Tim Hannah reports from a successful day out:
Nicola Ravenhill
Team West London, our combined U20/U17 team from ESM and TVH, went off to Guildford on Sunday 30th June with our largest squad for several years. We were rewarded with a second place finish in this seven-team match, held in perfect weather for athletics.
Our star sprinter Golder Wiafe won the U17 women’s 100m in a time of 12.4 and came second in the 200m with 25.57. Both her performances were classed as AAA Grade 2. (These grades are awarded to athletes who reach set standards: Grade 4 = good, Grade 3 = excellent, Grade 2 = brilliant, Grade 1 = outstanding).
Backing up Golder in the U17 women’s team were Lilia Khan who was fifth in the 300m (47.0) and new member Cheyenne Mbonze who was fifth in the shot (7.01m) and ran a non-scoring 100m (14.75).
Our U20 women started with a win in the second race of the day, the 400m hurdles. Feia Starkey won with a personal best of 66.1, classed at grade 3. Feia finished second in the 100m hurdles (16.8) and won the high jump with a best clearance of 1.45m.
Bessie Aban-Owusu was second in the 100m B string (13.1) and Fatma Hammad was second in the 200m B (28.1). Bessie and Fatma were joined by Lilia in the women’s 4x100m relay team which finished second.
Nicola Ravenhill had a busy day, taking part in five events. She was second in the 400m A string (65.8), third in the 800m (2:58.5), fourth in the triple jump (7.13m) and third in the shot. She also ran in the winning U20 women’s 4x400m relay team. Anisa Ibrahim won the 800m and 1500m B string races and was also part of the winning 4x400m relay.
Ealing’s Under 20 men were very successful with Bilal Uba coming second in the 100m B string (11.5) and winning the A string long jump with 5.95m. Kai English won the B string 200m in 23.1, with further victories in the B string long jump (5.64m) and high jump (1.80m). He was also third in the discus and with Bilal was part of the 4x100m relay team that came second.
In the middle distance races, Marcus West stepped up an age group coming second in both the 400m B string (53.4) and the 800m A string (2:07.4). Chauncey Edwards won the 800m B string (2:13.5) and Oscar Gjesdal finished second in the high jump A string (1.80m).
Our U17 men’s star was thrower Andrew Woodward, competing in the YDL for the first time. He came second in both the shot (11.62m) and the hammer (31.71m). Both of these were grade 2 performances. He also came third in the discus with a best throw of 27.15m. ESM had no athletes in the U17 men’s sprints, but had strong endurance runners. Seweryn Czapka won the 400m B string (54.2), won the 800m A string (2:04.3) and came fifth in the javelin. He joined the winning U20s 4x400m team.
Vitaly Bender won the 1500m B string (4:37.7) and did a non-scoring 800m (2:17). Thomas Edgar also ran a non-scoring 800m (2:29), 1500 (5:11) and was a member of the winning U20 4x400m relay team.
We are now third in the division. With another good turnout we should finish second; apart from Croydon other teams are weak away from home.
The next YDL match is on Sunday 28th July at Croydon.
Full results on power of 10.