NAL Final - Bedford

Bedford hosted the final National Athletics League fixture of the season on Saturday. In typical breezy conditions for the venue Woodford’s combined men’s and women’s team finished 5th on the day among the top eight of sixteen Premiership Clubs which meant they finished the season in 5th place overall, the same as prior to the final fixture. There were hopes that the team could do well enough on the day to move up to 4th but some misfortune on the day ruled that out. Based on provisional results the day’s points scores were: TVH 542.5, Blackheath 535, Harrow 505, SBH 454, Woodford 447.5, Birchfield 426, Windsor 376 and Trafford 346. This would leave the overall League standings of the top eight Clubs as follows: TVH 32, Blackheath 29, Harrow 27, SBH 25, Woodford 23, Windsor18, Birchfield 17 and Trafford 13. There were many fine performances from Woodford athletes, led by Youcef Zatat’s win and personal best in the shot.

Youcef Zatat’s shot victory came with a put of 18.73m in the 5th round of a fine series where all five of his recorded marks were over 18m. Backing up Youcef in the shot was hammer man Mark Dry whose 12.35m placed him 4th in the “B”. Earlier Mark had placed 3rd in his specialist hammer event with 65.48m and Youcef had covered the discus where his 45.22m was 5th in the “A” as Chris Linque was 4th in the “B” with 41.87m. Backing up Mark in the hammer was Peter Clarke in his first competition of the season and his 47.35m placed 4th in the “B”. In the women’s hammer Simbi Sikiru placed 4th with a distance of 47.70m but unfortunately Chiara Okereke had three no throws so no points were scored. Chiara however earlier had competed in the shot and her 11.60m placed 5th as Simbi placed7th in the B with 7.79m. In the women’s discus Emma Botham, throwing in borrowed shoes, nevertheless was close to her best and her 47.60 placed 3rd with Precious Hamilton some way off her best form placing 4th in the "B" with 30.84m. The prevailing wind was a tricky one for the javelin throwers and in the women’s event Kirsty Bateman Foley place 4th with 38.71m and multi-eventer Jane Davidson was 5th in the “B” with 28.97m. The men’s event saw Simon Bennett place 6th with 52.66m and Lee Lovelock-Jemmott also 6th in the “B” with 43.97m

The track action had got underway with the men’s 400mH and in a high quality race Jack Lawrie just lost out in the run in as he recorded 50.70 secs for 2nd. In the "B" race Declan Gall finished very strongly over the final 150m to take a fine victory in 53.43 secs. In the women’s equivalent U/20 Leah Keisler was close to her best as she recorded 62.08 secs for 5th as Jasmine Mitchell finished strongly in the “B” race to place 2nd in 64.22 secs. Leah later took a fine win in the “B” flat 400m with 57.54 secs and in the “A” Rebecca Matheson was 6th with 57.69 secs. Rebecca had earlier raced over 100m and in a close “B” race was 2nd with 12.09 secs (+0.7). U/20 Gwen Datey ran the “A” and her time of 12.08 secs (+0.7) placed 5th. Gwen later went over 200m where she had a fine run, finishing very strongly over the last 60m to take the “A” race in 24.48 secs (+0.8). Jo Ryan ran the “B” where she was 6th with 27.01 secs w (+2.5). In the men’s sprints there were some last minute team changes due to injury but in the “A” Medwin Odamtten, another U/20, originally expected to cover the “B” race, recorded 10.67 secs (+1.5) for 5th. Another under 20, Sikiru Onibanjo,  stepped into the “B” and he was also 5th with 10.93 secs (+1.9). Sikuru later went in the “B” 200m and placed 6th with 22.34 secs (+0.4) after Matthew Adum-Yeboah was 7th in a high standard “A” race with 22.16 secs (-0.4). The 400m was also difficult, with the original A string athlete missing, so expected “B” man Omololu Abiodun stepped up into a high quality race where his 49.30 secs placed 6th. U/20 sprinter Merveilles Massembo stepped in at short notice for his first ever individual 400m and his 53.99 secs placed 8th but nevertheless gained a valuable point. The sprint hurdles races were all good quality. In the men’s A race Ollie Cresswell was 6th with 14.86 secs w (+2.3) and in the “B” George Vaughan was 3rd with 14.85 secs (+2.0). In the women’s 100mH Jane Davidson was 7th with 14.23 secs and sadly there was no “B” string for Woodford.

