Thames Valley win again – National Athletics League round-up

TVH win again at Harrow but Blackheath & Bromley keep the pressure on at Woodford Green with another victory

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, July 2

Thames Valley Harriers continued their serene progress toward a retention of their title, albeit this year in the format for which the combined league was designed.

Thames Valley were in match 3B as Blackheath & Bromley won the 3A fixture and remain just two match points down on their rivals.

With points awarded for how many officials clubs bring to the party there were some minor changes to the league tables going into the third-round fixtures but the matches decided which clubs would go to the Cup or Plate finals next month at Bedford.

Double points will be awarded there so the Championship remains wide open.

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, Round 3A, Ashton Fields, Woodford Green, July 2

Blackheath & Bromley posted 14 A-string wins to take the match from Birchfield, who continued to press to the end and wound up with seven A-string wins but less than 40 points down, as hosts Woodford Green with Essex Ladies took third.

Cardiff made the difficult trip down the M4 and around the M25 and got off to a good start in the field as Sarah McCarthy won the long jump with 6.09m.

Fellow Welsh team Swansea also made that trip and fared well initially as Thomas Whalley took the pole vault with 5.21m and Pat Swan won the men’s shot later in the afternoon with a 16.43m throw.

The wins kept being spread around as Blackheath began their victory celebrations. They had Bailey Stickings win the 400m hurdles in 52.16, before Sophie Bliss made it a double, then Sam Reardon notched up their third A string score in a row, with a 1:51.33 800m victory.

Ben Hawkes, who was below his best in the UK Championships, then continued their progress with a 69.19m hammer victory, his third best competition.

Blackheath’s wins then kept coming as UK Championships 1500m finalist Niamh Bridson-Hubbard added to second and third places in the previous matches to win the women’s 3000m in a season’s best 9:36.06. She later added the 1500m with 16-year-old team mate Amarisa Sibley taking the B string in a PB 4:36.34.

Mallory Cluley was blown to a 13.67 100m hurdles victory as second-placed hurdler, Cardiff’s Lauren Evans was just out-dipped in what would have been a PB 13.69.

Despite the wind, Dan Putnam set a personal best 46.69 when winning the 400m for Blackheath.

The men’s high jump also easily went Blackheath’s way as Kelechi Aguocha was over 2.17m before Toby Dronfield added the triple jump with a 14.85m effort.

Right at the end of the programme, 17-year-old Hannah Clark led a Blackheath double in the women’s 2000m steeplechase. It was her first outing over the distance and the Kent junior cross-country champion posted 7:30.00 before their men completed a successful afternoon by also winning the 4x400m.

It was Glasgow who had travelled the furthest and Anise McCauley-Orr set a new best time with 2:11.90 in the women’s 800m, later winning the B 400m. This 400m was after they had a double in the men’s 100m as Cian O’Donnell took advantage of a legal following wind to set a PB 10.41.

The wind was then over the limit as Sarah Malone made it a Glasgow double when winning the women’s sprint in 11.76.

It took some time for hosts Woodford to get an A string win but they had the only two athletes over seven metres as Che Richards won the long jump, with 7.53m, before Adam Kirk-Smith won the 3000m steeplechase from what was, yet again, a reduced field.

Birchfield were also knocking out wins with a double in the women’s high jump, as Bernice Coulson won with 1.77m.

Northern Ireland’s Commonwealth 200m bronze medallist Leon Reid was again on form and took advantage of a 3.1m/sec following wind to clock 20.71 when taking the 200m before anchoring his club to a sprint relay win.

UK champion Adele Nicoll was below her best when winning the women’s shot with 16.10m for Birchfield.

The A string wins continued to be spread around as Mary Elcock added the women’s triple jump with a 12.06m bounce, for Bristol & West with her third league win in a row.

MATCH 3: 1 B&B 580.50; 2 Birchfield 542.50; 3 WG&EL 488; 4 Glasgow 421.5; 5 Swansea 377.5; 6 Bristol & W 317; 7 Soton 315; 8 Cardiff 273

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, Round 3B, Stonex Stadium, Hendon, July 2

Thames Valley Harriers notched up their third win of the season and the 2021 champions now go to the Cup Final next month with a clear advantage over their challengers, although Harrow pushed them hard here and wound up only 16 points adrift.

