Thames Valley Harriers regained the National Athletics League title despite losing out to Harrow on the day in Eton – full round-up from all four Premiership and Championship groups.

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE

The final series of matches in the 2026 season got underway as clubs in the Premiership again battled things out, while the second-tier events decided who would make the qualifying match at Horspath Track, Oxford on September 12, Martin Duff reports.

The 2025 champions Harrow narrowly won the Premiership but Thames Valley’s two earlier match wins ensured that they regained their title.

Newcomers Tonbridge could not cling on to their new status despite the Higgins twins Jack and Ted, who set a league 1500m record, efforts.

The four mini-area leagues were of vastly differing standards with the best being in the east and north but in all four there was a shortage of competitors in the events over barriers be it hurdles or steeplechase, which was not a good omen for the future of the events.

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE PREMIERSHIP, round 3, Eton August 22

Thames Valley regained their Premiership title after losing out to Harrow last year and, despite losing narrowly to 2025 champions Harrow here in a tight match made it four titles in five years.

Harrow got their challenge to the Thames Valley supremacy after two matches to a good start when Stephanie Okoro, the Commonwealth Youth champion, won the women’s 400m hurdles, albeit in the slowish time of 61.14.

Then Harrow made it two early wins thanks to Sofia Vidak’s 2:05.97 800m, as Susie Monk added the B race. But the points score after five events showed Thames Valley narrowly ahead.

Harrow also took the first field event of the morning when Ruby Jerges had a windless third round 6.02m long jump victory and their wins kept coming as Joy Eze and Charlotte Payne took 100m and hammer victories.

Eze ran 11.55 and Payne threw 71.82m, to see Harrow ten points clear of rivals Thames Valley after nine events, with 150 points. To overturn the Valley’s league lead, Harrow need their rivals to finish well down today but third placed Glasgow were well adrift at this stage of the meeting.

They were helped when Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Owen Heard had a second time clearance at 5.30-metres in the pole vault, before failing three times at 5.50m.

The top two clubs continued to dominate as, after 14 events had been totalled and early field events concluded, Harrow now led Thames Valley 227 to 209.5 with Glasgow Jaguars 33.5 points down in third.

Tonbridge were newcomers to the top flight for 2026 and were in a battle to avoid a speedy return to the mini area leagues but Jack Higgins gave them a literally runaway victory in the 800m with a dominating 1:46.89 – the fastest in the league since 1987.

Earlier Birchfield, who were in a tussle to avoid relegation after the first two matches, got their campaign off to a flying start thanks to Jake Minshull. The Commonwealth Games silver medallist had a comfortable low hurdles victory in 49.97.

Hosts Windsor had been having a thin time of things but Brook Cronin won the men’s 400m mid-afternoon to give their chance of retaining Premiership status a boost. His 46.33 narrow win over Harrow’s Thomas Hockley ensured that they remained in a close fight after 19 events with Birchfield and Tonbridge vying to avoid the drop with Swansea.

After 21 events Harrow increased their advantage over Thames Valley to 16.5 points but their quest to retain their league title now looked a vain hope as third placed Glasgow were 43 points down.

Woodford Green had been having a quiet day but then had Sam Khogali win the men’s long jump with 7.34m to narrowly head Harrow’s Daniel Emegbor's 7.30m.

Towards the end of the afternoon Ted Higgins front ran a league record 3:38.75, in the 1500m to boost his club, Tonbridge’s chances of retaining their Premiership status.

For the women, Monk returned for Harrow to win the women’s 1500m in 4:33.47 and saw her club still lead TVH by 22.5 points after 24 events.

The Valley tried to peg back Harrow as Louise Evans won the women’s 200m against a wind in 23.53 and, after 27 events were just 17.5 points down and within a point-and-a-half after 31.

They were helped by 2024 UK indoor champion Lily Hulland who won the triple jump with 12.80m as Amy Warre was second for Windsor with 12.38m.

Swansea had been having a quiet time at the bottom of the table but then had Sam Davies win the high jump on count back from Divine Duruaku at 2.11m.

Harrow then finished with a flourish to win the women’s 4x400m relay to narrowly win the match but their title was gone.

Woodford had their moments in the match and were a useful third overall in both match and league and had Sean-Conor Atafo win a close triple jump with a final round 15.50m effort.

Hosts Windsor were in a fight to avoid relegation coming into this match but drew on experience to maintain their status and had UK silver medallist Michael Allison take a close men’s javelin with 75.15 to see off the Valley’s Charlie Evans’ 72.91 in the long drawn-out event.

The women’s pole vault was also taking a long time and saw guest competitor Kiwi Olympian Olivia McTaggart clear 4.53m on the second attempt before failing at 4.63. This left Birchfield’s Tilly Hooper the match winner with 4.23m.

