England Athletics Senior T & F Championships
Bedford hosted the England T & F Championships at the weekend, where WGwEL performances were led by medal winning efforts from Ben Challenger, Anthony Oshodi and Kirsty MacKintosh, and several other good placings in finals including from Tara Bird, Jess Sparke and Hannah Frankson.
The event at Bedford, which took place in very windy conditions and sometimes during heavy rain, is in its’ second year, and two weeks before the major domestic competition of the season – the UK Championships and World Championship Trials.
In a crowded fixture schedule the depth of some events was decidedly limited, but the sprints and some field events stood out. Woodford's medals were led by Ben Challenger, a former 2.30m high jumper, now embarking on a serious comeback placed 2nd as he equaled his season’s best of 2.11m. Anthony Oshodi last year’s UK No. 1 junior, in his first year as senior placed 3rd in the shot with 16.29m, and Woodford’s other medalist was Kirsty Mackintosh in the pole vault where she placed 3rd with 3.45m.
In the women’s 400m, Tara Bird improved her season’s best by 0.8 secs, as she placed a good 4th with 54.20 secs. Also 4th was Jess Sparke in a slow tactical 1500m where she recorded4m47.59 secs, having placed 6th the previous day in the 800m with 2m10.26 secs. The women’s triple jump was a high standard event with 6 athletes over 13m, Hannah Frankson’s effort of 13.14m w (+3.6) placed 5th, and behind Hannah in 8th was Stephanie Aneto in a season’s best of 12.52m (+1.4). Another to place 5th was Stephanie Gaynor in the 100mH where she recorded 13.78 secs w (+2.1), whilst n the men’s 110mH Dan Davis was 6th with 14.35 secs w (+2.4), but perhaps a little disappointed after the14.09 secs (+1.0) he recorded to qualify for the final. In the women’s long jump, Kim Murray was another to place 6th with 5.71m (-0.1). In the men’s discus, Tom Norman was a little below par, but was also 6th with 52.13m, ahead of Chris Linque, 8th with 47.33m and Devon Douglas, 9th with 45.63m.
The men’s 100m was of a high standard, and in the semi-finals, although not qualifying for the final there were season’s best performances for both Eugene Ayanful who recorded 10.53 secs (+2.0), and Junior Ejehu with 10.56 secs (+2.0). In the heats of the women’s 100m, Katie Skelding recorded 12.35 secs (+0.1), and then just missed out on making the 200m final with 25.03 secs w (+3.5). Woodford HCA members in action included Moe Sasegbon who won the high jump equaling her season’s best with 1.74m and Matt Morsia 7th in the triple jump with 14.57m (+1.5).
Full results here