ATHLETICS

WOODFORD Green men's team secured second place in the BAL premiership with a solid second place in the final fixture of the season.

The team finished on 27 points, behind winners Newham on 32 points, and ahead of Sale on 22 points. And there was a number of fine individual performers on the day.

Ezekeil Ewolu just scraped into the final of the long jump, but then claimed third place with a leap of 7.32m (+3.4). Adrian Stamp's 6.83m (+2.7) placed him fourth in the B.

In the pole vault, Christian North showed a return to form by placing second with a first-time clearance of 5m, before narrowly failing at 5.21m.

Recovering from a serious ankle injury, Jamie Wright showed the team spirit that was evident throughout the day as he managed a token clearance of 2.20m, which was good enough to place fifth in the B and earn valuable points.

Missing prolific points scorer Emeka Udechuku in the discus, Tom Norman stepped up to contest the A event and moved from fifth to second in the final round with 51.96m. Shot-putter Carl Fletcher performed B string duty and placed fifth with 38.23m.

Andy Frost gained a pleasing victory in the hammer with 66.94m, as Alastair Williamson was fifth in the B with 52.32.

Carl Fletcher stepped up to the A shot in Udechuku's absence and his 15.78m effort placed him third. Javelin specialist Simon Bennett filled in the B shot and got good points, also in third with 13.24m, a position he also achieved in the javelin with 61.52m. Jay Boddington finished third in the B javelin with 55.20m.

Missing Tosin Oke in the triple jump, Alasdair Strange steppedin with 14.50m (+3.7) for fourth. Sayo Ojo was third in the B with 13.79m (+3.0).

The high jump was a high class competition, where Martin Lloyd's 2.15m placed him fifth. Woodford's US international Jamie Neito clearing 2.25m as a guest.

Strange competed in his fourth individual event where his 1.85m got welcome B string points in sixth.

He then combined with Wilson, Ewolu and Abeyie to place fifth in the 4x100m relay with 42.57. The 4x400m squad of Reynolds, Hedman, Andy Brown and Moss also placed fifth in 3:17.22.

Elsewhere on the track, Francis Smith got the ball rolling with 53.30secs for third place in the 400mH. Strange proved his versatility with good B points with 55.27 for fifth.

Both Smith and Strange later contested the 100mH, registering sixth place A (15.67) and seventh B (16.51) respectively.

Damien Moss recorded a season's best time of 1min 48.97secs for second place in the 800m A string, with Andy brown claiming third in the B (1:55.07).

Over 1,500m, Chris Reynolds (3:54.83) and Tim Prendergast (3:57.50) placed third in the A and B.

In the 5,000m Simon Plummer was fifth in the A with 14:46.99 and Hwyel Care continued to show improved form with second in the B with 14:54.08.

Jon Long moved up to the A string 3,000m steeplechase and placed seventh with 9:49.99.

The sprinters had to battle fierce head-winds and five false starts in the A 100m, which saw Tim Abeyie place fifth in 10.85secs (-2.0). Abeyie returned to action in the 200m, where he stromed through to win in 21.77 (-4.7) into the strong wind.

The B 100m athlete Colin Wilson placed sixth with 11.68 secs (-6.7), while the B 200m saw a super victory from Graham Hedman, running very strongly to record 21.83.

Hedman's win was only 30 minutes after he had won the A 400m in 47.04.