The final track event then saw a desperate attempt by Birchfield Harriers to preserve their Premiership status and they duly won the men’s 4x400m relay and just manage to stay up.

Match: 1 Harrow 602; 2 TVH 594.5; 3 WG&EL 471.5; 4 Glasgow Jaguars 460; 5 WSEH 454.5; 6 Birchfield 443; 7 Tonbridge 420; 8 Swansea 239.5

100 (0.9): 1 E Franklyn (WG&EL) 10.40; 2 M Ajay (WSEH, U20) 10.45; 3 H Taylor (Harr) 10.56

200 (-0.9): 1 M Ajay (WSEH, U20) 21.36; 2 D Offiah (TVH) 21:37; 3 J Williams (Harr) 21.42

400: 1 B Cronin (WSEH) 46.33; 2 T Hockley (Harr) 46.57; 3 M Pamphile (Ton) 47:25

800: 1 J Higgins (Ton) 1:46.89; 2 J Parry (Swan) 1:54.85; 3 C MacKenzie (Glas) 1:54.82

1500: 1 T Higgins (Ton) 3:38.75; 2 A Milligan (Harr) 3:44.31; 3 B Potrykus (WG&EL) 3:45.87

3000: 1 J MacDonald (Ton) 8:24.47; 2 M Cameron (TVH) 8:25.33; 3 T Fawden (Harr) 8:25.76

110H (-0.3): 1 W Richie-Moulin (Bir) 14.07; 2 E Akanni (WG&EL) 14.43; 3 L Church (Ton) 14.58

400H: 1 J Minshall (Bir) 49.97; 2 B Heron (Glas) 52.15; 3 S Clarke (TVH) 52.89

3000SC: 1 B Andrews-Callec (Harr) 9:08.67; 2 B Price-Davies (Swan) 9:21.09; 3 J Dee (Plym, gst) 9:26.86

HJ: 1 S Davies (Swan) 2.11; 2 D Duruaku (Harr) 2.11; 3 F Powell (Bir) 2.03

PV: 1 O Heard (Harr) 5.30; 2 S Ouiles (Harr) 4.73; 3 L Church (Ton) 4.53

LJ: 1 S Khogali (WG&EL) 7.34/0.6; 2 D Emegbor (Harr) 7.30/-1.0; 3 A Yeo (TVH) 7.14/-0.4

TJ: 1 S Atafo (WG&EL) 15.50/-0.2; 2 J Aki-Sawyerr (WSEH) 15.38/-0.1; 3 J Bright-Davies (TVH) 15.29/-0.1

SP: 1 L Lammie (TVH) 15.54; 2 E Urquhart (Glas) 14.34; 3 A Williams (TVH) 15.04

DT: 1 M Jenkins (Swan) 55:25; 2 N Percy (Harr) 54.12; 3 A Peck (Glas) 51.73

HT: 1 J Norris (WSEH) 75.24; 2 C Murch (Bir) 69.70; 3 J Paget (TVH) 66.76

JT: 1 M Allison (WSEH) 75.15; 2 C Evans (TVH) 72.91; 3 B Pearson (Bir) 67.51

4x100: 1 WSEH 40.57; 2 TVH 41.06; 3 Tonbridge 41.51

4x400: 1 Birchfield 3:11.23; 2 Tonbridge 3:14.06; 3 WSEH 3:14.09

Women

100 (0.9): 1 J Eze (Harr) 11.55; 2 A Bell (Glas) 11.66; 3 K Slater (TVH) 11.88

200 (-1.2): 1 L Evans (TVH) 23.53; 2 A Bell (Glas) 23.72; 3 M King (Harr) 23.98

400: 1 A Root (Ton) 53.96; 2 K Christie (Glas) 54.76; 3 A Hillyard (Bir) 55:64

800: 1 S Vidak (Harr) 2:06.97; 2 C Buckley (TVH) 2:07.91; 3 L Gilbert (WG&EL) 2:11.64

1500: 1 S Monk (Harr) 4:33.47; 2 L Gilbert (WG&EL) 4:34;39; 3 C Purcell (Glas) 4:39.53

3000: 1 K Foster (Harr) 9:46.03; 2 A Souter (Ton) 9:50.57; 3 J Taylor (Glas) 9:56.49

100H (-0.8): 1 E Nwofor (TVH) 13.74; 2 Y Uwakwe (WG&EL) 13.89; 3 M Jessop (Harr) 14.01

400H: 1 S Okoro (Harr) 61.14; 2 S Lisk (Swan) 61.98; 3 J Mitchell (WG&EL) 62.09

2000SC: 1 A Paton (Glas) 6:29;23; 2 K Booth (TVH, W45) 7:03.48; 3 J Heller (WSEH, U20) 7:16.89

