SAL promotion sealed in style

Woodford comfortably won their final SAL fixture of the year at Ware to secure promotion into the top division for the first time since entering the combined Southern League back in 2012. The margin of victory was substantial, ending with 316 points to win by at least 77 points, more than separated all the other clubs. Peterborough and Nene Valley provisionally took second ahead of hosts Herts Phoenix, with Bexley fourth ahead of Dartford who fell away despite going into the match with a theoretical chance of promotion. Ilford, who WGEL didn’t score against at this fixture as the clubs were paired for the season, provisionally finished last but they as most of the other clubs at this fixture realised there was no risk of relegation so did not need to be at their strongest.

First up in the women’s hammer Lucy Marshall threw a season’s best of 53.57m to secure the female performance of the match award. Soon after Woodford secured a double first in the pole vault which though unopposed was still surprising as B string Shalom Prince had never picked up a pole previously, while Amber Higgs-Smith won having already covered the B string hammer. This set the tone for the early part of the match in which WGEL built-up a strong and then unassailable lead by covering events to ensure points were not wasted. Competition in the men’s pole vault was tougher but U17 Stephen Ng excelled with a 3.80m PB and a very narrow failure at 4.00m while Aidan O’Driscoll stepped up to win the B string. In the men’s long jump Matthew Gittens in his first competition for the club at the event rounded out a convincing win with 6.53, with U17 Raafay Mirza taking the B in his Woodford debut (5.42). The women’s and men’s triple jumps both had double wins, from Kharina Partridge and Angel Aluko and Wilfred Williams and U17 Sammy Geist. There was also B string success from Habiba Tijani behind Rebecca Wright in the women’s long jump and Wilfred Williams behind Marcel Winter in the men’s high jump. U17 Shalom Prince also had a second place overall in the high jump, with a 1.48PB, and ended as the team’s highest overall points scorer.

Breezy conditions were not conducive to quality performances in most events, but particularly the short sprints where the wind significantly slowed results. Even so Woodford had a clean sweep across all the 100m and 200m races, with Matthew Gittens and Merveilles Massembo taking the men’s 100m double, Marcel Winter and Merveilles the 200m,  while U17s Shalom Prince and Hibabi Tajani won their respective 100s and U17 Azzurra Cioni and Lakhesia Adams Poku were clear at 200m. Unsurprisingly these athletes also combined for convincing wins in their respective 4x100m relays, with U17 Samuel Kolawole leading off for the men. The men also controlled the 400m, with Lucas Emeagi taking the A string and Zach Bridges the B.

In throws while the men were not at their deepest there were still A string wins for Henry Bennet in the javelin (49.97) and Hugh Williams in the discus. Henry also recorded a PB of 8.97 behind Hugh in the shot. Peanut Meekings won the women’s javelin in 41.27 with Kirsty Bateman-Foley easily taking the B in second overall (38.95), while Peanut also won the B shot, with 2nd overall behind Rebecca Wright, and B discus behind Lucy Marshall in the A.

Points were hard to come by in the 800m, despite a PB of 2:10.23 by Max Kosheck. In the longer distance events there were significant successes including a double first in the women’s 1500m through Louise Gilbert and U17 Jasmine Hall. At 3000m U17M Daniel Arnold took the B race behind Josh Entwistle’s A string. There were some heavy scores in the hurdles including B string wins by Josh in the men’s 110 behind Henry Akaluka’s A string, Henry at 400 and Annand Tratt in the women’s 400 hurdles. Late in the day Aidan O’Driscoll won the 2000m steeplechase with Tom Beedell securing the B string.

The team mood was high going into the final mixed 4x400 relays, but the A quartet missed out late on having led for most of the race. The B 4x400 team managed to end the match on an appropriate success, given that 2/3 of all B string events were won by Woodford. Merveilles Massembo, Lakhesia Adams Poku and Daisy Anderson were each ahead when they passed the baton but victory was only assured late on in a combative anchor leg by Chiji Nwankwo.

A win at this fixture was always going to be enough to secure promotion, albeit provisionally the team ended second in the 18-team division 2 North-East behind Victoria Park Tower Hamlets who beat WGEL at the first match of the season when Woodford’s chances of winning were scuppered by the cancellation of its strongest throwing events. This year’s successful squad was not the largest the club has had in this league (just over 90 athletes contributed), but was the most balanced including an equal distribution between U17, U20 and senior/masters athletes. There was a 60/40 split men to women, while half of those that competed who were also eligible to compete in the NAL this year did so. Looking ahead there is uncertainty how the young athlete age group changes will shape the landscape of league competition for 2026, but it seems likely that the SAL will continue to allow athletes over 15 in the competition year to compete (whereas the NAL will further restrict what younger athletes can compete in) making the SAL a more important stepping stone for young athletes into senior competition.

Johnny Ng's photos from the meeting here