Rubem Miranda had got them off to a good start with a 5.40m personal best pole vault victory to repeat his win from the June match but they then had to wait some time before their banker Amelia Strickler dominated the women’s shot with 17.70m, which was the third best mark of the season for the Eugene-bound thrower.

Yvette Lock then set a PB when taking the women’s 3000m in 9:45.31 while Lily Hulland, the UK bronze medallist, won the triple jump with 12.46m.

The Valley wins kept coming as Southern champion Angelita Broadbelt-Blake ran 13.54 into a breeze to narrowly win the sprint hurdles, from Windsor’s Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games representative Megan Marrs.

Next up was Roisin Harrison with a PB 52.73 to head Notts junior Poppy Malik, who also set a new mark, of 53.84, in the 400m. The Irish National championships fourth-placer improved her outdoor PB by more than a second.

Shaftesbury Barnet took full advantage of hosting the match and had a good start as Josh Faulds took the low hurdles in 51.77 and Eljone Kruger the women’s long jump. Hayley McLean then posted her second-best time of the year with a women’s 400m hurdles win in 56.46.

Sam Wiggins had further extended the early Shaftesbury lead in a close fought 800m, as he came home in 1:52.53 but, despite further wins, their back-ups let them down. It was some time before the hosts had another A string win but it came on the far side of the stadium as Jade Ive won the pole vault with 4.20m. On the adjacent triple jump runway there was a close battle before Shaftesbury’s Ade Mason had to just concede to Thames Valley’s Jude Bright-Davies’ 15.41m.

The sprinters had to battle into a stiff breeze as Sheffield’s Louie Hinchcliffe won the 100m in 10.60 before they got their second win when BUCS champion and UK fourth placer Chuks Osammor narrowly won the discus with 59.83m from Shaftesbury’s Greg Thompson.

Sheffield & Dearne had won a couple of early events and got their third when Lee Thompson took the 400m in 46.81.

Newham’s Katie Head had got the programme underway mid-morning with her third League hammer win of the campaign and was out to 66:46m to see of a challenge from the Valley’s Pippa Wingate, who managed 62.17m. Team mate Finette Agyapong added the women’s, 100m in 11.76.

The steeplechase again failed to inspire as just half of the possible 16 men started but Notts’ Merhawi Tkue took it before they had their second win through Divine Duruaku’s 2.10m high jump.

Harrow had their winners too, as Miguel Perera added the sprint hurdles in 13.98 against a wind. Later, 19-year-old Zac Davies, the UK junior No.2, took the A-string shot with 16.88m but Harrow’s strength is in their back up athletes.

Not many PBs come in the league middle-distance races these days, thanks to the multiplicity of BMC events, but Dan Howells broke the norm with a new mark at 3:50.02 as he just got the nod on Windsor’s Dan Brookling.

Trafford had a double in the women’s high jump when 17-year-old Halle Ferguson and Emily Madden-Foreman were over a PB 1.78m and 1.75m respectively.

It took some time for Windsor to post an A string victory but their South of England champion Amy Holder took the discus with 54.41m to just head Shaftesbury’s Shadine Duquemin for the second match in a row.

Yate are normally in a lower division but the league allowed 17-year-old Owen Merrett, the English Schools silver medallist, to compete. He was chasing the World U20 Champs entry standard of 70 metres but fell short with 67.70m, compared to his under-20 top ranked 2022 effort of 69.78m with the lighter 6km implement. It was likely that he was using the 6km implement here but there is no confirmation.

MATCH 3: 1 TVH 572; 2 Harrow 555; 3 Shaftesbury 501; 4 WSEH 429; 5 NEB 420; 6 Notts 376.5; 7 Sheffield 374; 8 Trafford 348.5

Standings after 3 matches

Thames Valley go into the final Cup match at Bedford with a two-point advantage over Blackheath & Bromley with Harrow and Shaftesbury close behind.

