Indoor News
Woodford athletes involved in Indoor action this weekend were mainly at the British Universities Championships in Sheffield, where performances were led by titles for Omololu Abiodun and Youcef Zatat. There was also news from the Birmingham Grand Prix, and from the US, where Sam Watts' good form continued.
A week after picking up a silver medal in the same venue at the British Indoor Championships, Omololu Abiodun was back in action for his University in the BUCS Championships. Omololu laid down a marker to the rest of the competitors as he won his heat in 21.38 secs, then taking his semi-final in 21.54 secs, before winning the final by half a second with a fine 21.24 secs. Just missing out on a place in the final after placing 2nd to Omololu in his semi was Tom Holligan who recorded 22.01 secs. Tom had earlier raced in the 60m where he placed 4th in his semi-final with 7.10 secs, after a 7.09 secs heat. Woodford's other winner was Youcef Zatat, also a medallist from the previous weekend when he had finished 3rd. This week Youcef won the shot with a put of 16.50m. There was also a win, in the PV, for HCA member Dan Gardner with 5.35m. Woodford's other medal was a silver, for Emily Moss in the 1500m, where she recorded 4m47.65 secs, having gone a little quicker in her heat with 4m46.67 secs.
Others in action included Kitty Eleyae who was 4th in the LJ with 5.76m; Thasalong Tshireletso 8th in the TJ with 14.20m, having jumped 14.55 in qualifying; Ed Shepherd 9th in the 3000m with 8m39.62 secs, where Jon Cook recorded 8m53.83 secs in the heats; Paul Scanlan with 1m55.96 secs in the 800m semi-final, and Sam Benge with 4m21.06 secs in the 1500m heats. Dan Davis was disqualified from the 60mH heats.
At the televised Birmingham Grand Prix, Tiffany Porter was not on her best form, placing 4th over 60mH with 8.13 secs. Current leader on the UK 200m ranking list, Sam Watts, raced for his University in the US at Arkansas in the 4x400m relay, and his fine 3rd leg of 46.18 secs, helped TCU to a win in 3m06.05 secs.
Previously unreported from last weekend were two silver medals won by V45 Bernadine Pritchett at the Southern Masters Championship. Bernadine recorded 2m26.60 secs over 800m and 5m01.687 secs over 1500m.