Wednesday, June 4, 2025

Harrow beat Thames Valley in Nationwide Athletics League opener

Eton is the venue for a aggressive Premiership spherical one match within the UK’s prime home league

The 2025 season for the Nationwide Athletics League bought underway in precisely the identical format as in 2024 with three rounds of matches, which culminate in finals on August 16, Martin Duff experiences.

That may see the third Premiership match at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham and a knock-out competitors between the highest two golf equipment from the 4 mini space leagues at Horspath Area, Oxford.

The mini space league format was devised to ease travelling prices for golf equipment within the decrease reaches of the league however some golf equipment within the south and west discover themselves travelling when there’s a native match nearer at hand.

PREMIERSHIP, spherical 1, Thames Valley Athletics Centre, Eton, Might 31

Thames Valley Harriers have received the title for the previous 4 years, however right here had been in a detailed competitors with native rivals Harrow earlier than simply shedding out by 16 factors, as the remainder of the golf equipment had been nicely out of it all through the competitors.

Nevertheless, they bought their marketing campaign off to a profitable begin as Samuel Clarke comfortably took the lads’s 400m hurdles with a private finest 50.66. Nicole Kendall then made it a Valley double by taking the ladies’s race in 58.12.

Nicole Kendall (Daniel Rees)

Madeline Casey made it three TVH observe wins out of the primary 4 by taking the ladies’s 800m in 2:11, to make sure that her membership opened an early lead over Harrow – 141 factors to 121 – nevertheless it was Harrow’s Susanah Lecoutre who had a faster run within the B race with a 2:08.53 private finest.

Harrow hit again on their rivals as Luke Dorrell received the 100m in 10.40 however Bianca Williams, the Commonwealth and European relay gold medallist, countered with an 11.55 ladies’s dash win for TVH.

Harrow continued to press the four-time winners and introduced the TVH lead down to only six factors after 10 occasions earlier than Thames Valley prolonged once more after 12 occasions – by 206 to 192 – as the remainder of the golf equipment had been left struggling.

There was an early enhance for Metropolis of Sheffield as they started with a win within the males’s 800m as Robert Shipley ran 1:52.52, however within the B race Shaftesbury’s Kojo Kyereme, the World Masters double indoor champion and second on the M50 800m all-time lists, ran 2:00.38 in seventh. Sheffield then needed to wait for his or her second win till Chuks Osammor received a decent shot competitors with a 16.59m final gasp effort.

Because the early beginning area occasions started to unwind because the outcomes compilers caught up, Molly Palmer hit again for Thames Valley with a 6.28m lengthy bounce win earlier than Edson Gomes responded for Harrow with a 13.86 dash hurdles win.

Hosts Windsor had been having a skinny time on the highest of the rostrum however junior Ella Davey, the English Faculties champion, put that proper with an 11:01.59 win within the ladies’s 3000m steeplechase, the place there have been 10 match occasion starters and simply eight finishers from the potential 16.

This got here as Charlotte Payne, the 2022 British champion, was profitable the ladies’s hammer with 65.64m after which, later within the afternoon, Jake Norris, the 2018 world under-20 champion, made it a house membership double by taking the lads’s occasion with a 74.14m sixth spherical effort to see off Jack Paget’s 71.42m.

It was mid-afternoon and Harrow started to place strain on the holders as Paris Olympian Nick Percy received the lads’s discus with 5 60-metre plus throws and a better of 61.15m from the second spherical.

Nick Percy (Daniel Rees)

The 2024 BUCS champion Marli Jessop added the ladies’s 100m hurdles with 13.33 and Poppy Malik the ladies’s 400m in 52.12. This was from second positioned 16-year-old Casey Musgrave, whose 54.09 was a private finest to go third on the 2025 UK junior lists.

These wins gave Harrow a slender 12.5-point lead within the match however area occasion factors totting up was delayed, which left the precise state of affairs some-what hazy after 17 occasions had been scored. However, UK silver medallist Freya Jones’ ladies’s javelin throw, of 53.96m, was quickly added to the membership rating. In an analogous late addition to the factors scores was Sam Callaway’s discus win for Thames Valley, with 51.96m.