HJ: 1 P Rogan (TVH) 1.72; 2 I Pain (Harr) 1.68; 3 L Lee (TVH) 1.68

LJ: 1 R Jerges (Harr) 6.02/0.0; 2 J Lee (TVH) 5.90/0.0; 3 D Belgrave (Bir) 5.58/0.0

TJ: 1 L Hulland (TVH) 12.80/-0.2; 2 A Warre (WSEH) 12.38/0.2; 3 S Hibbert (WG&EL) 11.97/-0.1

PV: 1 O McTaggart (NZL, gst) 4.53; 2 T Hooper (Bir) 4.23; 3 J Spencer-Smith (Harr) 4.13

SP: 1 S Callaway (TVH) 15.13; 2 A Kennedy (Glas) 14.11; 3 S Mace (TVH) 13.61

DT: 1 K Law (WG&EL) 49.24; 2 S Callaway (TVH) 49.05; 3 S Mace (TVH) 46.36

HT: 1 C Payne (Harr) 71.82; 2 T Simpson-Sullivan (WSEH) 59.53; 3 Z Price (Harr) 56.79

JT: 1 K Agoro (WG&EL) 48.14; 2 J Larsen (Bir) 43.64; 3 S De Kremer (TVH) 42.99

4x100: 1 Harrow 45.89; 2 Glasgow 46.13; 3 TVH 46.53

4x400: 1 Harrow 3:48.43; 2 Birchfield 3:48.98; 3 Glasgow 3:50.71

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP EAST, round 3, Hendon, August 22

Chelmsford came into this final match with a narrow lead over hosts Shaftesbury Barnet and, despite conceding on the day did enough to win the mini-league.

They got their challenge off to a good start thanks to Onyekachukwu Okoh’s 400m hurdles win in 51.99. However, it was in a race where there were just six out of a possible ten takers.

It was worse in the men’s 110m hurdles where there was just one taker.

It was a similar story in the women’s event where Shaftesbury’s Hayley McLean only had four other challengers when winning in 59.48 and helped her club to a big lead over Belgrave and Chelmsford after nine events.

Again, there were few takers over the sticks in the women’s 2000m steeplechase where just three out of a possible ten bothered. However, those clubs that did bother were emerging at the top of the league order after 15 events and Chelmsford led by 23 points.

English Schools 400m champion, 17-year-old Shiloh Omotosho posted a personal best 11.88 to win the women’s 100m for Herts Phoenix but they lagged in the five club team standings.

With clubs not always putting out entrants the lead changed after 11 events had been scored and it was Chelmsford who now led by two points from Belgrave, with 186, as Shaftesbury were 15 points down.

Nevertheless, the hosts had 17-year-old Elkie Baker, the English Schools champion, win the women’s discus with a second round 40.43m as McLean added the women’s sprint hurdles.

Shaftesbury were boosted by Okoh’s second win, this time in the flat 400m in 48.86 but, after 19 events their 280 only led Shaftesbury, who had 18-year-old Tami George, the English Schools bronze medallist, win the women’s 200m in 23.96, by a few points.

Havering were posting a few wins and Richard Akinuebo added to their score with a 21.10 men’s 200m victory.

Shaftesbury then closed as Tom Butler won the men’s 3000m in 8:21.82 and went ahead by 15 points and then bounded away after 33 events had been scored. However, second placed Chelmsford were still in pole position to join them in the qualifying match and had Oliver Graham take the men’s hammer with 56.77m.

They had 17-year-old Harley Henry win the men’s triple jump with a first round 14.63m leap and stalwart Greg Thompson the shot put with 15.96m, to go with his earlier discus 56.26m win, to cement their home victory.

Chelmsford then had a relay win and victory in the men’s javelin thanks to Samson Brichireri-Colombi’s second round 59.10m throw.

With two relay wins, including the final men’s 4x400m, Shaftesbury finished with a flourish to take the match but could not quite garner enough points to prevent Chelmsford winning the mini-east league.

Match: 1 Shaftesbury 577; 2 Chelmsford 531; 3 Belgrave 500; 4 Herts Phoenix 433; 5 Havering 392

Final standings after 3 matches: 1 Chelmsford 13 (1655); 2 Shaftesbury 13 (1634); 3 Herts Phoenix 8 (1439); 4 Belgrave 7 (1411); 5 Havering 5 (1342)

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP NORTH, round 3, Trafford, August 22

City of Sheffield made the trip across the country to the north west and then kept notching up victories to complete a hat-trick of match wins and easily take this north mini-league.

They will be joined in the qualifying match by fellow Yorkshire outfit City of York who saw off a Notts AC challenge.

