U/23 silver for Forde-Wells
A small contingent of Woodford athletes competed at the England U20/U23 championships at Chelmsford on the 17th and 18th of June, with the highlight a silver medal from new member Georgina Forde-Wells in the U23 womens triple jump.
On day 1 Gwendoline Datey was first up and made it through the first round of the U20W 100m, but was 7th in her semi-final in 12.16 (-1.5m/s). Joba Ashiru was 6th in the U23M high jump in 1.93m. Emma Botham qualified for the final 8 in the U23W discus but was unable to improve, finishing 8th in 40.81. Kharina Partridge recorded no distance in the triple jump, she was unfortunate that her third round was adjudged to be a foul on video technology having initially being indicated as valid. Among athletes that compete for Woodford HCA, Leah Keisler finished 4th in the U23W 800m in 2:09.32 and Cameron Wells 9th in the U20M pole vault in 4.15.
Gwendoline Datey was first up again on Sunday in the U20W 200m and qualified for the final as a time qualifier with 24.58 (-1.1). The final was moved earlier due to the threat of thunderstorms, but the wind picked up to -3.3m/s as Gwen finished strongly in 6th but with a time of only 24.70. Simbiyat Sikiru hit 50.59 in the first round of the U23W hammer but did not have another valid throw to finish 6th.
Georgina Forde-Wells joined the club just after jumping over 13m for the first time when the Bedford International Games was relocated to Woodford at the end of May. This performance earned Georgina a call up to the British team for next week’s European team championships. On Sunday she struggled for rhythm in the early rounds, not helped by variable wind, but then improved to 12.89 (+0.4) in the fourth round, further than she had jumped prior to the last month. The wind picked up above the legal limit as she improved further to 12.98 in round 5 and then took the lead in the final round with 13.30w (+3.0m/s). While this was overhauled for gold with the final jump of the competition, this significant all-conditions best sets her up well for her first senior international.