YDL Lower Age Group Southern Premier League: Fixture 2 Tonbridge
Woodford’s lower age group (U13-U15) team delivered an outstanding performance in their second YDL fixture of season at Tonbridge (Sunday 1st June). Winning by the narrowest of margins and extending their lead at the top of the Southern Premier League.
Scoring & League Tables
The 2025 Southern Premier is contested by Blackheath and Bromley AC, Bracknell AC, Herne Hill Harriers AC, Reading AC, Tonbridge AC and Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies. There are 4 fixtures. At each fixture, clubs select A-string and B-string athletes to compete in each event. Points are awarded depending on the finishing position of these athletes. A maximum of 9 points are awarded for A-string wins. With 7 points for A-string runners, etc. In the B-string, 7 points are awarded to winners. With 5 for second and so on. The club with the highest total points wins the fixture and gets 6 league points. The two clubs with the highest total league points after 4 fixtures qualify for the National Finals (Liverpool Sat 6th September).
Team Achievement
This fixture was a superb advert for junior athletics, with strong fields across all of the 58 track and field events contested. Woodford won the first fixture (at Ashton) by 64 points, ahead of reigning UKA National Champions Blackheath & Bromley and third placed Reading AC. In this fixture, the team had lots of last-minute changes, and with Blackheath and hosts Tonbridge back to their best the lead at the top of the table changed hands throughout the day. It was clear every individual effort would count in a tight fixture.
Contributions from all the athletes across track and field events reflected the importance of having a depth of talent across the team despite any last-minute changes. This combined effort included our dedicated officials team which scored a maximum 56 points for the club and contributed significantly toward the team’s points tally.
In fact, the final standings were not known until the last event of day, with just 10 points separating the top two going into the relays. Impressive performances from Woodford’s 4x100m and 4x300m relay teams secured the team's overall victory in dramatic fashion, ending on 558.5 points (from 58 events), just 10.5 points ahead of second placed Blackheath & Bromley.
YDL Lower Fixture 2 (Tonbridge) - Final Standings
1) Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies - 558.5
2) Blackheath & Bromley - 548
3) Tonbridge AC - 505
4) Reading AC - 451.5
5) Herne Hill Harriers - 409
6) Bracknell AC – 383
Results: YDL Southern Premier Results_Tonbridge 2025
Report
It was a sunny but blustery day with strong cross-winds making conditions difficult. Many events were judged to be wind assisted and therefore did not count toward official personal bests.
U15 Boys - Highlights
Throws: Harrison Dawe was a cornerstone of the U13 Boys sprints team last season. Still a great sprint prospect, with a strong older contingent just ahead of him he has used his strength and thrown himself into the shot and hammer to great effect this season. Harrison won A-string Shot (10.76m) and was 2nd B-string in Hammer (21.11m). He also picked up vital points in Discus as 4th A-string (19.18m). Kian Traynor threw a PB in Hammer of 33m 27cm for 2nd A-string. Oskar Prince, first year U15, threw a PB in Javelin of 26.44cm for 4th A-string.
Jumps: Essex County Champion Tyler Reynolds, and Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland combined superbly in Long Jump. Tyler won A-string (5m 77cm). Daniel was 2nd B-string (4m 81cm). In high jump, Toby Taylor was disappointed to not clear 1m 60cm but nonetheless he was 2nd A-string (1m 55cm). Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland was 2nd B-string (1m 50cm).
Pole Vault: Okkie Lee (2m 40cm) and Tayo Adetona (2m) picked up maximum points in A-string and B-string. This was a PB for Tayo and he continues to progress in his first-year vaulting.
Sprints: Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland (11.34) and Toby Taylor (12.56) won A and B-String 80m Hurdles to secure maximum points. In the 100m, Alex Osagie (11.55) and Tyler Reynolds (11.87) were 2nd A-string and 1st B-string respectively. The boys doubled in 200m, taking 2nd in both A and B-string in high quality races. Alex ranks 4th in the UK for 200m and 9th for 100m. In 300m Laurent Modeste-Lesforis was 2nd B-String (40.17).