Woodford had been having a lean time till Alex Knibbs received the 400m flat in 46.27 however then their Calum Henderson took benefit of a 2.6m/sec gust of wind to sail out to 7.90m within the lengthy bounce. The east London outfit have relied on veteran Tosin Oke within the triple bounce and he once more delivered with 15.53m authorized and 15.52m wind-assisted jumps.

Alex Knibbs (Daniel Rees)

It was an analogous state of affairs for Birchfield till they threw in English Nationwide junior cross-country champion Aron Gebremariam to win the lads’s 1500m in 3:51.06.

Shaftesbury too had been wanting an A string win till Krishawn Aiken took the 200m in a season’s finest 20.79 to only get the nod on private bests from Woodford’s 18-year-old Ethan Franklin and Thames Valley’s Ezekiel Lowe as the highest 5 all bettered 21 seconds.

These wins for the opposite golf equipment ensured that Harrow remained simply 5 factors away from TVH after 26 occasions because of Adelaide Omitowoju’s 12.87m triple bounce win over Windsor’s Amy Warre.

It stayed that method after 30 occasions as Harrow loved a 15-point margin over Thames Valley with the remainder of the golf equipment out of competition.

This was regardless of England silver medallist Felicia Miloro needing only a single try within the pole vault for a Harrow victory at a top of 4.10m.

Her membership had been then helped by a first-place tie for Divine Duruaku’s 2.10m within the males’s excessive bounce after he couldn’t be break up from Shaftesbury’s Akin Coward.

Akin Coward (Daniel Rees)

Birchfield added a second males’s distance win because of Omar Ahmed within the males’s 5000m, who had a 10-second cushion over Phil Norman and Tom Butler when profitable in 14:04.04. Different wins got here their method late within the afternoon when Benji Pearson threw 71.04m within the remaining spherical of the lads’s javelin and Adele Nicholl comfortably took the ladies’s shot with 17.36m.

With Harrow seemingly crusing on to victory, Thames Valley made a sequence of nice efforts by filling the primary two slots within the ladies’s 5000m, with Ella Burfitt getting the nod on clubmate Emily Carroll by two seconds in 17:38.94. Right here, Harrow had been third and fourth however there have been solely eight of a potential 16 starters.

The Valley additionally took wins in three of the 4 relays nevertheless it all got here too late and Harrow narrowly got here out on prime.

Match: 1 Harrow 644.5; 2 TH 628; 3 WSEH 443.5; 4 WG&EL 441.5; 5 Glasgow Jaguars 416; 6 Birchfield 402; 7 Metropolis of Sheffield 354.5; 8 Shaftesbury Barnet 350

100 (2.0): 1 L Dorrell (Harr) 10.40; 2 M Odamtton (WG&EL) 10.45; 3 B Whitehead (Sheff) 10.50

200 (1.4): 1 Ok Aikin (SB) 20.79; 2 E Franklin (WG&EL) 20.84; 3 E Lowe (TVH) 20.85

400: 1 A Knibbs (WG&E) 46.27; 2 V Dos Santos Soares (TVH) 47.16; 3 J Watson (Bir) 47.64

800: 1 R Shipley (Sheff) 1:52.52; 2 M Bishop (TVH) 1:53.46; 3 G McEachern (Glas, U20) 1:53.76

1500: 1 A Gebremariam (Bir, U20) 3:51.06; 2 A Milligan (Harr) 3:52.95; 3 W Perkin (TVH) 3:53.47

5000: 1 O Ahmed (Bir) 14:04.04; 2P Norman (WG&EL) 14:14.49; 3 T Butler (SB) 14:23.12

110H (0.7): 1 E Gomes (Harr) 13.86; 2 E Akanni (WG&EL) 14.25; 3 S Clarke (TVH) 14.34

400H: 1 S Clarke (TVH) 50.66; 2 T Watson (B ir) 51:48; 3 B Francis (Glas) 51;76

3,000SC: 1 T Fawden (Harr) 9:28.76; 2 O Newton (TVH) 9:52.69; 3 J Geddes (Bir) 9:59.87

HJ: 1eq D Duruaku (Harr)/A Coward (SB) 2.10; 3 C Husbands (Bir) 2.05.

