The Jo Smith Cup Final
WGwEL’s senior team’s Track and Field season got underway on Saturday at Eton, in the Jo Smith Cup. This traditional end of season event which pitches the eight strongest mixed Clubs in the UK in competition was brought forward to an early May date this season. With some athletes not yet ready to start their summer campaign, others away warm weather training, all the teams found it difficult to field full teams. Whilst Woodford were no different in having some gaps, those at Eton performed admirably and the team finished 2nd to home Club WSE&H, who took the Cup with 230 points from Woodford’s 211, with last season's winners, Shaftesbury back in 3rd with 198. It was Woodford’s men who scored the most heavily with performances led by victories from Mark Dry in the hammer, Robert Wolski in the high jump, Dan Bray in the 400mH, Tom Phillips in the 1500m and the 4x100m relay team The women’s team performance was led by wins for Stephanie Gaynor over 100mH, Kitty Eleyae in the long jump and Maria Seager in the Pole Vault.
Robert Wolski, the Polish international, was Woodford’s first winner of the meeting, taking the high jump with a comfortable first time clearance at 2.15m, before having two very narrow failures at 2.20m. The second came for Mark Dry. Mark, who placed 6th in the Delhi Commonwealth Games hammer, won this competition with a season’s best of 68.65m. Dan Bray looked strong as he took the 400mH in 53.27secs, his best time since a serious knee injury curtailed his 2006 season. The 1500m victory from Tom Phillips was pleasing. Tom’s track progress was stalled last year due to injury but, after a solid winter campaign, he opened his track season and after a sub 57 second last lap came through to win in 3m57.54 secs. Woodford’s men’s final victory came from the 4x100m squad of Nick Leavey, Sam Watts, Paul Scanlan and Junior Ejehu in 41.74 secs. All of that team had been in individual action earlier: Ejehu placing 4th over 100m in 10.90 secs (+0.4); junior Watts recording a personal best over 100m of 10.75 secs (+0.5) in winning a non-scoring race (in which Adetoyi Dorotoye was 2nd with 10.84 secs); Scanlan, another junior, placed a good 2nd over 400m from lane 7, to record 48.65 secs, his best ever outdoors; and Commonwealth and European Indoor 4x400m medalist Leavey was very close to his personal best over 200m as he placed 2nd in 21.38 secs ( +0.5).
Omar Mansour was another athlete close to their personal best. A strong run over 800m saw him place 4th in 1m53.49sesc, and over 3000m, the only event which featured two athletes from each club, Mark Burgess was another making a return to the track – in his first track race since 2007, a year in which he ran 3m45.92sesc for 1500m at the age of 19, Mark placed 4th in 8m39.75secs, as Dan Agustus was 3rd in the “B” race with 8m44.93secs. The 3000ms/ch saw a personal best from Angus Holford for the 2nd week in succession as he placed 2nd with 9m 50.62 secs. In the pole vault Christian North was 2nd with 4.60m, Sayo Ojo found 14.56m only good enough for 6th in a good triple jump competition, and James Wright suffered an ankle problem whilst warming up, leaving him to record a token 6.30m for 6th in the long jump, but then unable to contest the 110mH as planned. In the other throwing events, Tom Norman recorded a good 54.37m for 3rd in the discus, and also 3rd was Stuart Harvey in the javelin with 66.03m. In the shot, last season’s UK junior number one Anthony Oshodi struggled a little with his technique in his first senior competition, recording 5 no throws and one valid mark, a modest 13.10m for 6th. The final men’s event, the 4x400m saw Woodford’s squad of Scanlan, Ejehu, Funsho Joseph and Leavey place 2nd in 3m19.16secs after a very fine 45.8 secs final leg from Leavey.
Woodford’s first women’s victory came from Kitty Eleyae in the long jump with 5.62m, and the second from Stephanie Gaynor in the 100mH, where last weekend’s British Universities Champion was a comfortable winner in 13.97 secs (+0.5). The third winner was Maria Seeger who took the pole vault with 3.80m. Back on the track there was a good 2nd place over 1500m for Emily Moss with 4m31.97secs, and a 3rd over 400m from Tara Bird with 55.00secs. Diana Kennedy was also 3rd, in the 2000m s/ch with 7m35.80 secs whilst, over 800m, Kathrine Foy looked strong as she placed 4th in 2m13. 97 secs. In the throwing events Jo Duncan led the way, 2nd in the shot with 15.23m. Sarah Smith was 3rd in the hammer with 49.69m, as was Hollie Redman in the discus with 39.24m, whilst Emma Smith was 4th in the javelin with 40.57m. The 4x100m team of Gaynor, Katie Skelding (who sadly had been disqualified earlier from both sprints for false starting), Alica Roberts-Brown and Eleyae were 3rd with 48.87 secs, and the 4x400m squad of Foy, Moss, Skelding (56.7 secs) and Bird (54.7secs) placed 2nd in 3m53.93secs.
Full results here