Strong performances at tornado-hit SAL3

Woodford finished 4th in the third SAL fixture of the season at Little Marlow on Sunday 19 July amid generally clement weather, albeit unhelpful wind for sprinters, but for an abrupt interruption of a whirlwind that left many shocked but thankfully none hurt. While no team besides victors Thames Valley Harriers had more wins, WGEL also had more gaps on the teamsheet than all the teams combined. The match was hosted by composite team Wycombe Phoenix and Chilton Harriers who finished second overall, ahead of London Heathside. Woodford started slowly with more gaps than athletes in the first hour of events but then scored strongly as the day developed to finish just ahead of Swindon Harriers. Paired club Havering, who WGEL did not score against directly at this fixture, were last to almost guarantee relegation.

The first Woodford athlete in action was also the club’s highest points scorer of the day, as Hugh Williams covered in the B string high jump prior to multiple successes in the throws. Some time later Joba Ashiru entered the competition and went on to win in a new PB of 2.01m. Joba is currently working in Jersey, limiting his competition opportunities such that this was only his second time jumping and the first for Woodford since 2024. While he had cleared 2.00 indoors in previous seasons, with the competition won he easily beat his outdoor best before succeeding at 2.01. The most impressive early track result was a PB of 1:56.99 by U18 Archie Smith in the 800m, as he came through very strongly for second behind the male performance of the match by the winner. Archie had not threatened 2 minutes for the distance until the previous Sunday, improving by over 4 seconds in consecutive weekends. Elsewhere U18W Ishana Malcolm’s PB in the B string 400m hurdles ensured that was the only track event prior to the 100m where WGEL was fully represented.

TVH edged out Merveilles Massembo to end his SAL 100m winning streak at 3, as they did to Matthew Gittens in his first individual race since hamstring surgery. While the wind ensured slow times for all including multiple Woodford non-scoring winners, the first full points of the day were for Evanna Eze in the women’s 100m. With Shalom Prince also taking the B string, there followed a slew of wins in quick succession, including Joba’s high jump and a big 4k shot PB of 11.47 from Rebecca Wright (who later slightly improved her 100m hurdles PB). Kyra White ran a controlled race to take the women’s 400m as did Adrian Richards for the men, though Merveilles Massembo was quicker in taking the B heat (50.10PB) in a rare individual outing at the distance. Double wins in the men’s shot, with Hugh Williams ahead of Aaron Edwards, and a PB of 45.18 for Peanut Meekings to beat Kike Agoro (44.15) more than 10m ahead of the other clubs in the women’s javelin, meant that WEGL jumped back into the pack from a distant last early on.

In her first track appearance for the club Zena Uppal ran her first 3000m track race in an illness-delayed season opener. In the circumstances and with others not willing to push the pace she was content with 2nd in 10:27.88, while Dawn Holford improved her PB by over 20 seconds as B-string. Dawn’s husband Angus ran his usual patient race in the men’s 5000m, coming through the field to go under 16 minutes for the first time in over 2 years. Henry Bennet was one of many to finish second behind TVH, in the men’s javelin, as did U18W Remi Salako in the women’s triple jump (albeit almost 2m behind the female performance of the day of 12.92 which was the longest in the league this decade) and her B string Habiba Tijani who jumped a 9.66PB. At 200m Evanna Eze was edged out in the women’s A string but fellow U18W Evie Mosanya comfortably took the B race. For the men Derval Luntadila scored for the first time for the club in a 200m whose quality was not reflected by times given the wind which at times was starting to gust strongly across the top bend.

Bebe Jackson warmed up for competing as an F44 in the Commonwealth Games para discus on 29 July by throwing her second bast distance of 26.17 while Merveilles Massembo laid down an early marker in the triple jump and Katie Olert ran her fastest 1500m since returning to track competition in 2024. Suddenly some freak wind gusts developed into a whirlwind that sent equipment flying along a line across the exposed venue. Frighteningly it lifted up one of the large metal pole vault covers (which weigh over 400kg) sending it across the track, flipping and crashing down on its roof. While nobody was hurt, understandably the men’s 1500m was stopped mid race and dozens of helpers edged the battered shell into a place of safety (and one where the car park exit was no longer blocked).

When events restarted Merveilles Massembo’s early distance proved sufficient to narrowly win the triple jump as the other top jumpers failed to register any further valid marks. U18W Alice Padian ran slightly faster than in her home NAL debut last weekend in the women’s 2000m steeplechase. The women’s 4x100m team (all U18W) of Habiba Tijani, Shalom Prince, Evie Mosanya and Evanna Eze won in 48.54 while the men’s quartet (Waiz Yasser, Adrian Richards, Merveilles Massembo and Matthew Gittens) were just overhauled by TVH despite a solid 42.50 time. With no further runners on track Woodford were reliant on a double first in the men’s discus by Christopher Linque and Hugh Williams and maximum officials points (helped by Hugh on top of his 4 events) to hold off a late charge by Swindon and finish 4th overall. This result means that while the team has dropped into the lower half of the league table a very strange set of outcomes at the last fixtures on Saturday 8 August, when WGEL go to Gillingham, would be needed to join paired club Havering in going down.