YDL National Finals – Team Bronze and 60 Medals for Woodford
On Saturday 6th September, Woodford lower age group (U13/15) team returned to the UK Youth Development League (YDL) National Finals. The squad arrived as Southern League Premier Division Champions, emulating the success of 2024 when the team reached the National Finals for the first time.
The finals were hosted by Liverpool Harriers AC at the Wavertree Athletics Stadium. Woodford have competed in YDL since inception in 2013. While the league has undergone structural changes, one principle has remained with the winning clubs from the Southern, Midlands, Northern, and Scottish Premier Leagues being invited to the showcase National Final.
Medals for Logistics
Club volunteers worked tirelessly leading up to the final. Organising transport and accommodation for over 60 athletes, parents and officials. The majority stayed at the Hilton Hotel, near Albert Docks in Liverpool. This provided a fantastic base for the squad. It was a hive of activity Friday night as everyone arrived, and on Saturday morning as the young athletes prepared with breakfast before their big day!
Woodford base camp, Wavertree Athletics Stadium, Liverpool (photos by Johnny Ng)
Participating Clubs
The 2025 final brought together seven regional champions from across the UK: Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (Southern Champions), Blackheath & Bromley AC (Southern Runners Up), Cheltenham & County AC (Midlands), City of York AC (Northeast), Edinburgh AC (Scotland) and hosts Liverpool Harriers AC (Northwest)
Scoring System
Clubs select an A string and B string athlete to compete in each event (50 events). Points are awarded on a sliding scale based on athletes' finishing positions. A maximum 10 points are awarded for “A” string wins, with 8 points for second place and so on. In “B” string events, 8 points are awarded for a win and 6 points for second place and so on. Medals are awarded to all 1st, 2nd and 3rd placed athletes in A and B string events. The club with the highest total points are National Champions!
Favourites were four times National champions Blackheath & Bromley AC, and three-time runners-up Rugby & Northampton. Both finished nearly 100 points ahead of Woodford (3rd) at this stage last year.
2025 Final Standings (after 50 events)
1st Rugby & Northampton AC – 623 points
2nd Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC – 621.5 points
3rd Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies – 621 points
4th Liverpool Harriers AC – 530.5 points
5th City of York AC – 476 points
6th Cheltenham & County Harriers – 473.5 points
7th Edinburgh AC – 424.5 points
Full results - UKYDL LAG 2025
Photos: Lower YDL National Finals 2025 | Flickr
Woodford took bronze in the overall team competition in the tightest final ever witnessed with just 2 points separating the top 3 teams. Toppling reigning champions Blackheath & Bromley and perennial runners up Rugby & Northampton, well deserved champions, was always going to be tough. Both teams are very experienced and have deep squads.
However, Woodford are closing the gap, and at halfway held the lead. Woodford also topped the Points-for-Performance (P4P) rankings on the day with 71,457 points which showed the quality of performances from the team with only the narrowest of margins between the top three clubs.
3rd place at the Nationals: team captains Toby Taylor & Isabella Moulton
Individual Medals Table
Woodford athletes won 47 National Medals (vs. 43 in 2024)
9 x Gold A string and 5 x Gold B string medals
10 x Silver A string and 13 x Silver B string medals
10 x Bronze A string and 12 x Bronze B string medals
Woodford Relays Medals Table
U15 Girls 4x 100m won Silver
U15 Girls 4x 300m won Silver
U15 Boys 4x 100m won Gold
U15 Boys 4x 300m won Bronze
U13 Girls 4x100m won Bronze
U13 Boys 4x 100m won Silver
Woodford Green 2025 YDL National Finals Squad
Match Report
In sunny conditions, the fixture got underway with the hurdles and hammer.
