ATHLETICS

WOODFORD men's senior track and field team opened their BAL Premiership season with a fine second place at Birmingham.

The Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies team were led by a 100m/200m double victory from Tim Abeyie.

The women meanwhile placed sixth in the top division of the UK Women's League, with the highlight a double A and B hammer victory from Carys Parry and Lucy Marshall.

There were numerous good peformances from the men.

Abeyie produced a fine sprint double as he took the 100m in 10.31secs and then the 200m in 20.70secs which moved him to second equal on this year's UK ranking lists, and was inside the Beijing Olympic B standard of 20.75secs.

He was backed up in the B events by junior Eugene Ayanful who, after a poor start, moved through to place sixth in the 100m with 10.89secs, and Colin Wilson, seventh over 200m in 22.32secs.

In the field Emeka Udechuka took the discus with 57.92m and his 17.91m effort was enough to take second in the shot, while debutant Les Richards was third (49.75m) and second (15.31m) in the respective B events.

In the hammer Britain's number one Andy Frost had to settle for third with 65.93m, and Young Alastair Williamson also placed third in the B with 57.96m.

There were two fourth places in the javelin, Simon Bennett in the A with 60.50m and Steve Winter in the B with 53.75m.

Tosin Oke in the triple jump enjoyed a great battle with recent Olympic A standard qualifier Larry Achike, only to lose out in the final round by 9cm as he leaped a seson's best of 16.63m. Sayo Ojo was third in the B with 14.36m.

In the long jump Ezekeil Ewolu recorded his furthest ever leap of 7.32m for fifth, and James Wright was fourth in the B with 7.00m.

Ben Challanger made further progress back from a serious achilles injury as he cleared 2.10m for fifth in the high jump, and Gareth Dyball was fourth in a close B competeition with 1.95.

Christian North was in great form to take victory with 5.20m in the pole vault, before having two close attempts at 5.32m as he endeavoured to better his nine-year-old PB of 5.30m.

Decathlete Dan Awde went one better to revise his PB as he cleared 4.70m to take B victory.

And he briefly left the pole vault competition to place third over 400m in a fine 47.68 secs. In the B event, Nigerian Olympic 4x400m medallist Musa Audu was back in action and in good form as he placed second in the B race with 47.32secs.

Francis Smith recorded a season's best over 400m hurdles to place fourth in 52.37secs, before taking the B 110m hurdles event with 14.31secs, also a season's best. In the A race Richard Alleyne placed third, again in a season's best of 13.95 secs.

Andy Brown finished fourth over 800m with 1m52.58 secs in his first race of the season, and young Omar Mansour on his BAL debut aquitted himself well as he placed seventh in the B with 1min 56.66secs.

Another BAL debutant, Tom Phillips, placed sixth over 1500m in 3min 57.85secs.

In the 3km steeplechase Ewen Malloch was back in BAL action after a good winter on the roads as he placed fifth with 9mins 31.60secs. Jon Long was third in the B with 9min 55.62secs.

Both relay teams placed third. The 4x100m squad of Colin Wilson, James Wright, Francis Smith and Tim Abeyei recorded 41.54secs.

Over 4x400m, Musa Audu, Alex Brown, Dan Awde and Graham Hedman recorded a fine 3mins 11.47secs.

It was in the field events where the women's team scored heavily.

Parry set a new Welsh record to take the A string hammer with a throw of 66.31m, while Marshall took the B with 51.06m.

In the triple jump Stephanie Aneto was second in the A with 12.81m, with Zainab Ceesaywinning the B with 12,53m.

Jo Duncan took second in the shot with 15.44m, and in the javelin there were useful points from Emma Smith with 36.67m for fourth while Louise Shortland cleared a fine 3.60m in the pole vault to place fourth.

On the track Nusrat Ceesay recorded a season's best over 400m hurdles to claim victory in the A race with 58.6secs, with former Commonwealth Games representative Tracey Duncan taking the B event with 62.7secs.

Ceesay later recorded a second season's best for fourth in the 100m hurdles with 14.0secs. Over 400m Tara Bird was fourth in a high quality race with 54.8secs.

The middle distace events saw a number of Woodford's top athletes unavailable but there was great club spirit demonstrated by those stalwarts who stood in and covered all the events.

Zoe Watson hit a new personal best of 2mins 19.0secs for seventh in the B 800m, before gaining useful points with a sixth-place finish in the B 400m.

Bernadine Pritchett doubled at 800m and 1500m, placing seventh in both with times of 2mins 20.3secs and 4mins 48.4secs respectively.

Also doubling was Diana Kennedy, who claimed sixth in the B 1500m with 5mins 05.8secs and seventh over 3000m with 10mins 32.7secs.

The 4x400m team of Katie Skelding, Mel Brown, Tracey Duncan and Tara Bird placed fourth in 3mins 49.9secs.