Edinburgh travelled to Thames Valley Athletics Centre, Eton, London on Saturday for the second UK Women’s league match of the season hoping to gain some valuable points to secure a place in the Premier Division next year.  With incredible team spirit Edinburgh managed to place fourth on the day to leave an exciting final match at the end at end of July

MATCH SUMMARY

The action got underway over in the long jump where in form athlete Lisa Ferguson had another super jump of 6.12m (w+3.9), just 2cm short of her personal best set last weekend at the Aviva Olympic Trials & UK Championships.  Lisa’s jump earned her 3^rd place in the A.  Sarah Warnock was only 5cm shy of her personal best jumping 5.94m (w+3.9) to finish 1^st B.  I am sure it won’t be long before Sarah clears the 6m barrier.  In the triple jump Emma Pringle finished 4^th A with 12.47m (w+3.1).  Sarah Warnock jumped 11.08m (w+3.0) to place 5^th in the B triple jump.  In a period of heavy training, Emma Nuttall managed to clear 1.75m for 2^nd in the A high jump-narrowly missing 1.80m, and in the absence of Jayne Nisbet, Sarah Warnock placed 4^th B with 1.50m in her third individual event of the day.  The club gained valuable points in the pole-vault with Laura-Ann Henderson clearing 3.20m to place 6^th A and Emmeline Rendell clearing 3.00m to claim 3^rd in the B.

 Over on the track, Gillian Cooke, in her off season from bobsleigh, made her return to the UKWAL after two years.  She gained valuable points in the 100m running 12.70 (w+3.2) to place 8^th B and 27.11 (w+3.9) in the 200m to place 8^th B.  Stacey Downie continued her improvement back to full fitness running a seasons best of 12.36 (+1.8) to place 8^th in the A 100m and ran 24.75 (w+3.7) for 6^th in the A 200m.  The lap athletes had a tough day with the wind but Lauren Peffers managed 6^th place in the 400m A race in a time of 57.73 and Caitlin Froude, in her first outing over the individual 400m ran 61.22 for 6^th in the B race.

 We had UKWAL debutant Yasmin Milne in the 100m hurdles placing 8^th A with a seasons best of 15.45 (+1.9) and Lauren Stoddart showed dedication to the club by running the B 100m hurdles in 19.38 (+2.3) placing 6^th B.  In the 400m hurdles we had two 4^th places with Avril Jackson in the A race running 65.19 and Fiona Trew in the B race running a seasons best of 65.67.

For this match we had a fuller middle distance team which gained crucial points.  Kathryn Evans placed 2^nd A in the 800m with 2.09.11 and another debutant for UKWAL, Sharyn Ramage(V45) ran a seasons best of  2.43.34 for 7^th in the B 800m.  Laura Dunn finished 4^th in the A 1500m in a seasons best of 4.42.70 and Vicky Frew was also 4^th in the B 1500m in 5.07.75.  After her warm up over the 100m hurdles, Lauren Stoddart gained 3^rd place in the A 2000m Steeplechase in 7.43.62.  In the 3000m we had two debutants for the UKWAL.  Louisa Stewart placed 4^th A in 10.14.26 and 17 year old Rachael Dunn ran 10.37.8 to finish 3^rd B, which was just 5 seconds of her pb.

Back over to the field where the hammer throwers gained valuable points although facing strong head winds.  Susan McKelvie threw 62.26m to place 2^nd A and on her last UKWAL match for the club, Austrian record holder in the hammer Julia Siart threw 54.32m to place 1^st B.  Julia also finished 5^th A in the shot put with 13.79m and 6^th in the B discus with 33.20m.  Julia is now off home to the Austrian Championships where everyone at the club wishes her the best of luck.

Elsewhere in the throws, Hannah Evenden placed 5^th A in the discus with 44.21m and 2^nd in the B shot put with 13.46m.  With none of the clubs javelin throwers able to attend this match the eagerly awaited rematch between Susan Mckelvie and Gillian Cooke took place.  In the end, it was a win for Susan who placed 8^th A with 28.57m where Gillian threw 25.67m to finish 4^th B.  The battle now stands at one a piece – the saga continues.

 To end the day the 4x100m team (Sarah Warnock, Emma Nuttall, Lisa Ferguson, Stacey Downie) finished 7^th with 48.94 and the 4x400m team (Avril Jackson, Caitlin Froude, Lauren Peffers, Kathryn Evans) ran 3.54.89 to place 4^th.

The athletes would like to thank our management team of Anne Scott and Moira Maguire for their help and support throughout the day.  We would also like to thank our coaches and officials who played an important role on the day: John Scott, Lynne Jackson, Alistair Aitchison, Jean Robertson, John Robertson, Moira Nisbet, Brian Nisbet.

 CURRENT LEAGUE STANDINGS

The next UKWAL match will be on Saturday 28^th July 2012 at Swansea, Wales.  It is vitally important that we get everyone to attend this match in order to stay in the Premier Division next year.

 Thanks

Susan McKelvie (Team Captain)