Heathside claim victory at the first Southern Athletics League match of the season
On Saturday, we had our first Southern Athletics League match of the season, at home in Finsbury Park, coming up against some very strong competition in Dacorum and Tring, Woodford Green, Herts Phoenix, St Albans and Thurrock – all of whom were bested by a phenomenal London Heathside effort, covering almost every single event, including athletes stepping in last minute to cover for others, with junior athletes doing adult height hurdles, runners doing jumps, and even sprint coaches throwing! Reports from the Men’s and Women’s team captains (Richard and Lily) below – get a cup of tea ready - as it a longun!
Men’s Report
There were so many fantastic individual and team performances on the day that it is hard to know where to start! On the men’s side, the first track event was the 400m hurdles, where we had 3 junior athletes competing over the adult height for the first time. In the A race Trey Corlis ran a very well-paced effort to claim second. Whereas in the B race, the only athlete close to Heathside’s 1st placed Thomas Wasserman, was our own Malakai McKenzie Callum! These athletes also competed in multiple other events on the day, with Trey winning the B string high jump, running the fastest 100m of the day, and doing both the 100m and 400m relays! Thomas also ran a 100m, as well as throwing a discus and hammer. Malakai also won the B string triple jump and pole vault!!
In the 800m, we had a couple of U20s with George Saint ran a very credible 2:00.0 to earn a second place in the A race, coming of the back of his first sub-2 800 a few days earlier. George was closely followed behind by David Baah-Okyere who also earned a second place in the B string! Some very credible Heathside performances too in the 400m with Sam Brown (an U17!) running 50.31 plus Vlad Woodham-Smith running 51.85!!
However, it was the sprints where Heathsidedominated in both numbers and quality. We had 10 entries into the 100m! And not only did we win the A string (Glenford Hughes) and the B string (Neo) – our 2 fastest non-scorers (Trey and Asha) ran faster than any of the other club’s 100m athletes! Unsurprisingly, our 100m relay team were dominant winners!! Glen and Asha also jumped in to do the 400m relay (alongside Trey and Sam) where we came an excellent second place! Also a shout out to Mohamed Kamara, who was knocked off his bike en route to the competition, but still managed to score a 200m PB!
We also had 10 entries for the 5000m with 6 Heathsiders going under 17 minutes (Matteo, Andy Barnes, Jordan, Samuel Lloyd, Isaac Edwards, with a few PBs in there too!), including Kader going under 16! Kader also then entered the 3000m steeplechase! Despite the limited recovery time – and running in flats – he almost won the A string but was forced to settle for second place. In the B string, we had Matthew Coudert making his Heathside debut, defiantly raising his fist to the supporting crowd with every lap covered to gain some very valued points as the 2nd B string!
The only gap we had in the entire men’s team was a B string 110m hurdles – though the total number of high hurdlers from all other 5 teams combined was one- in the A race, Israel was just beaten by 0.2s in a very close-run race! But this reflected the fantastic team effort at plugging gaps in the team. For example, in the triple jump, with various niggles preventing our usual jumpers from taking part, Neo Fujiwara and Malakai literally jumped in last minute to give us some much-needed extra points with a 3rd placed A string and 1st placed B string, respectively. An extra shout out to Neo, making his SAL debut from Heathside by also winning the B string 100m and 200m! Another Heathside Sal debutant was Prithvi Raj Sharma (who won the Middlesex Indoor HJ, TJ and LJ titles earlier this year!) Despite carrying a knee niggle, he High Jumped 1.85 metres (which is over 6 feet!!) and earned a second place in the A string Long Jump!
In the shot put we had a sprints-coach-off with Kurt and Mark Lawrence going head to head – and Kurt gaining bragging rights this time around! But a big thank you to Mark from coming down from Derby on the day, and doing the Shot, Javelin and Long Jump, despite having knee and hamstring niggles! Kudos also to Ivan Ross for mucking in and filling gaps as and where they appeared. Ivan, who is also carrying a knee niggle, competed in the Pole Vault (earning a 2nd place in the A string!), Hammer and Javelin!
Women’s Report
The depth of talent across the women’s team shone throughout the fixture – they did an amazing job.
