in the “B” with 4m03.20 secs. Adam had earlier stepped in at short notice to cover injury in the “B” 400mH and in an incomplete field his 61.69 secs for 5th gained valuable points. After that 400mH Adam then took on his specialist event the 3000m s/ch and against a decent field stayed uninvolved until the last lap or so when he took the lead and came home strongly to ensure the win with 9m26.88 secs. Tom Beedell helped out in what used to be his specialist event and his 10m46.21 secs brough useful 2nd place “B” string points. The 5000m saw Paul Martelletti back in good form on the track where he placed 3rd in a season's of 14m58.64 secs with James Stockings also gaining good points with 15m34.09 secs for 2nd in the "B".

The women also had to call upon several of their reserves for this meeting but they all performed admirably in the circumstances and ensured most events were covered. In the “A” long jump, U/20 Amelia Watling jumped a decent enough 5.48m but found that only good enough for 7th in a very tight competition with Denesha Rocastle a last minute stand in for the “B” due to a Covid-related absence placing 5th in the “B” with 5.01m. Amelia then took on the high jump where she was close to her best and her effort of 1.52m was 2nd in the “B”. In a decent “A” string comp Jess Gordon placed 3rd with 1.62m equalling her season’s best and also going close to 1.67m. Denesha later took on her specialist event the triple jump and recorded a season’s best of 11.67m to place second. In the “B” event U/17 Kharina Partridge again acquitted herself very well against senior opposition and her 10.68m won the “B” event. Missing stalwart Lucy Marshall (competing at the World Masters Championships) others were called in to help out with the throws. In the hammer, Simbi Sikiru sadly had three no-throws elevating Abigail Allen to be the “A” string athlete where her 36.66m placed 7th but would have been third in her anticipated “B” event. The discus event saw all athletes down on their expected distances with an unfavourable wind but Woodford athletes nevertheless were each third. Emma Botham in the “A” with 41.66m and Precious Hamilton with 37.50m. In the javelin and making her NAL debut for Woodford in her first season for four years, Kirsty Bateman-Foley was 4th in the “A” with 37.22m as Precious also covered that “B” event and her 20.17m was 4th.

The sprints saw a number of reserves stepping in and all did as best as they could contributing valuable points to the team effort. Eloise Lewis was 8th in the “A” 100m with 12.91 secs w (+2.4) and later 7th in the “B” 200m with 26.79 secs (+1.6), a season’s best. Lakhesia Adams Poku covered the “A” string and ran her fastest ever, albeit windy for 7th with 26.04 secs w (+2.2) having earlier placed 3rd in the “B” 100m with another fastest ever (but windy) time of 12.55 secs w (+2.4). in the 400m Kyra Boyce whose expectations this season have been hampered by serious injury earlier in the year showed she is on the way back with decent fourth place effort in the “A” race with 59.61 secs as Rhianna Buaku was 6th in the “B” with 64.54 secs a p.b. in a race for which she had just 10 minutes notice.. Rhianna had earlier placed 2nd in the “B” 400mH with 70.75 secs which was also a p.b. In that “A” race with a clear winner there was a very tight scrap for 2nd and a strong finishing Leah Keisler gained that second spot with 63.47 secs. 

In the middle distance races, there were good points gained. Louise Gilbert doubled up over 800m and 1500m. In the former Louise just lost out in the straight but clocked 2m12.30 secs for second and in the 1500m was also 2nd with 4m35.20 secs. In that “B” race Alicia McArdell was also 2nd with 5m04.73 secs having earlier recorded a p.b. of 2m26.88 secs for 4th in the “B” 800m. Anna Clark more of a specialist over 800/1500m on this occasion took on the 3000m where she placed 2nd with 9m53.37 secs. Pleasingly we had two 2km steeplechase athletes in action with Aoibheann Pearce placing 2nd in the “A” with 8m09.40 secs for 2nd and Kate Stockings also 2nd, in the “B” with 8m52.90 secs. All of the relay teams were a long way from full strength but performed well with three of the four teams team finishing 4th and the women’s 4x400m team 3rd. The men’s 4x100m team of Uche Egbon, Che Richards, Sikiru Onibanjo and Merveilles Massembo recorded 42.50 secs with women’s team of Katie Adams (Skelding), Lakhesia Adams Poku, Zahra Malcom and Amelia Watling recording 49.74 secs. In the 4x400m events, the men’s team of Declan Gall 51.7, Joba Ashiru 50.7, Videsh Veerakkody 53.0 and Adrian Richards 50.3 recorded 3m25.69 secs with the women’s team of Zahara Malcom 63.1, Kyra Boyce 59.4, Anna Clark 59.3 and Leah Keisler 56.9 recording 3m58.67 secs.

The final round of this season’s NAL competition will be at Bedford on August 20th which because of the new format is likely to be the highest standard meeting of the season bringing together the current top eight Clubs in the Premiership together for the first time this season. Team mangers will be hoping to get out as strong teams as possible for this final fixture.