Track & Field News
Several WGEL athletes were in action for their Universities in the BUCS Championships at Bedford over the weekend. Woodford performances were led by wins for Jordan Kirby-Polidore and Youcef Zatat. Amongst a number of other good results there was a silver medal for Peter Karibo. There were also some useful performances overseas.
Jordan Kirby-Polidore's gold came over 200m with a time 21.55 secs (+0.1), with Omolulu Abiodun placing 5th with 22.05 secs (+0.1). Both had gone faster in earlier rounds, with Jordan clocking 21.54 secs (-0.3) to win his semi-final, and Omolulu 21.90 secs to win his heat. Tom Holligan just missed a final place after finished 3rd in his semi with 22.45 secs (-1.5) after recording 22.28 secs (w?) in his heat. Youcef Zatat's gold came in the shot which he won with a personal best of 16.51m., whilst Peter Karibo's silver was in the triple jump where he reached 14.98m (-0.4).
In the women's 400m Keishana Larose was 4th with 55.26 secs, having gone marginally quicker in her semi where she recorded 55.24 secs. The women's hammer saw Lucy Marshall placed 7th with 52.85m. Over 1500m, Jon Cook had comfortably won both his heat and semi-final (where he recorded 3m52.52 secs), but seemed to come off worst in the final as athletes jostled for position after the bell and did not finish. In the heats of that event Sam Benge recorded 4m21.23 secs. Over 5000m, Ed Shepherd was 8th with 14m57.11 secs (14.59.79 secs heat), while Angus Holford recorded 16m10.64secs for 11th in his heat. In the women's 2000m s/ch, Emily Moss was 7th with 7m31.95 secs. In the 400mH, Ewan Dyer made the semi-finals were he clocked 56.05 secs having recorded 54.53 secs in his heat. In the women's long jump, Kitty Eleyae was 4th with 5.88m w (+2.2), and earlier had made the 100m final where she was 6th with 12.16 secs (+0.9). In the men's long jump Thasalong Tshireletso jumped 6.76m (w?) in the qualifying rounds, and in the 800m, Paul Scanlan made the semi's where he recorded 1m58.70 secs after a 1m57.31 secs heat. HCA member Dan Gardner was in good form to take the PV title with 5.00m, and another HCA member Gemma Coe was 4th over 1500m with 4m32.76 secs.
Racing at the Kingston international in Jamaica, Tiffany Porter won over 100mH with 12.91 secs (-1.6), whilst at Palo Alto, Alex Cornwell placed 5th over 1500m with 3m45.07 secs. Shana Cox raced at Bloomington and finished an under par 7th over 400m with 54.44 secs. There was also news of a 200m personal best for Dan Awde as he recorded 21.47 secs (-3.3) into a strong headwind. Tom Norman competed at an Open Meeting in Cheltenham and reached 59.30m in teh discus, close to his best ever, and currently 3rd on this year's UK rankings.