With the men’s usual long jumpers unavailable for this meeting, Lawrence Davis (usually a triple jump specialist) covered the “A” and put together a good series, just missing out on his 7m aim but nevertheless recorded 6.97m (+1.7) for 4th. Curtis Wood (primarily a high jumper) covered the “B” with 6.24m (+0.7) for 5th. Curtis later was later 4th in the “B” high jump with a clearance of 1.83m with Joba Ashiru, an U/20, clearing 1.88m for 5th in the “A”. The Triple jump saw Tosin Oke, now an M40, placed a fine 2nd with a good 15.80m (-2.4), a mark which, if ratified, would add 44cm to the British Masters record. Missing another specialist triple jumper, Merveilles Massembo again stepped in to cover and his 12.59m (-1.2) placed 4th in the “B”. In the women’s triple jump it was very pleasing to see Shanara Hibbert back in action after serious injury and her 11.82m (-2.0) placed 2nd with Denesha Rocastle taking the “B” with 11.52m (-0.6). Denesha also covered the long jump where her 4.83m (+0.3) was 6th in the “B” as Harriet Legg, a little below her usual form, was 8th in the “A” with 5.05m (+0.3). The high jump saw a personal best for Jessica Gordon with a clearance of 1.73m, Jessica placed 3rd= on countback as the top 6 athletes all cleared the same height. Harriet Legg cleared 1.48m for 5th in the “B”.

In the men’s middle distance events it was good to have Ben Potrykus back in NAL action and, in a slow starting 800m, he placed 3rd in 1m53.75secs. M45 Andy Brown covered the “B” and his 2m02.10 secs was 5th. Ben later ran over 1500m where he placed 4th with 3m59.12 secs as Adam Kirk-Smith was 3rd in the “B” with 4m01.02 secs. Adam had earlier enjoyed a comfortable win in the 3000m s/ch with 9m13.05 secs as stalwart Ryan McKinlay helped out in the “B’ where his 11m47.46 secs gained valuable 4th place points. Without any specialist vaulters available Ryan later gained 5th place “B” string PV points with an opening height clearance as Paul Howard did likewise to place 8th in the “A”. The 3000m was a good race in the windy conditions and Ahmed Abdulle just lost out over the final lap to place 2nd in 8m27.42 secs with M40 Paul Martelletti, significantly under distance, running a well judged even paced race to place 2nd in the “B” with 8m47.16 secs. In the women’s 800m another U/20, Jess Norkett, after leading most of the way, lost out in the home straight to place 2nd with 2m12.47 secs and Louise Gilbert was also 2nd in the “B” with 2m16.20 secs. Louise was later 4th over 1500m in 4m44.39 secs with U/20 Jess Adams ensuring the “B” event was covered, finishing 5th in the “B” with 5m18.40 secs. This was after Jess had earlier raced as Woodford’s only 3000m athlete and placed 7th in that “A” event with11m23.84 secs.

The relays closed the meeting. The men’s 4x100m squad of Sikuru Onibanjo, Medwin Odamtten, Matthew Adum-Yeboah and Omololu Abiodun placed 5th with 41.85 secs, whilst the women’s squad of Rebecca Matheson, Shona Vincent, Lakhesia Adams and Gwen Datey were 3rd with 47.19 secs. The women’s 4x400m team went one better as they placed 2nd as Rebecca Matheson, Jasmine Mitchell, Kyra Boyce and Leah Keisler combined for 3m53.28m. The men, however, had a disaster as on the first leg Nabil Tezkratt, the 4th ranked U/20 in the UK over 400m, false started with the team being disqualified.

This meeting brought the NAL season to a close and whilst some may think the jury is out on the new format it has brought a high standard competition opportunity to many athletes who seemed to have enjoyed that opportunity and the format. Team managers Keith Newton and Gladys Bird were pleased with the many athletes that competed during the season and also grateful to the many officials who supported the team and likewise contributed valuable points to the overall team effort.