With the top eight clubs from the six Premiership matches going in the Cup match and Trafford and Glasgow tied on 12 match points, it was Trafford who just squeezed the last spot, despite finishing last in their third-round match.

Double points are on offer in the Cup match so the championship will go down to the wire.

Premiership standings: 1 TVH 24; 2 B&B 22; 3 Harrow 21; 4 Shaftesbury 20; 5 WG&EL 18 (964); 6 WSEH 16; 7 Birchfield 14; 8 Trafford 12 (1268.88); 9 Glasgow 12 (1230.5); 10 Swansea 11; 11 Sheffield 10; 12 Notts 10; 13 NEB 8; 14 Cardiff 7; 15 Soton 6; 16 B&W 5

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE – CHAMPIONSHIP

Despite being beaten by rivals Chelmsford, it is Crawley who still head the Championship table after three matches, albeit by a single point.

Tonbridge, who won the other match, vie with Sale two points off of the lead and all four clubs still have a chance of winning going into the Cup final next month.

Round 3a, Bournemouth, Dorset, July 2

Chelmsford battled throughout the match with double match winners Crawley before coming out on top by a provisional 10 points with Basingstoke & Mid Hants not too far down.

Crawley posted nine A-string wins to Chelmsford’s six and came out ahead among the women after posting a series of early victories as Livvy Connor won the women’s triple jump with a legal 11.56m effort.

Also among their winners were Adam Lindo with a wind-assisted 7.39m long jump and Morgan Hayward with a wind-assisted 14.62m triple jump leap.

Chelmsford topped the men’s events and, in the field, Kristian Brown won the A-string javelin with a marginal PB 62.39m but they also had women’s winners as Lily Parris, the 19-year-old 2021 England junior champion, won the A- string women’s 100m hurdles but, despite a following wind was below her best with 14.13. They also had 16-year-old Kissiwaa Mensah post a sprint double.

Reading who finished last in their previous match, put up a much better show but still came in eighth but their banker, Charlotte Payne was again in good form in the women’s hammer. The UK champion was just 7cm shy of her winning best ever from the previous week with a 70.52m effort.

Payne later took second in the discus as hosts Bournemouth had Phoebe Dowson, the UK Championships fourth placer, come out on top with 49.73m.

As is often the case, it was windy at Kings Park and Liverpool had Henry Nwoke take the men’s 100m in 10.65 and they also took both men’s relays.

Kingston & Polytechnic had a slim afternoon but a bright spot was a personal best for Caitlyn Harvey in the women’s 400m. The 15-year-old posted 57.50 to move up to sixth in the 2022 under-17 rankings.

There was again a lack of offers to run in the steeplechases, with the men’s having just eleven takers from a possible 16, and there were just six in the women’s event. Many victories again came with what may be unkindly called second class efforts and were they to gain promotion to the Premiership for next season all three top clubs here would struggle.

MATCH: 1 Chelmsford 521; 2 Crawley 512; 3 Basingstoke & MH 489; 4 Bournemouth 448; 5 Liverpool 352.5; 6 Kingston & P 283; 7 Herne H 257; 8 Reading 249.5

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP, Round 3b, Stevenage, Hertfordshire, July 1

Tonbridge repeated their first-round match victory and came out ahead of Sale but fourth placed Herts Phoenix outscored all other clubs among the women with six A-string wins.

They were strongest in the men’s events and posted their first A-string win when Charlie Crick ran 1:52.68 to win the men’s 800m before later adding a leg in the 4x400m victory.

Second-placed Sale had 35-year-old Kirsty Law, the UK Championships silver medallist, win the women’s discus with a last round 53.60m and they also took the shot as Shaunna Thompson’s best was a final round 14.85m to repeat her previous match victory.

UK silver steeplechase medallist and Olympian Aimee Pratt was chased all the way by South of England 800m champion Khahisa Mhlanga in the women’s 1500m, before coming home in 4:15.38, which was perhaps the best performance of the meeting.

Sale had a runaway victor in the men’s 5000m when Manchester Marathon second-placer Nigel Martin won by three quarters of a lap in 14:28.65 and they posted eight A-string wins in all, but Tonbridge’s six men’s first places tipped the match in their favour.