Hosts Sale came into this final match dead last but, on their home patch, got off to the best possible start with victories in two of the first three track events. Tess McHugh’s 59.54 in the 400m hurdles and Evan Savage’s 800m, with 1:52.97, took A string wins and led after five events had been scored.

The Sheffield combo was relegated from the Premiership last year and comfortably led this north mini-league after two matches and had Elena Inch see them to a women’s 800-metre win in 2:10.47 and, after eight events, had a narrow three-point advantage over York and Sale.

Then it was all change after 11 events as Sale inched ahead again but overall individual performances were relatively poor and it remained so after 14 events when just 14 points separated the top four.

Sheffield were still pushing and their 2025 UK champion Alice Barrett won the women’s sprint hurdles in 13.39 against a wind before Hakan Dalbal added the men’s 400m 46.85.

This just got the nod on York’s 17-year-old English Schools champion Rowan Whittaker’s 46.90 and took Sheffield, with 261, 33 points clear of York and Trafford after 18 events.

Inch returned to add the 1500m as Sheffield’s lead after 23 events grew to 57 points over Sale, who had been helped by Melissa Booth’s 12.22m triple jump and was further boosted by Joe Dunderdale’s javelin win with 66.58m.

After 34 events had been tallied the Sheffield outfit had cemented their place in the qualifying match with York now ahead of Notts, who now lay third despite only two A string wins in the men’s 3000m from junior Euan Collier and their women’s 4x400 quartet.

Sheffield rounded off their overall win with men’s 4x400 and then triple jump through Scott Sinclair’s 14.79m after Bill Steel’s 16.26m shot put win, to total more than a dozen A string wins.

Match: 1 Sheffield 596; 2 York 521; 3 Notts 472; 4 Trafford 466; 5 Sale 451; 6 Liverpool 372

Final standings after 3 matches: 1 Sheffield 18 (1773); 2 York 14 (1511.5); 3 Notts 13 (1456.5); 4 Trafford 7 (1298); 5 Liverpool 6 (1221); 6 Sale 5 (1254)

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SOUTH, round 3, Kingston, August 22

Blackheath led from Crawley coming into this final match and, despite losing to the Sussex club here, took this South Mini-league as both now go to the Premiership qualifier next month.

The early leaders after six events had been scored were City of Portsmouth who won both A string 800-metre races thanks to Malek Rostaei and junior Emily Carman.

Only three of a possible 12 competitors toed the line in the women’s 400m hurdles as League leaders Blackheath took the race through Zoe Austridge but trailed Crawley after nine events had been scored.

With performances still way below that which might be needed if any of these clubs were to make a success in the Premiership, Crawley and Blackheath extended their lead after 12 events.

Crawley’s women then won two events over wooden barriers to go 23 points clear of Blackheath after 17 events.

The same two clubs remained ahead after 24 events, 338 to 311, with Crawley benefiting by having the only two competitors in the women’s pole vault.

After 27 events it was Crawley 364 to Blackheath’s 339 and then after 32 events, 441 to 405 but standards remained below what will be needed in the Premiership if these two clubs are to make a mark in the qualifying match.

Match: 1 Crawley; 2 Blackheath

Final standings after 3 matches: 1 Blackheath 17; 2 Crawley 16

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP WEST, round 3, Yeovil, August 22

Yeovil took full advantage of their home fixture to win more than ten A string events and dominate the match, but this is the weakest of the four mini area leagues by standard.

They led after seven events despite only winning one A string event in the early stages of the match, but then increased their lead after 11 to 49 points over Bournemouth and to 58 points after 17 but, on this showing, none of these clubs look capable of challenging for the top flight in the qualifying match next month.

In a competition of honest endeavour Yeovil then went 74 points clear after 19 events and had Lottie Garrett win the women’s triple jump with an 11.80-metre best and veteran Mark Plowman win the men’s discus with 44.43m and now led Cardiff by nigh on 100 points after 26 events following a series of modest wins.

They had a better win in the men’s 3000 metres thanks to Adam Gibson’s 8:30.18 as Cardiff finished in the field with a men’s javelin win thanks to Joe Parker with 64.93m and it is Yeovil and Cardiff to go to the qualifying match.

Match (with Officials points still to be added): 1 Yeovil 571; 2 Cardiff 473; 3 Bournemouth 416; 4 Swindon 354; 5 Winchester & District 273; 6 Yate 258

Final standings after 3 matches: 1 Yeovil 16; 2 Cardiff 14; 3 Swindon 12; 4 Bournemouth 11; 5 Yate 5; 6 Winchester & District 5

The clubs to contest the qualifying match on September 12 at Horspath track, Oxford are: Blackheath, Cardiff, Chelmsford, Crawley, Shaftesbury, Sheffield, Yeovil, York