800m: George Keene made a great start in his first summer at the club. He was 2nd A-string with an excellent run of 2mins 6s in a tight race with a second separating the top three. Kaiden Nelson-Gursoy was an excellent 3rd B-string (2mins 17s).
1500m: Eric Frith and Oskar Prince have stepped up in age group and are finding their feet against older counterparts. Eric was 6th A-string (4mins 53s) and Oskar 5th B-string (4mins 58s).
Relays: 4x100m (Reynolds, Modeste-Lesforis, Taylor & Osagie) and 4x300m (Keene, Franklin, Kirkland & Fairlamb) teams won their relays in terrific races with less than a second between them and runners up Blackheath. The 4x100m team ran 46.06 seconds, outside their best but they still rank 1st in UK.
U15 Girls - Highlights
Throws: Eden Dunnage and Claudia Berrios-Garcia made welcome returns to the shot team. Eden threw 8m 59cm for 5th A-String and Claudia 7m 08cm for 3rd B–string. Isla Barron continued progress in Discus (20m 37cm) with 4th A –string and in hammer (20m 62cm) with 2nd B-string. Phoebe Whelan continues to show promise in combined events. Phoebe was 4th A-String hammer (22m 70cm), 6th B-string Discus (12m 65cm) and 1st B-string High jump with 1m 40cm.
Jumps: Isabella Moulton, another showing great progress in combined events was 3rd A-String in high quality long jump competition. Isabella jumped 4m 68cm. Nolan (Hearne Hill) jumped 5m 20cm to win the event, a distance that ranked in the top 10 in UK. Isabella doubled up in the high jump (1m 50cm) and was 2nd A-String behind UK ranked No1 Alessia Scala (Blackheath) who jumped 1m 65cm to win the event.
Pole Vault: Emily Stockill (2m 70cm) and Marissa Higgs-Smith (2m 40cm) picked up superb points with 2nd A-String and 1st B-String respectively. This was a PB for Emily. The UK ranked No1. Ella Brooker (Blackheath) vaulted 3m 15cm to win the event.
Sprints: Isabella Moulton ran a superb 11.49s in 75m Hurdles for 1st A-String in a great race, taking the scalp of UK No3 ranked Murray (Blackheath) in second place. Tyleah Edwards made it a clean sweep with 1st B-String (12.71s). Joy Larinde clocked an outstanding 12.33s in 100m (4th top ranked performance of the day) and 25.6s in 200m for maximum points in a sprint double win. This was impressive given the high-quality field. 5 from 6 athletes competing in 100m and 200m achieved England Athletics Grade 9 (highest rank) performances. Joy is ranked 6th in the UK for 100m and recently won SEAA Southern Champs (200m). Maya Robinson, in her first season at the club, was also outstanding and 2nd B-String 200m in 26.61 (Grade 9). In 300m Tyleah Edwards (43.24) and Faith Franklin (44.64) both 4th in A and B-String events. These two would combine superbly in the 4x300m relay later in day.
Middle Distance: In 800m Sophia Parker (2mins 38s) was 4th A-String. Nation (Bracknell AC) won the race in 2mins 19s (ranks 7th in UK). Eva Prince stepped up in age groups and ran an excellent race (2mins 33s) for 2nd B-String. In 1500m, Chloe Summers ran big PB of 5mins 21s for 5th A-String.
Relays: 4x100m (Oringa, Akpoveta, Robinson & Larine) ran 50.10s in a thrilling finish and tied for first with Blackheath. The 4x300m (Parker, Franklin, Edwards, Moulton) team won a terrific race, coming from 3rd place on the penultimate handover to win, with Isabella Moulton making up 3 seconds on Blackheath’s final leg athlete.
U13 Boys - Highlights
Throws: Blake Edwards threw a PB of 9m 69cm (5th most highly ranked performance of the day) in Shot for 2nd A-String. It was a big day for Blake. He is a very talented young athlete and went on to score big points for the team in his jumps and 4x100m relay. Ashton Jokhiya and Alfie Perkins stepped in for more experienced throwers who were unavailable. Ashton threw 15m 31cm for 5th A-String. Alfie was unlucky. Wind caught his javelin several times for 3 no throws.