The day started with our SAL multi-eventers Genevieve Weston and Molly Harrison doing a stellar job over the 400m hurdles (a daunting event to sign up to when it’s not your specialty!) coming in 4th and 1st in their respective strings. It turned out to be a busy day for Genevieve and Molly who competed in multiple track and field events bringing the club 12 and 17 points each. Genevieive competed in 8 events! They were joined by injured Lorna Stevenson and Jennifer Wing who did not let injury stop them raking in points in the hammer and javelin.
The next event on the track was the 800m which Heathside’s women dominated. One of the most exciting events of the day saw Emily Davies and Izzy Watkins easily pass the rest of the field for an exciting and close finish winning their respective strings by a large margin. Izzy went on to compete in the 400m, 4x100m and 4x400m clocking 12 points for the club.
The sprints team had a great squad out with Asia Emanuel and Jasmine Creer in the 100m and Nevicia-Terrilee Pecco and Sophie Laplace in the 200m competing against a strong Woodford squad. Jeanne Vellard also made her debut winning the 400m heat in an impressive 60.99s. The sprints brought in over 16 points for the team.
Moving into the longer events, Lily Woolcock and Millie Watkins came second in both their strings in the 1500m with Millie bravely going on to win the B-string 2000m steeple chase shortly after. Jacob’s group also represented in the 3000m where Jessica Prior, Chloe Wilkinson and Francesca Stocco brought in 9 points between them finishing as a trio in just under 11mins. It was brilliant to see Francesca and Jess following in Molly and Genevieve’s multi eventing shoes with Jess simultaneously competing in high jump and discus bringing her points total to 9. Francesca had an impressive performance in the high jump clearing 1.30m and coming in second.
SO many people in the women’s team put went above and beyond volunteering at events throughout the day as well as filling gaps in the team; often at very last minute call ups and far from their specialty. They absolutely encompassed the spirit of SAL and what heathside is all about – competing, volunteering, having fun and supporting the team by filling all but one event. They are absolute stars and I’m so excited to see what they bring to the rest of the summer SAL season!
Thank You
However, all of this could not have been possible without an exceptional behind the scenes and on the day effort – with Simon Baker and Dave Walton doing a multitude of critical roles between them (meeting manager, starters assistant, field ref, track judge, announcer, among others!), Emilia Vynnicky processing results, Helena, Racel and Andrew, the electronic timing team, Kabir, Kwami, and Satu in the café, and Ivor Wigget as a starter (officiating at his seventh athletics event in nine days!!). With a huge number of other people chipping in with the set-up, take down and officiating including Bella, Jake Spencer, Pete Gould, Adrian Day, Noelle, Matteo, Jen Wing, Jordan, Steven, Maura, Filippo (and probably others whose names have slipped my mind!)
This has been an exceptional start to the SAL season – let’s make sure we carry this momentum forwards – the next one is on the 16th June in Stevenage, a coach will be organized - get this in your diary and COYH!!
