Dominant SAL home win

Woodford won their first Southern Athletics League match in dominant fashion. The home fixture was the first time the club had been in the top division of the SAL since entering the league in 2012 but the team led throughout and ended with one of the highest scores (359) seen in the league in its current format to provisionally go top of the table in the 18-team division. The Ipswich Harriers, Colchester&Tendring composite team finished 2nd over 70 points behind but clear of City of Norwich who had finished 3rd in the league last year.  Victoria Park Harriers and Tower Hamlets were 4th after beating WGEL for the division 2NE title last year, edging out Havering. The gaps at the bottom were much tighter but Chelmsford, three times SAL champions including in 2023, were provisionally last by 1 point.

Setting the tone for the day there were early double wins from U18s Keira Palmer and Amber Higgs-Smith in the pole vault and Toby Cherry, in his first appearance for the club having been in injured for over a year and Wilfred Williams. Toby’s 2.06 clearance was his best since winning English Schools in 2023 and he very narrowly missed matching his 2.10PB. Gareth Winter was a late addition to the teamsheet but ended top individual scorer on the day. His 15.23 shot beat Toby for statistical male performance of the day and he also won the discus and the B hammer despite before heading off to compete in the Loughborough international the following day. Ammar ElAbsy won the hammer in a new PB of 56.67. The male clean sweep in throws included a B win by Hugh Williams in the shot, Chris Linque finishing only behind Gareth in the discus (with non-scorer Aamar also beating the other clubs) and Bradley James taking the javelin backed up by Henry Bennet (non-scorer Milan Andrew’s 43.68PB also beat the other B strings).

First on track U18 Daisy Anderson improved her 400 hurdles PB to 70.53, for the men Joseph Arnold took the B with non-scorer Henry Akaluka improving his PB just behind, after Will Parry was out-dipped in the A race. Emily Caton won the 800m, while there were PBs from U18 men Luka Norden (1:57.78) and Adam Johns. At 100m there were double wins from Merveilles Massembo (10.70) and Marcel Winter, U18W Shalom Prince (12.34) and Lakhesia Adams Poku. Shalom later lost the high jump on countback despite a 1.50PB while the others returned for the 200m which were highlighted by a WGEL debut by U18M Oluwatobi Ogundeke who won a quality A race in a windy 21.57. The wind ruled out PBs from non-scorers Merveilles (who beat the B race field) and Max Mottram. At 400m there was another clean sweep, from M40 Adrian Richards, U18M Thomas Niewsinki-Kirkland, Kyra White and Daisy Anderson. In the distances the WGEL highlight was the 3000m steeplechase in which Will Muffett went out very aggressively in his first time at the distance. By contrast Tom Beedell was 5th early on and came thorough the field steadily before passing a seemingly fading Will into the final barrier. Will fought back late on but just failed to catch the older man with 10:24 for both the fastest that Tom has run in a decade. Pleasingly there were no gaps in any distance events, with multiple track debutants and Katie Olert winning the B 1500 behind Rachael Lam.

While not the clean sweep of throws seen in the men, Dani Broom and Erin Delea were well clear of the rest of the field in the discus as were Peanut Meekings and Kirsty Bateman-Foley in the javelin. Abbie Dowdye was an equally convincing winner of the triple jump in her first league competition for the club. Bringing a close to a fine team performance the women’s and men’s 4x400m teams both led every step of the way. Kyra White, Daisy Anderson, Isabelle Kyson and Lakhesia Adams Poku won by the length of the home straight, while the men’s team of Merveilles Massembo, Marcel Winter, M50 Salvatore Passerini and Adrian Richards were never seriously threatened either. These races summed up a strong performance all round, with the biggest squad since entering this league despite the fact that age group changes meant a smaller proportion of young athletes were eligible this year. Tougher contests will lie ahead with different clubs at each fixture in this league, but confidence will be high going in to the next match at Eton on Sunday 20 June.