Home win in SAL
Woodford comfortably won the home fixture in the SAL on Sunday 22 June. While the track was competitive among all the clubs, WGEL scored very heavily in the field to win by almost 50 points ahead of Cambridge Harriers. St Albans finished third, ahead of Kent AC, Ilford and Watford.
Simbi Sikiru set the tone for a dominant throws performance by wrapping up the hammer with her first throw (48.18). Male athlete of the match Gareth Winter, a commonwealth games thrower for Wales and in his first SAL, achieved maximum points across the throws including 15.93 in the shot. He actually finished behind long-term second claim member Wes Clarke for Ilford in the hammer, but Woodford didn’t score against paired club Ilford at this match, while Fergus Harford took the B string. In the javelin Gareth won the B string behind Henry Bennet’s 47.80 PB victory in the A. Hugh Williams took the B string win in both shot and discus. Kirsty Bateman Foley continued her SAL winning run with 42.15, holding off teammate Peanut Meekings (40.37) far ahead of the rest of the field. Peanut also took the B shot behind Rebecca Wright who missed out on the A string win by just 4cm, while Erin Delea won the discus with her only valid throw.
On track Isabelle Kyson won the 400 hurdles despite falling off the final barrier with Rhianna Buaku taking the B. The next A race win was some time coming despite some strong 100m performances, including B string wins in PBs by U17M Waiz Yasser (11.19) and Amira Adeshokan (12.17). Kyra White then produced a typically aggressive win in the women’s 400m (57.34), backed up by U17 Daisy Anderson winning the B (61.73 PB).
Jumps success was almost as widespread as in the throws, led off by 5.38 in the long jump by Remi Salako with fellow U17W Habiba Tijani second overall in 4.93 PB. Remi improved her triple jump best to 11.20 to finish just behind team-mate Kharina Partridge with the 2 well clear of the field. Giselle Moulton comfortably won the pole vault (2.75) with U17W Amber Higgs-Smith taking the B string on countback. Not to be outdone U17M Stephen Ng won the men’s vault (3.45). Wilfred Williams improved his TJ best to 13.57 for a clear win after second in the high jump (1.85). In the women’s high jump Anabelle Drake won the B string but only due to finishing behind Shalom Prince on countback as Shalom finished 2nd in the A in her first competition at the event having just won the B 200m (25.26w, inside her legal PB).
The 200s saw multiple PBs whenever the wind was legal. Brought into the A 200m Amira Adeshokan was 2nd in a 25.46PB. Matthew Gittens won the men’s A 200 (21.88w), with Waiz Yasser in the B running 22.71. Among 200m non-scorers significant PBs were led by T44 Bebe Jackson (28.22, second fastest in the world this year in her category) and including U17W Chelsy Ayiro (29.22) and Angel Aluko. In the women’s 1500m steeplechase Anaand Tratt came through the field for an assured win in 6:01.62. Oliver Clifton went out aggressively in the men’s 2000m ‘chase and was rewarded with a 6:59.58 PB to take the B string behind Will Muffett. The women’s 4x100 quartet of Habiba Tijani, Amira Adeshokan, Lakhesia Adams Poku and Shalom Prince won in 48.98 and the meeting was capped off by 2 wins in the mixed 4x400m relays. The A quartet was led off by Kyra White, running mainly against men, and while M50 Salvatore Passerini didn’t quite catch the leader Isabelle Kyson quickly took the lead and turned it into a decisive one. This set up U17M Thomas Niewskinki-Kirland for a dominant (50.6) anchor leg. In the B race U17M Rahul Solanki found the home straight challenging after leading, but strong legs by Daisy Anderson and Lakhesia Adams Poku meant the pressure was off for anchor Aidan O’Driscoll, whose only point of focus was lapping a team as WGEL won by the length of the straight.
After second place in the first SAL fixture, the win puts Woodford on the edge of the promotion zone half-way through the season. With only the top 2 of the 18 club division 2 North-East going up the team need another strong result in the next fixture, at Cambridge on Sunday 13 July.