SAL 18.5.24 Div 2 North & East 1# Finsbury Park
MEN
100m
Glenford Hughes 11.60 A 1st
Neo Fujiwara 11.54 B 1st
Tobias Fernandez Borkel 12.47 ns
George Mitchell 12.50 ns
Mihaly Zoltan Jeles 13.06 ns
Walid Saleh (T41/F41) 18.76 ns
Trey Corlis (U20) 11.29 ns
Asha Osei 11.54 ns
David Baah-Okyere (U20) 11.71 ns
Mohamed Kamara 11.72 ns
Elliot Simmons 11.89 ns
200m
Glenford Hughes 23.33 A 3rd
Neo Fujiwara 23.65 B 1st
Asha Osei 23.38 ns
Mohamed Kamara 24.00 ns
George Mitchell 24.90 ns
Gregory Berrisford Sweet 25.48 ns
Adrian Day (V65) 29.79 ns
400m
Sam Brown (U17) 50.31 A 2nd
Vladimir Woodham Smith 51.85 B 2nd
Gregory Berrisford Smith (U20) 56.77 ns
Mihaly Zoltan Jeles 58.72 ns
Ben Ryan (U20) 63.70 ns
Adrian Day (V65) 65.99 ns
800m
George Saint (U20) 2:00.0 A 2nd
David Baah-Okyere (U20) 2:02.0 B 2nd
Dylan Mills (U17) 2:07.6 ns
1500m
Richard Macaulay 4:23.28 A 4th
Fred Beale (U20) 4:30.69 B 3rd
5000m
Kader Seyed 15:50.67 A 4th
Matteo Etchemendy 16:14.82 B 2nd
Andy Barnes (V40) 16:13.31 ns
Samuel Lloyd 16:43.39 ns
Jordan Marshall 16:47.89 ns
Isaac Edwards 16:54.75 ns
Keith Geoghegan 17:05.78 ns
Etienne Daries 17:51.75 ns
Mihaly Zoltan Jeles 18:38.73 ns
110mH
Israel Nworgu 16.66 A 2nd
400mH
Trey Corlis (U20) 62.0 A 2nd
Thomas Wassermann (U20) 65.4 B 1st
Malakai David Callum McKenzie (U17) 67.3 ns
3000mSC
Kader Seyed 11:21.95 A 2nd
Matthew Coudert 14:24.B 1st
High Jump
Prithivi Raj Sharma (U20) 1.85m B 1st
Trey Corlis (U20) 1.80m B 1st
Pole Vault
Ivan Ross (V45) 2.25m A 1st
Malakai David McKenzie Callum (U17) 2.25m N 1st
Long Jump
Prithvi Raj Sharma 5.56 m
Mark Lawrence (V50) 2.75m
Triple Jump
Neo Fujiwara 11,68 m
Malakai David McKenzie Callum 11.42m B 1st
Shot Putt
Kurt Fullerton (V40) 6.68m A 5th
Mark Lawrence (V50) 7.84m B 3rd
Discus
Mark Lawrence (V50) 23.02m
Thomas Wassermann (U20) 22.75m B 3rd
Hammer
Thomas Wassermann (U20) 25.11 A 4th
Ivan Ross (V45) 16.35m B 2nd
Javelin
Mark Lawrence (V50) 20.99m A 6th
Ivan Ross (V45) 24.59m B 24.59 B 4th
4x100m Relay
1st London Heathside A 44.72 A 1st
4x400m Relay
2nd London Heathside B3:39.58 A
WOMEN
100m
Asia Emanuel (U17) 13.02 A 4th
Jasmine Creer 13.94 B 4th
Nevecia temilee Pecco 14.46 ns
Caitlin Leach 14.49 ns
Juliet Bird 17.06 ns
200m
Nevecia-Famiee Pecco 30.52 A 5th
Sophie Laplace 29.44 B 3rd
400m
Issy Watkins (U20) 61.73 A 3rd
Jeanne Vellard 60.99 B 1st
Sophie Laplace 67.63 ns
800m
Emily Davies 2:18.7 A 1st
Issy Watkins (U20) 2:20.2 B 1st
1500m
Lily Woolcock 4:48.83 A 2nd
Milie Watkins (U20) 5:07.04 B 2nd
3000m
Jessica Prior 10:59.47 A 3rd
Chloe Wilkinson 10:59.47 B 2nd
Francesca Stocco 10:59.43 ns
2000mSC
Genevieve Weston 8:30.34 A 3rd
Millie Watkins (U20) 8:31.46 B 1st
High Jump
Francesca Stocco 1.30m A 2nd
Jessica Prior 1.10m B 3rd
Pole Vault
No Competitor
Long Jump
Asia Emanuel (U17) 4.83m A 3rd
Molly Harrison 3.37m B 4th
Triple Jump
Molly Harrison 7.68m A 4th
Genivieve Weston 6.34m B 5th
Shot Putt
Jeanne Vellard 8.06m A 4th
Imani Quamina (U20) 7.43m B 4th
Discus
Jessica Prior 17.13m A 6th
Geniveve Weston 14.43m B 5th
Hammer
Lorna Stevenson 15.55m A 5th
Imani Quamina (U20) 14.36m B 4th
Javelin
Genevieve Weston 11.77m A 6th
Jennifer Wing 8.47m B 6th
4x100m
4th London Heathside 57.24
4x400m
2nd London Heathside 4:23.74
Team:- 1st London Heathside 307 pts, 2nd Dacorum 295 pts
Thanks go to Lily Woolcock and Richard Macaulay for compiling these reports and results