Bedford & County had three women’s A-strings come out on top and drafted in 16-year-old Gracie Wall, the South of England under-17 champion, to win the high jump with 1.75m. This was a PB which moved her to the top of the rankings for the year. Bedford also had Belinda Sargent win the triple jump with a first round 11.51m.

Herts Phoenix had perhaps the youngest winner when 15-year-old Tiana Rizzo battled a 3.5m/sec headwind to win the women’s 100m in 12.53 seconds before anchoring their sprint rely squad to victory. They also had Lauren Rule win the A string 400m in 54.74 seconds.

Peterborough & Nene Valley scored an early A string win through top ranked and M40 British masters champion Sean Reidy’s 57.73 400m hurdles effort. They also had Mindaugas Jurksa produce a final round heave of 15.30m to take the men’s. It was the Lithuanian’s first league win of the year but he also won twice in 2021.

Wigan again finished dead last but did see Tara Simpson-Sullivan score an early hammer victory with a first throw of 59.55m, before Jasmine Carey won the pole vault with 3.82m.

Enfield were down in sixth spot at the end of the meeting but did have Shemar Boldizar battle a 3.7m/sec headwind to win the men’s 200m in 21.51 seconds.

Again, both men’s and women’s steeplechases were the Cinderella events and just 12 from a possible 32 took part.

Match 3b: 1 Tonbridge 548; 2 Sale 494; 3 Havering 465; 4 Herts P 389; 5 Bed C 290; 6 Enfield 285; 7 P’boro & NV 251; 8 Wigan 137

Championship standings after 3 matches

The top eight clubs now go to the finals at Bedford with Herts Phoenix claiming the final spot by heading local rivals Bedford & County by two points. The first eight clubs go the Plate finals.

 Standings: 1 Crawley 23; 2 Chelmsford 22; 3 Sale 20; 4 Tonbridge 20; 5 Havering 19; 6 Liverpool 17; 7 Basingstoke 17; 8 Herts P 14; 9 Bedford & C 12; 10 Herne H 9; 11 Bournemouth 9; 12 Kingston & P 9; 13 Enfield 8; 14 P’boro & NV 7; 15 Wigan 5; 16 Reading 5

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE National 1, Round 3, Yeovil, Somerset, July 1

Yeovil made the most of home advantage to comfortably head Belgrave Harriers and go into the finals match at Bedford next month tied with their rivals.

The hosts had 17-year-old Sophie Nicholls, the English Schools steeplechase bronze medallist, win the women’s 1500m in 4:38.90 and notched up 13 individual A-string victories that yielded a comfortable team win.

Sam Ige again scored a sprint double for Belgrave and his club added both 4x400m relays and they also had Sian Harry take the women’s 400m in 55.10 seconds.

The best performance of the meeting, however, came from Portsmouth’s Serena Vincent, the BUCS and South of England indoors and out champion, who threw 15.84m in the women’s shot put.

City of Portsmouth had won the previous match and had other bright spots here including Sam Charig’s 14:40.08 5000m victory, while Amy Bream was the only athlete to contest the women’s 2000m steeplechase.

Welsh junior indoor champion, 17-year-old Luke Ball, won the high jump for Yate with 2.04m but the second ranked UK jumper was unable to improve on his personal best 2.10m and nor approach the World junior standard of 2.16m.

Elsewhere there were just four men in the pole vault and steeplechase and just a single woman in the pole vault and large number of events were short of competitors. This included Southend, who had brought up the rear in both of their previous matches and voted with their feet by not venturing out on the long trip right across southern England.

It could well be that this effectively fifth tier event will be consigned to the athletic dustbin with those clubs not gaining promotion being invited to return to their area leagues.

Match: 1 Yeovil 561; 2 Belgrave 474; 3 Portsmouth 463; 4 Yate 440; 5 Mil K 284; 6 Southend no show

Standings after 3 matches: 1 Belgrave 15; 2 Yeovil 15; 3 Portsmouth 12; 4 Yate 10; 5 Mil K 9; 6 Southend 2

Individual results will be added when Power of 10 process the results.

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