Team Heathside secures SAL promotion
"The Southern Athletics League finished on a successful note with London Heathside securing promotion in the final fixture at Woodford," reports John Flahive.
"We always knew we were good enough, but solid turnouts throughout the season and especially the transformation on the women’s side have been key. This is where we must thank all those who turned out and ensured promotion.
"The last fixture also turned out to be the most competitive. The host club Woodford Green & Essex Ladies took advantage of being at home to swell their ranks with some elite athletes from their British League and UK Womens League squads and won the match.
"In the real contest between ourselves and division leaders Ryston, they always had the edge during the day, sustaining a few points advantage throughout. Despite it being mid-August with many away on holidays we had a generally good turnout and once again amassed a high match points total of 307 which made our final match points total the highest in the division."
(Note: that's kind of like having the best goal difference, except more to do with rustling up people to do each event than with crowd-pleasing displays of athleticism.)
"Despite the somewhat breezy conditions there were PBs from an aggressively front-running Andrew Brooker in the 5000m and Richard Macaulay in the 400m less than an hour after running a tough 800m. Notable debuts came from Alan Whatmough in the 5k, Jimmy Thoronka with a good 100m win and Wani Mkandawire in the High Jump who became the first Heathsider to clear 1.90 in some time.
"On the Women’s side, team leaders Helene and Noelle led from the front competing in multiple events with big contributions to the points totals. Rebecca Piggott retained her 100% record of wins in the SAL with a strong 3K performance, as did Rebecca Bunting in the 2k chase, and Angelica Wynter came a good second behind the WGEL elites in Shot, Discus and Javelin. Throughout the season Helene has done a fantastic job in encouraging new women to get involved in competitive Track & Field and on Saturday the debutantes included Ellen Shaw (with an impressive 100m debut), Kathryn Hurrell, Claire Cameron, Terezie Cancikova, Claudia Bioh and Gokce Bayvar."
(DM: An outstanding contender for performance of the day was long-distance specialist Rebecca Piggott who led out the ladies' 4x400 relay and handed over in first place after a strong late surge. Our quartet finished well clear of the field, but the track judges clearly weren't as impressed with Rebecca as I was: they disqualified her for a lane infraction. Still - you can't please everyone.)
John adds: "Thanks are also due to the coaches and officials and team managers, without whom it wouldn’t all be possible."
Next year in Division 2!
Results
Match Result
1. Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 340
2. Ryston Runners 327
3. London Heathside 308
=4. Orion Harriers 166
=4. Loughton 166
| Men |
| 100m |
| A 1st Jimmy Thoronka 11.23 |
| B 2nd Emmanuel Nwabodo 11.63 |
| Non-scoring |
| Jeremy Firth 11.74 |
| Sam Brown 12.69 |
| David Spencer (M60) 14.28 |
| 200m |
| A 3rd Jeremy Firth 23.77 |
| B 1st Emmanuel Nwabodo 23.70 |
| Non-scoring |
| Sam Brown 25.61 |
| David Spencer 28.06 |
| 400m |
| A 5th Majid Noori (M40) 56.26 |
| B 2nd Richard Macaulay 54.23 (PB) |
| 800m |
| A 3rd James Wooldridge (U20) 2.04.05 |
| B 1st Richard Macaulay 2.05.82 |
