A number of Woodford athletes competed last weekend in two of the very limited competitions available to UK athletes under the COVID secure protocols. Those competitions were At Lee Valley where a number of young sprinters competed and there was a good TJ performance from Shanara Hibbert. Several others competed at Nuneaton and there was news of good form from the Ofili sisters competing in the U.S.
Following a small number of test events that have been held recently, together with the feedback received and in discussion with England Athletics, the NAL have made the decision that the two remaining potential NAL competitions are to be cancelled for this season.
Of particular note from that feedback was the increased length of time it would currently take to conduct any event and that the current COVID restrictions would not allow large groups of teams to gather in an inter-Club competition format and successfully maintain the protocols required for all to remain safe.
However those dates still remain for potential competition and it is currently anticipated that some smaller or event specific T & F competitions will take place to provide competition opportunity for athletes during August and into September.
Woodford athletes took part in a handful of test events held over the weekend, which were primarily held to test protocols to allow a safe return to competition in the current Covid environment.
Three of Woodford’s throws athletes took part in a competition held at Copthall (Allianz) stadium on Saturday. Events were held in two pools of six for each of the four throws events. Woodford had two athletes in the women’s hammer event where the pools were mixed with Lucy Marshall being the best placed female athlete with a distance of 57.02m. Also competing was Simbiyat Sikiru, now a first year U/20 Simbiyat threw a personal best with the 4kg implement of 45.61m. In the men’s shot Hugh Williams recorded a distance of 12.15m.
On the track at Nuneaton on Sunday, hurdles specialist Cameron Fillery recorded a personal best over 100m with a time of 10.86 secs (+1.4), whilst in a slightly windy (+2.1) separate heat Ellis Gretrex recorded 11.06 secs w and Ollie Cresswell 11.41 secs w. Ellis also ran in his specialist event 400m where he recorded a decent 47.46 secs. Competing in the hammer, Lucy Marshall improved on her mark from the previous day at Copthall with 58.21m whilst at Hull on Saturday Craig Charlton won the Shot with a personal best mark of 16.70m, a significant improvement on his prior best of 15.63m for the former bob-sledder. This ranks him 3rd in this year's (Covid affected) UK ranking lists.
There was also news from Germany where athletics competition seems to have returned in more normal conditions with Jordan Donnelly opening his season with decent marks over both 800m (1m54.3 secs) and 3000m (8m40.3 secs) in separate meetings in Regensburg
The NAL had hoped to promote some form of Club Competition across the weekend of Aug 1st/2nd. However UKA who have been in discussion with the Government as to the possibility of a safe start and the permissible format of inter-club activity have not yet received the appropriate government guidance. Consequently the NAL have now cancelled any planned fixtures for that weekend. The next earliest date for any potential NAL sponsored competition will be August 15th.
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