UK Women's League Match One

WGEL'S Women's UK Women's League team had a solid start to their season in Division One. Having been relegated from the top flight Premier Division last season they will be hoping to bounce straight back to the top flight. In the first fixture at Southampton on Sunday, they finished just outside the top two, in third place with 204 points, as hosts Southampton won with 227 and Thames Valley on 207. Enfield were 4^th with 193, Crawley 171, Herne Hill 124, Cardiff 123 and Wigan 117. In a fine all round team effort, many athletes doubled up to ensure nearly all the events were covered. There were three individual wins, led by a double in the hammer from Myra Perkins and Lucy Marshall.

Myra Perkins win was in the "A" string hammer with a throw of 53.61m, and in third overall, but winning the "B" string Lucy Marshall threw 51.14m. Lucy also competed in both the shot and discus, placing 4^th in the former with 11.16m and third in the latter "B" event with 26.36m. The rest of the throwing events all produced good points. In the "A" discus, Hollie Redman was not far from her best ever to place 2^nd with 43.42m, and in the "B" shot she did record a personal best for 4^th with 10.59m, and was also 2^nd in the "B" javelin with 27.42m. Having missed most of last season with injury it was good to see heptathlete Gemma Weetman back in action and in the "A" jjavelin she was 2^nd with a personal best of 37.75m. Gemma also competed in the long jump where she was 3^{rd in} the "B" with 5.50m w (+3.1) and in the high jump where she was 3^rd in the "B" with 1.50m. In that "A" event Ayamba Akim just lost out, clearing the same height as the winner, 1.74m for 2^nd. In the pole vault, Louise Shortland also cleared the same height as the winner, 3.20m for 2^nd. Kitty Eleyae was 3rd in the "A" long jump where her 5.91m w (+3.7). Kitty also helped out in the "B" triple jump where her personal best of 10.88m w (+3.8) placed 3^rd . In the "A" Stephanie Aneto was also 3^rd with 12.06m w (+5.0).

On the track, Elaine O'Neil and Katie Skelding covered the sprints. In the "A" events Elaine was 3^rd in the 100m with a season's best of 11.99m (+1.2), and was 5^th in the 200m, also in a season's best of 24.52 secs w (+4.5). In the "B" events, Katie was 3^rd in the 100m with 12.32 secs w (+2.1), and 4^th in the 200m with 25.11 w (+2.6). In the non-scoring 100m Stephanie Gaynor 12.65 secs w (+3.8), and Alicia Roberts-Brown 12.90 secs w (+3.8). In Stephanie's specialist event the 100mH she was 2^nd with 13.97 secs (+0.6), and it was in this "B" event that WoodfordÕs third victory was gained, as Nusrat Ceesay won 14.51 secs w (+3.0). Alicia helped out by competing in the "B" 400m where she placed 6^th with 64.86 secs. In that "A" event, Jo Ryan finished 5^th with 59.95m. Another helping out and competing in an event that she hasn't done for some time was Claire Leckie who gained valuable points over 400mH where she was 6^th with 73.06 secs.

In the middle distance events, athletes were busy doubling up to ensure most were covered. Sara Bird who recently had such a good run in the London Marathon, competed over both 1500m and 3000m, placing 5^th in the former with 4m54.63 secs and 3rd in the latter with 10m15.36 secs. Rachel Lund competed in three events, the 800m "A" where she recorded a personal best of 2m33.67 secs for 7^th, the "B" 1500m where another personal best of 5m24.12 secs placed her 4^th, and in the "B" 3000m where she was 3^rd with 11m15.98 secs. In the 2000m s/ch, Katie Stockings made her UKWL debut and placed 5^th with 8m50.78 secs. There were two solid relay team performances to close the meeting, the 4x100m placed 4^th with 49.05 secs, and the 4x400m were 3^rd with 3m52.5 secs. Team Managers Keith Newton and Keith Hopson will be hoping that this solid start can be built upon to ensure a top two finish and promotion back to the Premier Division.