Jumps: Blake Edwards doubled in Long Jump and High jump. He was superb with 1st place in both A-String events, jumping 4.73m in LJ and 1m 46cm in HJ. Recovering from a sore back, he was very sensible in HJ doing enough, given his PB of 1m 65cm ranking him No.3 in the UK. Debutant Joseph Hassard stepped in late in day for our more experienced jumpers in B-String HJ and was 3rd with a PB of 1m 15cm.
Sprints: In 75m hurdles, Leo Ciarlet (14.53s) was an excellent 2nd A-String, behind top 10 ranked Adkin (Tonbridge) who won the race in 13.65s. Lukas Sendar made his debut, again with more experienced hurdlers unavailable. He has just started to train in the event regularly and, despite a fall, recovered well to finish his race (18.47s) and collect valuable points for the team. The 75m and 150m sprint team are new and mostly lower age group. Robert James was 5th A-String (10.62s) in a high- quality event. Keylan Brian was 4th B-String (10.91s) and is gaining from more consistent training after injury last year. In the 150m, Keylan was 6th A-String (21.88). Leo Ciarlet made his debut over the distance and was 5th B-String (23.03).
Middle Distance: Ashton Jokhiya stepped into A-string with more experienced athletes unavailable. His disappointment not to go under 2mins 30s is evidence of standard setting in training, but he still ran a good race for 5th A-String (2mins 31s). Jax Connor, a lower age group athlete, came into the B-String and was 5th (2mins 39s). Jax learnt lots from his race which was won in 2mins 26s.
In 1200m Jack Tonge continued his progress, running 4mins 01s for 4th A-string. The leading pack was just 2 seconds ahead. The winner May (Reading) ran 3mins 41s and ranked 2nd in the UK. Patrick Langan stepped into B- String for his debut and was 6th in 4mins 31s.
Relays: 4x100 (Brian, Perkins, Edwards & James) ran 54.95s for 4th A-string.
U13 Girls – Highlights
Throws: Gracie Fayinka threw a PB of 23m 17cm in Javelin for 3rd A-string. Gracie has been more consistent in her throws training in recent weeks and shows good potential. She doubled up in Shot and was 2nd B-String throwing 6m 42cm2. Daisy Whelan was 5th A-sting with 6m 46cm.
Jumps: Grace Cherry (4m 11cm) was 3rd A string combining well with Daisy Whelan who was 2nd B-String (3m 73cm). Daisy was also 3rd B-String in High jump (1m 25cm) with Rosie Anderson making her debut this season in event also clearing 1m 25cm for 3rd A-String.
Sprints: Rosie Anderson and Kehanique Lowe combined superbly in 70m hurdles. Rosie and Kehanique were both 1st in A and B-string events and continue to impress. In 75m sprint Rida Oluwa (10.25) was 2nd in a high-quality event with Addy (Tonbridge) just ahead in 10.03. These two battled it out again in 150m with Rida just missing out finishing 2nd in 19.82s. Rida is ranked 3rd in UK for 75m and 4th in 150m. Phoebe Quorn made her sprint debut in 150m finishing 6th B-String in 22.57.
Middle Distance: Grace Cherry and Lottie Oates ran superb races to pick up near maximum points for the team. Grace ran a big PB of 2mins 27s for 2nd A-string and Lottie also ran a PB of 2mins 34s for 1st B-string. In 1200m, Chloe Ward ran a PB of 4mins 09s and looked strong behind winner Baker (Bracknell AC) who ran 3mins 55s, a top 10 UK ranked time. Poppy Barker also ran a big PB of 4mins 14s to win B-String race by 10 seconds from the runner up with a superbly executed run.
Relay: 4x100m team (Lowe, Ward, Anderson, and Oluwa) ran an excellent race for second place in 56.12s, off their best of 54.52 which ranks the team 3rd in UK.
Summary: It was a huge team effort, with the athletes, coaches, team managers and officials all contributing to another fantastic result. The team is well placed regarding qualification for the National Finals, but two very difficult fixtures remain. With school holidays looming, the importance of a deep squad will be even more crucial. Thanks to everyone who continues to support the team and the efforts of everyone involved. Next fixture: Sunday 29th June at Norman Park - home of National Champions Blackheath & Bromley.