Hurdles
U15 Girls (75mH) – This was a stacked race, with Woodford’s Isabella Moulton ranked 2nd in UK taking on UK No.1 Murray (Blackheath) and UK No.4 Callau (York). It was Isabella in 11.53s who won with a terrific run, moving through the gears ahead of Callau and Murray. In the B string, multi eventer Tyleah Edwards ran 12.66s and took bronze in a tight race, with athletes from York and Blackheath filling the podium again. U15 Boys (80mH) - Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland 11.58s (1st) showed his class to win the A string. Daniel has suffered some injury niggles this season but is an incredible competitor and deserved his gold. Training partner and combined eventer Toby Taylor 12.62s (2nd) won silver and was a fraction off first place.
Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland wins gold in the U15 Boys 80m hurdles
U13 Girls (70mH) - Rosie Anderson (12.10s) and Kehanique Lowe (13.48s) put their nerves behind them to claim 2nd and 3rd in A and B string. Both girls have improved tremendously this season. U13 Boys (75mH) - first year athletes Idris Bernard 15.83s (7th) and Leo Ciarlet 15.43s (5th) represented the boys. Idris moved up to the A string in a high-quality field and showed no fears. In the B string Leo was disappointed not to medal but has learnt a lot in his first year of club competition.
Hammer
U15 Boys - Harrison Dawe threw 23.77m and surprised himself with a PB and 6th place in the A string. Going into the fixture Kian Traynor had a PB of over 37m, but nerves got the better of him. After 1 foul throw he threw a safe throw of 23.21m for 5th place in B string. U15 Girls - Stevie Makepeace has been a terrific addition to the team this summer. Stevie threw an impressive 36.89m, just outside her PB, for silver in the A string. Isla Barron was also just outside her PB with a throw of 22.66m, placing 4th in B string.
Stevie Makepeace throws for silver in the U15 Girls Hammer
Sprints 100m & 200m
U15 Boys - Woodford’s boys have been tremendous this season. Lawrence Foster (11.52s) was up first, taking bronze in the A string 100m. It was a high-quality race won by UK No 2. Spencer-Simms (Blackheath) in 11.06s. Alex Osagie powered ahead of the field with a run of 11.77s to win gold in the B string.
Both boys doubled in the 200m with Alex (24.11s) taking silver in A string and Lawrence (23.61s) winning gold in the B string. Lawrence’s time would have won the A string race such was his performance.
U15 Girls – 100m - Joy Larinde has also been in sparkling form and dominated both sprints, winning gold in the A string 100m (12.79s) and 200m (25.24s) ahead of Elden (Rugby) who was runner up in both races. Joy is ranked No. 7 in UK over 200m and 9th over 100m. Chanae Andrews (13.86s) was 6th in the B string 100m and Maya Robinson (27.36) took bronze in the 200m. Both girls have been terrific in their first season.
75m & 150m
U13 Girls – 75m Rida Oluwa (10.13s) ran superbly, winning gold in the 75m and silver in the 150m in 20.09s to finish just behind the UK No.2 Lee (York). Rida ranks 9th in the UK over 75m and 5th over 150m. Her gold and silver medals were a step up from her two bronzes in 2024. Kamiah Francis-Harriett (10.87s) joined the club this summer and has been improving with every race. Kamiah placed 5th in the B string. Phoebe Quorn (23.13s) stepped up in the 150m in her first season with the sprint team and was 5th in the B string.
Rida Oluwa wins U13 75m gold
U13 Boys - Rayan Amilhasan (9.95s) ran a PB to take bronze in the A string 75m and silver in the A string 150m (20.06s). Rayan joined late this summer and with a full season under his belt will be looking forward to 2026! Robert James (10.53s / 21.39s) placed 5th B string 75m and 6th B string 150m. Robert has been superb, given his lack of sprint training due to the demands of his national swimming competitions.
After 20 Events Woodford were 2nd behind Blackheath.
300m
U15 Boys - Daniel Fairlamb (38.97s) won bronze with a terrific run with teammate Laurent Modeste-Lesforis (39.65s) taking silver in the B string. Laurent ran a PB and the boys combined well scoring good points for the team in this event.