LJ: 1 C Henderson (WG&EL) 7.96/2.6 (7.28/1.3); 2 2 Tshireletso (WG&EL) 7.22/1.8; 3 E Uwaifo (Harr) 7.18/0.8

TJ: 1 T Oke (WG&EL, M40) 15.53/0.6; 2 J Aki-Sawyerr ((WSEH) 14.87/0.1; 3 Ok Stephens (SB) 14.61/0.9

PV: 1eq G Heppinstall (Sheff)/S Ouiles (Harr)/T Walley (TVH) 4.80

SP: 1 C Osammor (Sheff) 16;69; 2 G Thompson (SB) 16.64; 3 Z Davies (Harr) 16.48

DT: 1 N Percy (Harr) 61:15; 2 G Thompson (SB) 56.38; 3 C Osamoor (Sheff) 53.92

HT: 1 J Norris (WSEH) 74.14; 2 J Paget (TVH) 71;42; 3 C Murch (Bir) 68;67

JT: 1 B Pearson (Bir) 71.04; 2 G Millar (Bir) 64.61; 3 M Allison (WSEH) 62.51

(Daniel Rees)

4×100: 1 TVH 40.69; 2 Harrow 40.83; 3 Sheffield 40.86

4×400: 1 TVH 3:12.41; 2 WSEH 3:12.89; 3 Sheffield 3:13.61

Ricardo dos Santos anchors TVH to 4x400m victory (Daniel Rees)

Ladies

100 (0.7): 1 B Williams (TVH) 11.55; 2 S Grace (WSEH) 11.80; 3 G Disley (WG&EL) 11.89

200 (1.4): 1 A Bell (Glas) 23.01; 2 M King (Harr) 23.67; 3 S Grace (WSEH) 23.81

400: 1 P Malik (Harr) 52.12; 2 C Musgrave (Sheff, U20) 54.09; 3 A Wilson (TVH, U20) 54.71

800: 1 M Casey (TVH) 2:11.11; 2 S Monk (Harr) 2:11.68; 3 C Clare (Glas) 2:11.85

1500: 1 S Lecoutre (Harr) 4:25.63; 2 S Monk (Harr) 4:28.57; 3 L Gilbert (WG&EL) 4:29.12

5000: 1 E Burfitt (TVH) 17:38.94; 2 E Carroll (TVH) 17:41.21; 3 E Warren (Harr) 17:42.32

100H (1.6): 1 M Jessop (Harr) 13.33; 2 D Hales (Bir) 13.49; 3 U Uwakwe (WG&EL) 13.51

Marli Jessop (Daniel Rees)

400H: 1 N Kendall (TVH) 58.12; 2 S Fisher (Harr) 59.73; 3 O Brennan (WSEH) 59.79

3,000SC: 1 E Davey (WSEH, U20) 11:01.59; 2 A Paton (Glas) 11:11.06; 3 A Tharenos (TVH) 11:18.46

HJ: 1 P Rogan (TVH) 1.73; 2 R Wheeler-Henry (SB) 1.70; 3 S Connolly (Harr) 1.65

LJ: 1 M Palmer (TVH) 6.28/1.3; 2 R Jerges (Harr) 6.22/0.9; 3 A Hopkins (Harr) 6.17/1.5

TJ: 1 A Omitowoju (Harr) 12.87/2.0; 2 A Warre (WSEH) 12.78/1.5; 3 M Elcock (WG&EL) 12.65/2.2 (12.58/1.2)

