BAL Premiership - Match Two

WGEL’s men’s British League team finished 5^th in a close encounter at the 2^nd Premiership fixture of the season in Manchester on Saturday. Shaftesbury Barnet, with 344 points, narrowly won from hosts Sale with 339. Birchfield improved from their 7^th in the first fixture to place 3^rd, with Enfield on 273, just ahead of Woodford on 267, but clear of Newham 238, Sheffield 214 and Herne Hill 199. In the League standings Shaftesbury on 16 League points, and Sale 14, are clear of Enfield 10, Newham 9, Woodford 8, Birchfield 8, with Sheffield on 5 and Herne Hill on 2. Woodford’s team, although strong in parts, was far from full strength generally, and many athletes competed in more than one event to ensure a decent overall team result. Ryan McKinlay, who competed in three distance events as well as gaining pole vault and relay points, made a major contribution and gained an 800m personal best as well.

With several of the top middle distance athletes unavailable for this fixture there were nerves amongst the team management that we might struggle in this regard, but that was to discount the effort and recovery powers demonstrated by Ryan McKinlay, an HCA member who competes for Woodford in the BAL. He began his afternoon, in the absence of a specialist “B” string pole-vaulter, by ensuring that “B” pole vault points were gained. In the end his clearance at a modest 2.20m proved valuable, placing 5^th as others no heighted later. Ryan’s first track race was over 800m. Usually a steeplechase with limited track pedigree beyond that event, he had been encouraged by a recent 1500m p.b. of 3m52 secs, and mid-week had volunteered to fill the then vacant 800m “B” string. Running sensibly towards the back after a very fast opening 200m, he gradually moved through to finish strongly in 2^nd in 1m53.82 secs, a huge personal best having never broken 1m58 secs before. Just 15 minutes later he lined up for the 3000m s/ch, again starting sensibly he moved through to gain 3^rd place in the “A” race recording, given his limited recovery, a very good 9m23.5 secs., a time which should encourage Ryan to realise with improved hurdling he can significantly re-write his steeplechase best of 9m07 secs. Later Ryan raced over 3000m where he placed 6^th with 8m50.17 secs, before running a leg in the 4x400m team. Also doubling up in the middle distances, Tom Phillips had a very good run in the “A” 800m, a race which started off very quickly before settling back, Tom kicked hard 90m out and just failed to win by 0.01 secs as he clocked 1m53.91 secs. Later, Tom raced over 1500m and in a race where the leaders went through in 57.5 secs and 1m57 secs, found that a bit quick after his 800m effort, but nevertheless picked up good “B” points, placing 4^th with 3m59.76 secs. In the “A”, junior James Stockings raced well in only his 2^nd BAL outing and ran strongly sitting back from the fast opening pace to place 4^th with 3m54.25 secs. Another athlete rallying to the cause at short notice was Tomaz Plibersek. With Tom Beedell reporting a calf problem early in the week, Tomaz agreed to stand by if needed, and by Thursday evening he had been called into action. Although far from fit due to a very heavy work schedule in recent months, Tomaz as always gave all, and in the “B” steeplechase was 4^th with 10m12.4 secs. It was Bertie Powell who filled the other middle distance slot - in the “B” 3000m he just lost out in a sprint finish for 5^th, to place 6^th in 9m02.74 secs.