U15 Girls - Isabella Moulton stepped up in distance after her hurdles and ran 42.57s to take bronze in the A string. Faith Franklin in her first Nationals ran 45.21s for 4th in the B string.
Middle Distance
1200m
U13 Boys - Jack Tonge (4:03.86) and Jax Connor (4:07.34) ran out of their skin and took bronze medals in the A and B string races. The boys paced their races superbly and fully deserved their medals.
U13 Girls - Lottie Oates (3:59.64) took bronze in an exciting race. Lottie was part of a chasing pack with leader Wilson (Rugby) clear at the front. Lottie got her nose ahead of the pack and managed to fight off a late surge from Brown (Edinburgh) to hold on to her medal. Poppy Barker, in her first track season, ran a superb 4:14.59 to win silver in the B string. She paced her race well and was able to dig in at the end under pressure from 4th placed Metcalfe (York).
1500m
U15 Boys – first year boys Adam Amin (4:53.45) and Eric Frith faced stiff competition. Adam had run 4mins 42s but was boxed in on the second lap and finished 7th in the A string. Eric also got boxed in and somewhere along the back straight was adjudged to have stepped off the track and was disqualified. It was harsh on both the boys, but they will be back even stronger!
U15 Girls - Jemimah Ramchurn (5:09.03) and Chloe Summers (5:30.55) gave it everything with both finishing 6th in their races. As lower age group athletes they faced stiff competition in high quality fields. They will take heart in how well they did and take this into their winter seasons with great confidence.
800m
U15 Boys - George Keene (2:10.70), in his first summer with the club, ran an excellent race and took bronze in the A string. Kaden Nelson-Gursoy (2:20.17) was 6th in the B string. Kaden was disappointed having clocked 2:15 in June but should be proud of his achievements this summer with the team.
U15 Girls - Eva Prince (2:28.96) stepped up into the A string with teammate Sophia Parker unwell. Eva ran superbly for 4th place. Eva has been managing a few niggles but is a warrior of a competitor! The same is said of Marissa Higgs-Smith (2:50.99) who stepped in at the last minute to cover for the team. Marissa had been focused on pole vault but took up the challenge of running 800m to score points for the team.
U13 Boys - Henry Richards (2:21.33) went off like a rocket with the leaders but, having just won the B string high jump, he just did not quite have the legs to stay with the leaders, but he dug in to take Bronze in an exciting race. Henry has improved immensely this summer and is ranked No.20 in UK for 800m. In the B string there was another exciting race, with Ashton Jokhiya (2:24.53) just pipped on the line for second place by Streich (Blackheath). Ashton has also developed superbly in recent months training hard with teammates.
U13 Girls – In similar fashion to Henry, Grace Cherry (2:27.93) took bronze having competed in the high jump beforehand. In a tightly fought race Grace just could not catch the leaders. Grace is ranked 9th in the UK. Chloe Ward (02:34) started the season running 1200m in the YDL but, given her impressive improvement in speed over the summer, was selected for the 800m. Chloe ran a brave race at the front of a chasing pack behind the two leaders. Her speed took her away from the group with about 200m to go and she held on to win a well-deserved bronze medal.
After 40 events and with the final events and relays to go Woodford were just 10 points off the lead, behind Rugby and Blackheath.
Long Jump
U15 Boys - Tyler Reynolds was in great form coming into the finals. Ranked 9th in the UK, Tyler leapt 6m10cm to win gold in the A string. Combined eventer Toby Taylor was also in fine form, jumping 5m 31cm to take silver in the B string, adding to his silver in the hurdles.
Tyler Reynolds jumps for U15 gold
U15 Girls - Cleopatra Drake jumped 5m11cm for 4th in the A string. This was a great performance with Cleo showing her class with this performance off limited training in recent weeks due to an injury niggle. Emma Frisby joined the team this summer and won her first national final medal with a jump of 5m01cm, over 20 cm further than the rest of the B string field.
