Good 3rd in final NAL of 2026
The final NAL Premiership fixture of the 2026 was held at sunny and breezy Eton on Saturday where Woodford finished 3rd on the day and 3rd overall for the season. Although Harrow edged TVH in the march, TVH won the overall League title after Harrow had broken their winning streak last season.
Match scores (subject to scrutiny) were Harrow 602, TVH, 594.5, Woodford Green 471.5, Glasgow 460, WSEH 454.5, Birchfield 443, Tonbridge 420, Swansea 239.5. Aside from the top two teams there were two keenly contested sub competitions within the meeting, between Woodford and Glasgow for 3rd overall, and between WSEH, Birchfield and Tonbridge to prevent joining Swansea in being relegated. In the end Woodford confirmed their 3rd place with a double victory in the final event, the triple jump, and in the relegation fight, despite looking vulnerable for much of the meeting Birchfield rallied towards the end to pull clear of Tonbridge who are relegated along with Swansea. League points : TVH 23, Harrow 22, Woodford Green 17, Glasgow 16, WSEH 10, Birchfield 9, Tonbridge 8, Swansea 3.
From a Woodford perspective despite having key athletes unavailable and losing others at short notice it was a solid all-round team performance, led by A string wins for Sam Khogali, Kirsty Law, Kike Agoro and Sean-Connor Atafo. Sam Khogali’s win was in the long jump which he took with 7.34m(+0.6) and with Sammy Lok taking the B in 7.08m (0.0) confirmed a Woodford double. Kirsty Law for whom this was the first comp since picking up an injury at the British Champs won the discus with 49.24m, backing up Kirsty was Danni Broom who placed 2nd in the B with 43.06m. In the javelin Kike Agoro who has made a very successful return to competition this season threw a season’s best of 48.14m and Peanut Meekings took the B win with 40.56m Sean Atafo’s win was on his debut in the NAL, still an U/18 he recently represented GB at the World U/20 Championships and at Eton he won against many good senior athletes with a distance of 15.50 (-0.2) and in so doing also get the better of fellow Woodford 16m + jumper, Thalosang Thsireletso who won the B with 15.27m (0.0).
The meeting had started with the women’s Hammer and without our two leading throwers (Katie Head and Lucy Marshall), discus specialist, Danni Broom was back in (very occasional) hammer action and her 51.03m in the final round placed her 6th. Willow Bedding stepped in to fill the other gap and making her NAL debut she placed 4th with 45.22m. The men’s hammer saw Jabez Berry place 5th with 63.17m as Tom Head took the B win with 59.37m. The men’s discus had Chris Linque 7th in the A with 42.48m and Gareth Winter 6th in the B with 38.86m. Gareth was later in the shot and placed 4th with 14.68m with Aaron Edwards 5th in the B with11.42m. The women’s shot had Danni Broom back in action and her11.04m was 7th in the A as she just bettered U/20 Rebecca Wright on NAL debut with 10.81m for 4th in the B. The men’s javelin was a high standard competition and although making the cut Max Law had to withdraw after 3 throws with an ankle problem so his 59.01m placed 6th in the A. Henry Bennett threw 49.76m for 5th in the B.
One of the first events was the women’s long jump and after a double victory in the previous Woodford fixture we were without our leading jumpers. Amelia Watling stepped up and although a little below her normal standard her 5.22m (-1.6) was 7th. Tai’bat Owosho another U/20 was 6th in the B with 5.10m (-0.2). Amelia also covered the high jump and her 1.48m was 8th as U/18 Shalom Prince also cleared 1.48m for 6th in the B. In the men’s high jump Toby Cherry cleared 1.98 m which was good enough for 4th, and after his long jump Sammy Lok cleared 1.83m for 4th=. B. Back in action after injury Shanara Hibbert was 3rd in the A triple jump with 11.97m (-0.1) and Tai’bat Owosho was also 3rd in the B with 10.63m (0.0). Both PV competitions were a little lower scoring than we would normally hope for, lacking his normal pole due to logistical issues Nathan Mobbs cleared 4.13m for 6th A and Will Snashall 3.83m for 5th B. With injury to Hollie Jupp and unavailability of others Grace Brennan was our only female vaulter and with two track races already in her legs nevertheless on her return to NAL action after two years cleared 2.83m for 7th A.
