UK Women's Athletics League Results & Reports 2009: Match 1, Mayesbrook Park, Barking

Above left: Jodie Favell flies over barrier eight on her way to third place in the 400m hurdles. Right: A jump of 10.39m came from Michelle Nestor in the triple jump. Below: Taking the barriers with ease, Vicki Goodwin completed her first ever steeplechase in third spot; no doubt she'll be back for more.

It's going to be a slog

After one match

Bedford & County AC

Wigan

Thames Valley H

Havering Mayesbrook AC

Newham & Essex Beagles

Medway & Maidstone

Wakefield

Belgrave H

A small Belgrave team of just nine athletes struggled to make headway in our opening UK Women's Athletic League match at Mayesbrook Park. Failing to cover half the events means automatic relegation to the UKWAL qualifying match - never mind Division Four - and that in itself will be a hard slog to avoid in 2009 unless we can get more athletes out. All credit to those who were there though as virtually everyone doubled, trebled or even quadrupled up to cover as many events as possible. The task is not made any easier by the rule that forbids an athlete from taking on more than three competitions plus relays.

Jodie Favell started the day off with 400 hurdles and went on to run sprint hurdles, 200m and both relays. Susan Bovill scored heavily in the 400m and 200m before similarly turning out for relay duty.

An injured Christine Bertram was restricted to the throwing events where she was joined by Hazel Mead, expecting to throw hammer but roped into more than she bargained for. Meanwhile the jumps were taken care of by Michelle Nestor and Steph Smith.

Clearly the best vaulter in action Steph entered the competition in the second pool at 3.20m and there were a few anxious moments as the bar was removed twice at that height. But soon she was up and away to become our only winner of the day. In fact she enjoyed herself so much that having not previously competed in any running event longer than 60m, Steph stepped into both relay teams and clocked an eyebrow raising 63.3.

Recent marathoner Sarah Murphy just managed to keep Zoe Vail at bay in the 3000m while Vicki Goodwin, also a debutante in the London Marathon, turned her attention to the newly instigated steeplechase. Unfortunately Vicki had to bear the full brunt of a rain squall which made sighting the barriers difficult but she seemed to enjoy it and barely had time to draw breath before she too was on relay duty.

200m: 4 S Bovill 25.36/0.6; 7 J Favell 27.49/-1.3. 400m: 2 S Bovill 56.97; 6 V Goodwin 70.57. 1500m: 7 S Murphy 5:09.88. 3000m: 5 S Murphy 10:41.47; 3 Z Vail 10:41.80. 100mH: 4 J Favell 16.00. 400mH: 3 J Favell 65.00. 2000mSC: 3 V Goodwin 8:37.28. HJ: 8 S Smith 1.50; 4 M Nestor 1.40. LJ: 8 M Nestor 4.89/0.6; 8 S Smith 4.34/0.7. TJ: 5 M Nestor 10.39/0.6. PV: 1 S Smith 3.60. SP: 8 C Bertram 7.90; 8 H Mead 6.91. DT: 7 C Bertram 22.70; 7 H Mead 15.22. JT: 8 C Bertram 26.45. HT: 7 H Mead 22.70. 4x100m: 8 Belgrave 54.96 (H Mead, J Favell, S Smith, S Bovill). 4x400m: 7 Belgrave 4:18.41 (J Favell 63.5, S Smith 63.3, V Goodwin 70.9, S Bovill 60.7).

Below left: Sprinter Susan Bovill scored well in both 400 and 200 metres. Right: After running in a classy 3000 metres field Sarah Murphy tackled the 1500m - and was disappointed to be "left out" of the 4 x 400 metres relay.

Above left: Stephanie Smith takes the pole vault bar off at 3.80m but was a clear winner of the event. Right: Zoe Vail finished the 3000 metres strongly to close right down on Sarah Murphy.

After one match	League Points	Match Points
Bedford & County AC	16	420.0
Wigan	12	358.0
Thames Valley H	11	352.0
Havering Mayesbrook AC	11	351.0
Newham & Essex Beagles	9	320.5
Medway & Maidstone	6	249.0
Wakefield	5	241.5
Belgrave H	2	163.0

Restored from the club's earlier website, belgraveharriers.com, and published here as originally written.