PV: 1 F Miloro (TVH) 4.10; 2 M Bailey (Harr) 3.90; 3 E Kutman (TVH) 3.80

SP: 1 A Nicholl (Bir) 17.36; 2 S Callaway (TVH) 14.79; 3 A Kennedy (Glas) 14.64

DT: 1 S Callaway (TVH) 51;96; 2 S Du Toit (Harr) 48.65; 3 S Mace (TVH) 48.25

HT: 1 C Payne (WSEH) 65.64; 2 A Barnsdale (Sheff) 61:24; 3 Ok Preswell (TVH) 61.24

JT: 1 F Jones (Harr) 53.96; 2 S Hamilton (Harr) 49.19;  H Courtroom (TVH) 46.30

Freya Jones (Daniel Rees)

4×100: 1 TVH 45.09; 2 Harrow 45.62; 3 Glasgow 46.05

4×400: 1 Glasgow 3:44.15; 2 Harrow 3:46.40; 3 Birchfield 3:47.02

Glasgow Jaguars win the 4x400m (Daniel Rees)

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP EAST, spherical 1, Chelmsford, Might 31

Hosts Chelmsford had been forward all through the match earlier than popping out on prime general by 58 factors over Herts Phoenix.

After 13 occasions, Chelmsford had taken 4 A string wins to steer the remaining by nicely over 40 factors in what seemed like the very best quality of the 4 mini space leagues.

They had been pegged again a bit by Havering after 17 occasions as Herts Phoenix and Blackheath remained in competition.

Herts had Edward Legal guidelines set a private finest 51.00 to take the 400m hurdles and Matthew Cox the Lengthy bounce with 7.07m.

Because the occasions unfolded, Chelmsford confirmed their place on the prime of what seemed like a loaded space league in order that after 24 occasions had been totalled, they had been 30 factors away from Blackheath however Herts Phoenix and Havering had been additionally in competition not far down.

Chelmsford posted a double within the males’s and ladies’s hammer as Helene Ingvaldsen and Oliver Graham got here good.

High performances continued and, within the males’s 5000m, junior Joseph Grange set a private finest 14:51.96 when heading Blackheath’s under-17 Joseph Scanes by virtually 10 seconds.

With simply three occasions left to be scored, Chelmsford had it within the bag with a 53-point margin over Herts phoenix.

Regardless of 10 particular person A string wins, certainly one of which was Daisy Snell’s 6.30m lengthy bounce, Blackheath languished in fourth whereas Herne Hill and Belgrave, each of whom did not area a full squad of officers and subsequently misplaced factors, introduced up the rear.

Chelmsford additionally had their 46-year-old Paul Grange the UK all-time second finest M45 800m runner come out on prime within the age graded stakes after a 1:54.96 effort.

The second-best age graded effort went to 16-year-old Herts’ Daniel Skilbeck whose 47.89 PB was third within the A string 400m.

Match: 1 Chelmsford 610; 2 Herts Phoenix 552; 3 Havering 519; 4 Blackheath & Bromley 510; 5 Herne Hill 389; 6 Belgrave 365

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP NORTH, spherical 1, York, Might 31

Hosts, Metropolis of York got here out on prime on the York College observe however this division solely had 5 of the potential six membership takers.

They took an early lead with 177 factors to 150 over Trafford after 11 occasions and prolonged it to 30 factors after 17 occasions however high-quality performances had been few and much between.

One among their best-looking efforts got here within the males’s 200m, the place junior Adam Pearson battled a headwind with a 21.50 clocking.

Sale Harriers had begun to problem and had Kirsty Regulation out to 52.88m to take the ladies’s discus throw, as her membership went second after 23 occasions had been posted, however York had been nonetheless 37 factors clear.

The match threw up a number of good particular person performances and Metropolis of York took the highest two locations within the males’s 5000m because of Angus McMillan’s 14:29.95 and so they now led Trafford and Sale by 35 factors.

Sale noticed Lucy Armitage win the 800m in a private finest 2:04.96 earlier than returning later so as to add the 3000m in 9:48.69. Additionally they had Melissa Sales space win the triple bounce with 12.07m.

The final occasion to finish is normally the lads’s javelin and York accomplished their factors rating with Oliver Wright’s 66.87m win, as their observe squad had been including each lengthy relays.

