UK Women's League - Match 3

August 12, 2015 Administrator

UK Women's League - Match 3

Sunday 9 August - Wigan

The final match of the UKWL season was a matter of securing our spot for next year in division three, and with two teams dropping out in the lead up it was pretty much a certainty. Facing a double fixture timetable on a Sunday the ladies made the journey up to Wigan the night before to ensure they were well rested for the day’s activities and to make sure the battle for promotion for the other clubs was anything but easy – we weren’t just there to make up the numbers.

With Jessica Case and Florence Skinner on hurdling duties for the day a win in the 400m hurdles A for Jess and a third place in the B race for Flo kick started the Belles track campaign for the match. The 100m hurdles proved slightly tougher for the girls with Jess taking second and Flo coming in third in the A and B races respectively, before it was all hands on deck filling the gaps with a 200m for Jess and shot put for Flo.

Charlie’s Runners trio Rose O’Brien, Sally Underhill and Jojo Rhodes took care of the middle distance events pocketing 37 points between them. A second place in the 800m A for Rose was followed up with a SB in the 400m A, whilst Sally ran a PB in the 800m B race for third before taking second in a hard fought 1500m B race. It was great to see Jojo back at the UKWL with a nifty run in the 1500m A race and leisurely warm down trot in the 200m too. Meanwhile local Belgravian Sarah Murphy popped in to the track for a cheeky second place in the 3000m before almost missing the combined A & B races in the 400m to earn much needed points for the team.

Emma Watkins and Helen Brown had their work cut out for them facing tough competition in the long jump and triple jump, with Emma also completing a solid 100m run and Helen stepping up to her beloved steeplechase during the course of the day.

On the throws front it was an early start for Leanne Bettis in the hammer throw before being joined by Elena Narozanski to team up for a win in the discus and a third place in the javelin for both. Elena also claimed a handy second place in the shot put closing out a great debut season for her in the UKWL team.

With fourth place secured in the Match and Overall the ladies capped off the day with a team effort in the relays to end what has been an eventful season full of great moments, injuries, personal bests, hot tubs, questionable lunch options and loads of team spirit that you just couldn’t get at any other club.

Thank you...

A massive thank you to team manager Bob Bridges who has once again met the task of managing the ladies team with a great deal of experience and calm – the team certainly couldn’t have it made it through the season without him! Also a thank you to our officials Tony and Gillian Fairclough and Charlie Dickinson for making the journey to the ends of the UK to officiate for us, your time and support is greatly appreciated.