Medals galore at England relay champs

Woodford went to the England Athletics National Relay Championships with high hopes and came back from Birmingham with medals in 6 events, more than any other club. This included winning the U15 boys 4x100m, for WGELs first success since the event was relaunched, along with 4 silvers and a bronze.

Senior teams were stretched having competed at the same venue in the NAL the day before. The senior women’s quartets in particular had high hopes after beating most of the teams they were due to face the previous day. At 4x100 though the main threat was not from those who came directly from league action, but Croydon Harriers who are not a NAL Club but who focused specifically on these championships. The first Woodford 3 legs showed the familiarity of working together, including the previous day  with Scottish international Rebecca Matheson handing on to Gwendoline Datey. Gwen faced down the fastest from most teams on the back straight but came through strongly to pass slightly in the lead to U20 Amira Adeshokan. There was very little to choose into the final changeover but Jasmine Clark, the freshest of the team despite having raced in Germany on Friday night, was unable to take the baton cleanly first time which led to a gap opening up to Croydon that was to prove decisive. The silver medal and a season’s best of 46.50 in the first final of the day set the tone for the rest of the Woodford teams to follow. The last quartet on was also the senior women, in the 4x400m. The team had all run the previous day, Natalie Groves, Molly Swingler and Helen Pretorius on the same legs but Louise Gilbert came in to leg 3 having done both 1500 and 3000m at the NAL. Natalie ran a well judged first leg on the long stagger to pass first (55.8) and Molly established the lead at the break and pulled well clear through her leg (56.8). The gap was closed up on leg three by City Of Sheffield but Louise (60.5) still gave a marginal lead to Helen who began confidently after a strong anchor the previous day. Sheffield surprisingly attacked hard into the wind on the back straight and quickly opened a gap that appeared insurmountable into the home straight but then began to narrow rapidly in the final 50m. The line came just too soon for Helen to prevail, despite a 54.5 split, with the final time of 3:47.33 marginally slower than WGEL had run on Saturday (3:47.12, which frustratingly would have been sufficient to take the gold).

The men’s sprints squads were particularly hard hit by injuries and illness from the NAL. No 4x400 teams could be put together while U20 400m hurdler Joseph Arnold offered to stay up to ensure at least there would be a full contingent of 4x100m teams. In the end Joseph had to take leg 1 for the senior men, who were thus under pressure from early on which didn’t help the quality of the second and third changeovers. Merveilles Massembo, Matthew Adum-Yeboah and Benedict Chukwueze closed down the field on each leg, but were unable to get through the pack and finished 6th in 42.39. The U20 quartet fielded U17 Waiz Yasser on first leg and qualified as heat winners in 41.77, but despite this just missing the club record only seeded them 4th for the final. Waiz lost some ground on the fastest teams in the second half of his first leg but a strong changeover to Marcel Winter regained much of this. Smoother changes than in the heat to Dante Pollard and then Matthew Gittens set up a tight battle for silver, behind Be Fit Today Track Academy who won in a significant UK U20 club best of 40.13. There was little to separate the next four teams but Matthew just lost out on the dip to hosts Birchfield Harriers to finish third, with the time of 41.28 a clear club record and the 5th fastest ever by any Club U/20 team.

The under 17 women’s 4x100m team of Habiba Tijani, Shalom Prince, Nevaeh Johnson and Evanna Eze had a nervous couple of changeovers in their heat. This meant that while they qualified automatically and with a club record of 47.96, they were only 5th fastest and hence allocated the outside lane, 9, for the final. The lack of distractions that the outside lane provided may have helped produce a much sharper set of exchanges which set up an exciting conclusion. Blackheath and Bromley came out of the final changeover with a clear lead but did not have their strongest athlete on anchor so other teams began to overhaul them. Just as Evanna edged ahead of B&B in the lane next to her, Herne Hill Harriers came through in lane 7 and took the gold, leaving the Woodford quartet with silver medals in a club record of 47.01, nearly a second quicker than in the heat. Evanna also ran in the U17W 4x300m, a race which was based on timed races rather than multiple rounds. WGEL were allocated in the notionally faster A final, which saw a rough first couple of legs with Azzurra Cioni baulked back to third and Daisy Anderson pushed several times early in the second leg. In her third race of the day Evanna Eze was able to take the team up from third to a close second before passing on to Evie-Mae Mosanya. Evie-Mae was in close contention until the final 50m but faded late on to finish 3rd in the heat but on times only 5th overall. The U17 men’s 4x100 were not at their strongest, having had Waiz moved up to reinforce the U20 quartet but were well in contention in their heat until a poor final changeover. Jaheim Roman, Tyler Matthew, Samuel Kolawole and Callum Clydesdale were unable to progress with their time of 44.52.

The under-15 boys 4x100m team entered the event as the top ranked club quartet and even not at full strength were able to comfortably qualify fastest overall in 45.08 with Tyler Reynolds, Nathaniel Sandy, Laurent Modeste-Lesforis and Lawrence Foster. For the final Toby Taylor came in on leg 3 for Laurent, with the workload of both being tempered ahead of both running the 4x300m. Safe changeovers left Woodford in contention but Lawrence with plenty of work to do on anchor. Croydon and Woodford quickly pulled away from the remaining teams but there was very little between the two all the way to the line, with WGEL getting the nod by just 0.01 in 44.31. The club record by almost half a second added to the England title, medals for all five athletes and assorted gifts including England Athletics lions and unusually a birch tree sapling courtesy of the host club. Before that presentation Laurent and Toby had another race to run on legs 2 and 4 of the 4x300m. George Keene led off in the notional A final with Daniel Fairlamb on leg 3, but the team were never better than 3rd in their heat and ended up 4th but 5th overall on times, as Croydon gained consolation for being edged out in the 4x100 by winning overall from the B race. The WGEL quartet still improved the club record by more than a second to 2:39.21. The U15G 4x100m team started the day qualifying 2nd in their heat, fourth overall for the final in 49.36, with Tare Akpoveta, Maya Robinson, Isabella Moulton and Joy Larinde. For the final Tyleah Edwards came in on the first leg and the team were in contention throughout. On the anchor leg Joy Larinde moved into second mid-way down the homestraight but was unable to catch BFTTA, finishing 0.12 back in 48.81s.