Match: 1 Metropolis of York 544; 2 Sale 495; 3 Trafford 481; 4 Notts 439; 5 Liverpool 376

Notice: no officers factors added

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SOUTH, spherical 1, Poole, Dorset, Might 31

The Ashdown Centre in Poole performed hosts as locals Bournemouth led after 11 occasions and continued to be forward all through the day earlier than profitable by 56 factors from Crawley.

At that time, they’d 205 factors to Crawley’s 185 as 5 golf equipment had early victories.

The Bournemouth lead elevated after 15 occasions to 38 factors over Crawley and Tonbridge as native rivals Southampton posted their very own first A string win by their prime veteran Kirsty Sales space within the ladies’s steeplechase, with a 6:53.35 clocking.

A number of A string wins noticed Crawley start to problem Bournemouth after 23 occasion outcomes had been posted and had been simply seven factors down at this stage.

Bournemouth, nevertheless, continued to notch up A string wins and had Abdi Elmi defeat Tonbridge’s Ben Cole by 30 seconds within the 5000m with 14:22.71, as his membership had been now 30 factors away from Tonbridge after 34 occasions had been declared.

The very best age graded efficiency got here from 55-year-old Julia Machin within the excessive bounce with 1.60 behind junior Carmen Rose’s 1.71m for Kingston & Poly. Elsewhere, a sequence of youngsters additionally impressed.17-year-old Sam Sprostranov received for Crawley with 1:54.26 within the males’s 800m.

Sprinter Cristiano Anah ran 10.96 within the males’s 100m, behind Tom White’s 10.82 for Kingston. Lily Cowan, 16, received the ladies’s 200m in 24.65.

These Kingston & Poly performances didn’t a lot assist their trigger, as they completed a distant sixth general in a match that noticed many performances fall beneath what is perhaps known as a Nationwide League normal. Not taking sufficient officers to the match additionally miss out on 35 factors.

Match: 1 Bournemouth 589; 2 Crawley 543; 3 Tonbridge 511; 4 Portsmouth 419.5; 5 Southampton 344; 6 Kingston & Poly 254

NATIONAL ATHLETICS LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP WEST, spherical 1, Yeovil, Somerset, Might 31

Swansea dominated on the Invoice Whistlecroft Stadium as they took early victories and, after 13 occasions had been scored, led with 233 factors to Cardiff and hosts Yeovil with 147.

After 16 occasions had been scored Swansea continued to dominate, 89 factors away from Yeovil, with 9 A string wins led by junior Millie Gold’s 2000m steeplechase with 7:02.07.

As Swansea romped away with the match, the second spot was up for grabs and Cardiff notched up a sequence of A string wins to go second 5 factors away from Yeovil however 89 down on their Welsh rivals.

After 29 occasions had been posted Swansea had been 124 factors clear having received a dozen A strings however now it was hosts Yeovil who had been a transparent second 25 factors away from Cardiff and it stayed that method till the tip.

Greatest performances had been made by Yeovil’s 17-year-old Tom Webb whose 8:38.45 3000m was adjudged to be a league report. Additionally making a mark had been two Winchester & District youngsters, who got here out on prime within the ladies’s 400m.

Firstly 17-year-old Elsie Brindle received the A string race in 55.82 earlier than 16-year-old team-mate Chloe Poore added the B race in 55.69.

Cardiff may need anticipated to problem their rivals from throughout the River Severn and had junior Nicolas MacZugowski win the lads’s 400m with a 48.71 private finest, however plaudits behind went to 16-year-old Zak Reynolds, who ran 49.43 for fourth.

Swansea notched up greater than a dozen A string wins general and amongst them was a single pole vault bounce of three.50m for his or her Carys Jones.

Match: 1 Swansea 585; 2 Yeovil 478; 3 Cardiff 428; 4 Basingstoke & Mid Hants 349.5; 5 Yate 344; 6 Winchester & District 264.5.

Notice: no officers factors added


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