The track action had begun with the 400mH. In the men’s A race Ollie Parker was in close contention for 2nd but heavily hit the 8th hurdle and did well to stay on his feet and finish 4th with 55.02 secs. The B race saw Joe Arnold called in at short notice and he placed 6th in the B with 63.00 secs. For the women, Jasmine Mitchell was 3rd in the A with 62.09 secs and Grace Brennan in the first of her 4 events took the B win with 64.45 secs. Grace later took on the B 100mH and was 6th with 15.74 secs (-1.8). In the A race, Yasmin Uwakwe placed a good second with 13.89 secs (-0.8). In the men’s 110mH Ethan Akani did well to stay upright and rally to finish 2nd in 14.43 secs (-0.3) after hitting the 8th hurdle badly whilst leading. Without another specialist, ex-Steeplechaser Ryan Mckinlay stood in to gain 6th place B string points.
The men’s 100m saw recent world U/20 4x100m silver medallist Ethan Franklin win in 10.40 secs (+0.9) with Merveilles Massembo 6th in the B with 11.18 secs (-0.4). Merveilles was later also 6th in the B 200m with 22.52 secs (-2.4). In that A race Matthew Adum-Yeboah was 7th with 21.94 secs (-0.9). The women’s 100m saw Phoebe Clayton make her Woodford NAL debut and after an injury affected season placed 6th in the A with 12.17 secs (+0.9), whilst in the B, U/18 Evanna Eze was 5th with 12.38 secs (-1.5). In the 200m another U/18 and world U/20 4x400m relay medallist Noah Chodokufu was 7th in 24.88 secs (-1.2), with Azzurra Cioni, also an U/18 4th in the B with 25.52 secs (-1.5).
The men’s 400 races were of a very high standard and it was pleasing to see Jacob Cambell improving towards his best again as he finished strongly to place 4th in 47.45 secs. Also running a season’s best in the B and also finishing strongly was Jack Higgins with 47.72 secs for 2nd. In the women's A race, Natalie Groves was 6th with 56.47 secs and in the B Jasmine Mitchell was 3rd with 58.28 secs.
The men’s 800m saw an outstanding solo win from Tonbridge’s Jack Higgins in 1m46.89 secs. Woodfords outstanding vet (and former 1.48 man) Andy Brown was 7th in 1m59.18 secs. The B saw U/18 debutant Archie Smith set the pace against a decent field and although overhauled held his form well to place 4th in 1m56.91 secs. The 1500m was equally outstanding at the front as Ted Higgins for Tonbridge and paced by his B string teammate set a very fast pace which both Woodford’s Ben Potrykus and `Harrow's Andrew Milliagn followed. Higgins held form and pace to finish in an outstanding 3m38.75 secs (a League Record), with Ben just losing out on the battle for 2nd place with 3m45.87 secs. In the B and in his 2nd race of the afternoon, Adam Kirk-Smith was 6th with 4m11.07 secs. Adam a former Commonwealth Games steeplechase finalist had made his return to NAL competition earlier in the 3000m steeplechase where he placed 4th with 9m30.63 secs. Aiden O’Driscoll was 4th in the B. The women’s 800m was also started at a fast pace but unlike the men’s it wasn’t maintained to the same degree with Louise Gilbert finishing a good 3rd in 2m11.64 secs. Louise was later in a competitive 1500m where she just lost out to the Harrow athlete placing 2nd with 4m34.39 secs. Club stalwarts Rachel Lam ( 6th) and Katie Olert (7th) ensured 800m and 1500 B string points. Sadly, we were unable to field any women steeplechasers. In the men’s 3000m, Jaymee Domoney placed 4th with 8m54.39 with Angus Holford also 4th in the B with 9m12.66 secs. The women’s event over the same distance saw two NAL debutants with Zena Uppal 6th in the A with 10m08.54 and Naomi Doye 7t in the B with 11m48.14 secs
With the battle for 3rd place very much undecided the 4x100m relays were on, the men, expected to figure strongly unusually failed to get the baton round (but as did Glasgow), whilst the women (Evana Eze, Shalom Prince, Rebecca Matheson and Phoebe Clayton were 5th in 47.12 secs. The 4x 400 women’s team of Rebecca Matheson (60.22), Grace Brennan (62.13), Jasmine Mitchell (59.39) and Natalie Groves (56.31) placed 5th. The men, Jacob Campbell (48.84, Ollie Parker (48.76), U/18 Thomas Niewczasinski-Kirkland (49.55) and Jack Higgins (47.95) were 4th with 3m15.10 secs.
At that stage with the men’s triple jump still ongoing, Glasgow held a slender lead over Woodford for 3rd but that dominant TJ performance with the double win, in the end saw a good third place secured as well as 3rd in the League standings, which overall was a pleasing result