Woodford’s field eventers, as is often the case, contributed good points. The meeting opened with a high standard hammer competition, and the current UK number one, Mark Dry, found himself in 4^th overall, but winning the “B” with 69.51m. In the “A”, Andy Frost was in good form as he placed 3^rd with 69.57m. The discus also saw both Woodford athletes in the final eight; Tom Norman was 3^rd in the “A” with 53.84m and in the “B” Chris Linque was also 3^rd with 45.01m. In the shot, Scott Lincoln was in improved form, reaching 16.21m, but found that only good enough for 5^th, and in the “B”, junior Youcef Zatat was also 5^th with 14.13m. The javelin saw Paul Allsop in the “A” and his 60.46m was 6^th in a very tight competition, in the “B”, Stuart Harvey in his first competition of the season, but hampered by a back problem, was 2^nd with 55.03m. In the long jump, Adrian Stamp had his best effort in the first round, 6.90m (-1.2) which placed him 3^rd, whilst in the “B” another junior, George Hamilton, made his BAL debut and was 6^th with 6.37m (0.0). Another junior making his BAL debut for Woodford was Dan Gardner, currently the UK’s number one junior pole vaulter with 5.20m this season but, like several, he struggled a little with the wind at times but cleared 4.60 for 4^th=. In the triple jump, Peter Kirabo was in solid form and his 14.47m placed him 3^rd in the “A”, and in the “B” Prince Ezenwa was also 3^rd with 14.07m, but was unable to take all of his jumps due to an injury problem. In the high jump it was pleasing to have Robert Wolski back in action. The UK based Polish international with a 2.31m p.b. missed all of the last summer season with a serious knee injury sustained in a car accident that required surgery and extensive rehab. His first competition since the accident was two weeks ago in the SAL where he cleared 1.95m, and two weeks later here in the BAL cleared 2.05m, and was very close to 2.10m to place 4^th. Hopefully he will continue to improve as the season progresses. In the “B”, missing a specialist, javelin man Paul Allsop cleared 1.70m for 8^th.

The sprints were filled by Omolulu Abiodun and Euegen Ayanful. Omolulu was called into “A” string action in midweek as Jordan Kirby-Polidore was unable to compete due to an Achilles niggle. Although 8^th in the “A” 100m with 10.97 secs (-0.9)and 7^th in the “A” 200m with 21.92 secs (-0.9), these were still solid runs which would have placed highly in the “B” string where he was originally due to run. This meant that Eugene Ayanful stepped into the “B” string and he picked up good points, 3^rd in the 100m with 11.04 secs (-0.4), and 4^th in the 200m with 21.98 secs (+0.5). In the non-scoring 100m, Jason Greenidge recorded 11.31 secs (0.0). The “A” 400m was an interesting race. Following some good 200m form in the U.S. and having run a couple of 46 secs relay legs indoors, Sam Watts decided upon his first serious individual 400m effort. Blasting through 200m in 21.6 secs and 300m in 32.8 secs (sub 45 secs pace), Sam held a 10m lead at that point, but inevitably lactic took over and Sam struggled over the last 70m, crossing the line in 8^th with 49.23 secs, as the race was won in 46.89 secs. Thankfully not too disheartened, Sam talked of having another go over 400m soon, where 0.4/0.5 secs slower at 200m, off a slightly less hard first 100m should bring the desired result. In the “B’ race Austin Joseph, although strong at the end, found his 50.91 secs placed 7^th. With injuries to others, Francis Smith was in “A” string action in both. Over 400mH he placed 4th with 55.27 secs, and 7^th over 110mH with 15.59 secs (+0.2). Lacking specialists due to those injuries, Alan James gamely went in both, gaining valuable points in the process. He was 4^th in the 400mH with 68.70 secs and 8^th in the 110mH with 21.49 secs.

The relays closed the meeting. The 4x100m squad of Jason Greenidge, Sam Watts, Omolulu Abiodun and Eugene Ayanful combined well to finish a very good 2^nd with 41.66 secs, whilst a makeshift squad including triple jumper Peter Kirabo, Tom Phillips (in his 3^rd event), Ryan McKinlay (in his 5^th) and Austin Joseph were 8^th with 3m30.49 secs. In the end, Team Manager Gladys Bird was satisfied with the performance, and with the return of several of those unavailable for this fixture, and others recovered from injury will he hoping for a stronger team in action for the third fixture in Sheffield in four weeks time, in what is likely to be the last major athletics fixture in the famous Don Valley Stadium before its controversial closure.