| Non-scoring |
| John Flahive (M50) 2.20.83 |
| Jonathan Lichfield 2.29.0 |
| 1500m |
| A 2nd James Wooldridge (U20) 4.14.95 |
| B 2nd Andrew Brooker 4.28.58 |
| Non-scoring |
| Ben Wolfe 4.40.11 |
| Joe Mckeown 4.55.03 |
| Jonathan Lichfield 5.03.17 |
| Alun Nash (M50) 5.41.58 |
| Adrian Essex (M60) 6.19.01 |
| 5000m |
| A 1st Andrew Brooker 15.37.49 (PB) |
| B 2nd Alan Whatmough 16.40.01 (PB) |
| Non-scoring |
| Jose Silva 17.15.10 |
| Chris Hartley 17.26.52 |
| 110H |
| A 4th Dan Mckeown 23.96 |
| B 3rd Sebouh Takvorian 23.98 |
| 400H |
| A 4th Ben Wolf 67.97 |
| B 3rd Dan Mckeown 70.73 |
| Non-scoring |
| Sebouh Takvorian 71.78 |
| 2000m SC |
| A 2nd Richard Macaulay 6.50.69 |
| B 4th John Flahive (M50) 7.14.68 |
| High Jump |
| A 1st Wani Mkandawire 1.90 |
| B 3rd John Flahive (M50) 1.45 – club record age category |
| Pole Vault |
| A. 5th Gianni Ciolli (M40) 2.00 |
| B. 3rd Adrian Essex (M60) 1.80 |
| Long Jump |
| A. 1st Emmanuel Nwabodo 6.32 |
| B. 2nd Gregory Ducat 5.36 |
| Non-scoring |
| Sam Brown (M40) 5.01 |
| Sebouh Takvorian 4.69 |
| Triple Jump |
| A. 5th Sam Brown (M40) 9.53 |
| B. 3rd Sebouh Takvorian 9.38 |
| Shot Putt |
| A 3rd Izaiah Turner 11.24 |
| B 3rd Richard Macaulay 9.04 |
| Discus |
| A 2nd Izaiah Turner 32.43 |
| B 2nd Emmanuel Nwabodo 28.64 |
| Non-scoring |
| Alun Nash (M50) 12.75 |
| Hammer |
| A 4th Izaiah Turner 23.94 |
| B 3rd Adrian Essex (M60) 15.53 |
| Javelin |
| A 3rd Emmanuel Nwabodo 35.87 |
| Mens 4 x 100m |
| 2nd (Jimmy Thoronka, Emmanuel Nwabodo, Sam Brown, Jeremy Firth) 46.04 |
| Men 4 x 400m |
| 1st (Majid Noori, Jimmy Thoronka, Richard Macaulay, Janes Wooldridge) 3:38.00 |
| Women |
| 100m |
| A 3rd Alishia Abodunde 13.71 |
| B 1st Ellen Shaw (U-17) 13.52 |
| Non-scoring |
| Gokce Bayvar 16.52 |
| 200m |
| A 3rd Noelle O’Regan 28.15 |
| B 2nd Helene Kehoe (W50) 30.85 |
| Non-scoring |
| Kathryn Hurrell 28.93 |
| 400m |
| A 2nd Noelle O’Regan 63.85 |
| B 2nd Joanna Brown 72.57 |
| 800m |
| A 3rd Teresa Cancikova 2.49.35 |
| B 3rd Sid Ourida (W45) 2.53.38 |
| 1500m |
| A 2nd Rebecca Bunting 4.56.7 |
| B 1st Celine Murray 5.19.58 |
| Non-scoring |
| Claire Cameron (W40) 6.14.85 |
| 3000m |
| A 1st Rebecca Piggott 10.28.9 |
| B 1st Cathy Jeremiah 10.47.5 |
| Non-scoring |
| Celine Murray 11.17.0 |
| Sid Ourida (W45) 12.00.9 |
| Claire Cameron (W40) 13.18.2 |
| 100H |
| A 4th Noelle O’Regan 23.16 |
| B 2nd Helene Kehoe (W50) 29.26 |
| 400H |
| A 4th Claire Cameron (W40) 1.29.23 |
| B 1st Kathryn Hurrell 1.19.34 |
| 2000SC |
| A 1st Rebecca Bunting 7.30 |
| B 2nd Jessica Vinluan 9.14.80 |
| High Jump |
| A 4th Teresa Cancikova 1.25 |
| B 3rd Helene Kehoe (M50) 1.10 |
| Pole Vault |
| A 4th Birgit Pfleger (W50) 1.40 |
| Long Jump |
| A 3rd Mary Peart 4.40 |
| B 3rd Claudia Bioh 3.35 |
| Non-scoring |
| Gokce Bayvar 3.39 |
| Triple Jump |
| A 4th Teresa Cancikova 9.16 |
| B 2nd Mary Peart 8.05 |
| Shot Putt |
| A 2nd Angelica Wynter (U20) 8.48 |
| B 2nd Claudia Bioh 6.82 |
| Non-scoring |
| Bergit Pfleger (W50) 4.64 |
| Discus |
| A 2nd Angelica Wynter (U20) 21.19 |
| B 5th Claudia Bioh 12.08 |
| Hammer |
| A 3rd Noelle O’Regan 21.00 |
| B 3rd Helene Kehoe (W50) 16.50 |
| Javelin |
| A 2nd Angelica Wynter 22.55 |
| B 4th Bergit Pfleger (W50) 10.31 |
| Non-scoring |
| Gokce Bayvar 13.22 |
| 4 x 100m |
| 2nd London Heathside 54.38 |
| Non-scoring |
| London Heatside B 1.01.73 |
| 4 x 400m |
| DQ London Heathside |