U13 Boys – Woodford’s UK No.2 ranked Pentathlon athlete Blake Edwards was 4th in the A string event. His jump came at the end of a long day. Blake had competed in the high jump and shot before this event. Rayan Amilhasan continued to impress, jumping 4m 43cm to take his second silver of the day in the B string.
U13 Girls - Grace Cherry jumped 4m15cm for 4th place in the A string. Grace was 2cm short of 3rd! Rida Oluwa used her speed to full effect, leaping 3m 99cm to take bronze in the B string. This was her third medal of the day!
High Jump
This proved to be one of the most exciting events of the day. Woodford’s camp set up opposite the high jump area and the support for our athletes was off the scale!
U15 Boys - Toby Taylor produced a PB jump of 1.78m and won silver in the A string with Mumbure (Rugby) taking gold on count back. This was Toby’s third medal of the day. Daniel Niewczasinski-Kirkland also produced a PB of 1.65m to take silver in the B string, his second medal of the day.
U15 Girls - Emma Frisby carried on her spectacular performances with a PB clearance of 1.64m. Emma is ranked 8th in the UK and was only beaten by UK No1 Scala (Blackheath) who jumped 1m 70cm. Multi eventer Phoebe Whelan jumped 1m 40cm and took silver in the B string.
U13 Boys - Blake Edwards is ranked 2nd in the UK for high jump and was well clear of the field. UK No. 5 Walden (Rugby) jumped 1m 50cm for second place. Henry Richards, in his first summer of competitive jumping, produced a PB performance, clearing 1m 45cm to win the B string.
Blake Edwards leaps clear for U13 HJ gold
U13 Girls – Grace Cherry also produced a PB clearance and was delighted with her bronze medal, losing out on silver on count back. Daisy Whelan just missed out on a medal jumping 1m 25cm with Byrom (Liv H) taking 3rd on count back.
Pole Vault
U15 Boys – Tayo Adetona (2m 50cm) equalled his PB to take silver in the A string. This is Tayo’s first competitive season in PV and he was delighted with his medal. Okkie Lee (2m 40cm) improved on his bronze from last year, taking silver in the B string.
The U15 girls were also in good form. Emily Stockill (2m 70cm) equalled her PB and took bronze in a high-quality A string event with UK No.1 Brooker (Blackheath) breaking the YDL record with a clearance of 3m 55cm. Marissa Higgs-Smith (2.60m) also equalled her PB and won gold in the B string. The pole vault team have been a huge success this season and a major contributor to the teams’ points tally through this league campaign.
Emily Stockill takes silver in the U15 Girls Pole Vault
Shot
U15 Boys - Harrison Dawe (11.84m) and Nathaniel Sandy (10.85m) carried on their terrific performances in this event. Last year the boys won gold in the A and B string U13 National finals. Stepping up in weights, and age groups this year the boys once again excelled. Harrison took silver in A string and Nathaniel won gold in the B string.
U15 Girls - Eden Dunnage (8m 41cm) and Stevie Makepeace (7m 55cm) kept the points rolling from the throws team. The girls finished just outside medals with Eden 5th in the A string and Stevie 4th in the B string event.
U13 Boys - Blake Edwards (9.25m) took silver in the A string and did well to manage his clash with the high jump which was very closely timetabled. Arvin Uberoi joined the club only 6 weeks ago after excelling in schools competitions. Arvin threw 6m 96cm for 4th in the B string. U13 Girls – Daisy Whelan threw a PB of 7m 15cm for 4th place in a quality A string field. Gracie Fayinka collected good points for the team in the B string, throwing 5m 81cm for 5th place.
Discus
U15 Girls - Isla Barron (22m 68cm) and Stevie Makepeace (22m 23cm) continued their throws extravaganza with more fine performances and scoring lots of points for the team. Isla was 5th in the A string. Stevie with her PB throw took silver in the B string - her second medal of the day. U15 Boys - Harrison Dawe continued his fine form with another throws PB, taking bronze in the A string discus with 21m 24cm. Nathaniel Sandy was also in fine form, picking up more points and a bronze medal with a throw of 21m 42cm in the B string.
Javelin
U15 Boys - Oskar Prince produced a PB throw of 31m 90cm for 5th place in a fantastic A string event. The winner Bucher (Cheltenham) threw 66m 41cm a new UK age group record. Kian Traynor threw 26m 23cm for 4th place in the B string, picking up more valuable points.
U13 Girls - Isabelle Stander threw 23m 82cm just outside her PB for 4th place in the A string. Isla Barron took bronze in the B string with a throw of 19m 22cm. U13 Boys - Arvin Uberoi threw a PB of 27m 12cm for 5th place in the A string. Fintan McDonnell threw 21m 90cm and was just outside the medals with 4th in the B string.
Relays
The final events were the 4x100m and 4x300m relays. Woodford were third by the narrowest of margins ahead of 4th placed Liverpool Harriers. Blackheath led with Rugby & Northampton second. These two looked unstoppable but with 60 points up for grabs in the relays anything was possible.
4 x 100m
U15 Boys - Tyler Reynolds, Nathaniel Sandy, Lawrence Foster and Alex Osagie (45.06). These boys were unstoppable with a terrific performance to take gold ahead of Rugby & Northampton. Blackheath were DQ’d which proved to be pivotal moment.
U15 Girls - Chanae Andrews, Maya Robinson, Cleopatra Drake and Joy Larinde (50.04). The girls got off to a flying start and took a fantastic silver medal in an exciting race, holding on to second place behind winners Rugby and ahead of Blackheath as these three clubs continued to dominate.
Joy Larinde brings the team home for silver in the U15 Girls 4 x 100m
U13 Boys –Kyelan Brian, Robert James, Blake Edwards & Rayan Amilhasan (53.10). The boys saved their best run of the season for the final. Getting off to a good start, they executed good, clean handovers and took an excellent silver medal behind favourites Blackheath and ahead of Rugby.
U13 Girls - Kamiah Francis Harriott, Ella Roberts, Rosie Anderson & Rida Oluwa (54.20) The girls gave it everything but some slick handovers from Liverpool Harriers and Blackheath saw them edge ahead and the girls had to settle for bronze ahead of Rugby in 4th place.
4 x 300m
U15 Boys - George Keene, Josiah Franklin, Laurent Modeste-Lesforis and Daniel Fairlamb (02:45.26). Blackheath were runaway winners with Rugby & Northampton in second. Woodford’s boys held off a late challenge from Liverpool Harriers to take bronze and pick up valuable points to keep the team in the mix!
U15 Girls - Joy Larinde, Faith Franklin, Tyleah Edwards, Isabella Moulton (02:52). The girls ran an excellent race to finish just behind Rugby & Northampton. These two teams are ranked 3rd and 4th in the UK and finished ahead of UK No 4 Blackheath.
This concluded the fixture and, with the final scores so close, the Blackheath DQ proved to be a deciding factor with Rugby announced as overall winners by just 1.5 points !
Summary - Steps Forward
It was another historic day in Liverpool for the club, and a fitting end to a wonderful season in the YDL. The day encapsulated the emotion of the season with tears of joy and laughter, anguish and a sense of huge pride with the result being so close at the end!
Congratulations to all the athletes who competed this season and to all the family and supporters that travelled to the league fixtures throughout the season. The support given to the athletes is the backbone of the team’s success. This team spirit was summed up by the appearance of our reserves, who travelled to Liverpool to support their team and were ready to go if called upon!
Thanks to all our officials; Kenny King, Simon Smith, Hannah Willaims, Emma Clydesdale, Tamsin James, Paul Frisby, Nicole Wright and Luke Finch who made the day possible.
And finally, to everyone at the club and committee for support given to the team managers; Karen Higgs-Smith, Eubert Malcolm, Paul Cheal and Joe Everitt and all the club's coaches and junior assistants who helped prepare the athletes.
We hope this season sets another benchmark for the athletes at the club and we can look forward to many more appearances at the National Finals.