Nony Mordi (Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers) made it record number six at the UK Women’s League Division One match at Sportcity, Manchester on Saturday. In a quality triple jump competition that included 2005 World Champion Trecia Smith, who was competing as a guest, Mordi soared out to 13.62 (+1.5) in the fifth round to add 7cm to her National best set at Loughborough in May, finishing only 6cm behind Smith. The jump, which took 1st place in the match ahead of Woodford’s Zainab Ceesay (13.27), bodes well for this weekend’s Olympic Trials where Mordi will expect to medal.
Mordi’s record jump came only two hours after recording a disastrous 4m31 in the long jump. Following two marginal fouls that looked to be in the region of 6 metres, Mordi stuttered into the board and stepped in, determined to secure her club at least one point. In the end she scored two, her ’step’ placing her 7th in the B event, ahead of Trafford’s athlete. At least she could joke about it, ” I don’t think I’ve ever jumped that before, the lowest PB I can remember is 4m44 when I was about 13!”
Alison Rodger, competing for host club City of Manchester, won the shot put with 15.77, only 11cm short of her recent personal best set last weekend at the Throws Fest in Birmingham, Rodger also took 2nd in the discus with 46.16. Meanwhile Mordi’s Shaftesbury team mate Gemma Nicol recorded a season’s best in the 200m, recording a wind-assisted 24.41(+4.3) for 5th in the A event.
The bulk of the Scottish interest however came, of course, from the sole Scottish club in the top division, Edinburgh AC. Having finished 3rd in the opening match of the season at Birmingham, Edinburgh went one better this time around, taking 2nd behind host club City of Manchester thanks to a strong team effort with some outstanding individual performances.
As the teams arrived at the Sportcity stadium few would have predicted PBs or record performances as the rain lashed down, accompanied by a strong headwind in the home straight. What a difference an hour makes in the British summertime! By the time the athletes emerged from the indoor warm up area for the first field events the sun was shining and the wind was very definitely in the sprinters’ favour. Edinburgh’s athletes took full advantage, posting five personal bests and numerous season’s bests over the course of the afternoon.
Freya Murray was Edinburgh’s most convincing winner as she front-ran her way to a season’s best 9.30.28, over 45 seconds clear of the 2nd place finisher in the A 3000m. The margin a victory was astonishing, especially given the gusting winds, which caused most of the distance events’ times to suffer. And it was not just the 3000m where Edinburgh’s track athletes picked up maximum points. Joanna Ross and Lauren Peffers scored a 1500m double, finished 1st in the A and B events respectively, Ross running 4.29.36 to win and Peffers a season’s best 4.43.20 as she continues to strive for a place at the World Deaf Championships to be held in September.
In the 800m Sarah Hood had a fine return to form as she recorded a season’s best of 2.10.75 for 3rd in the A race, less than a second outside her best set in 2006. Keeping with the leading pack for most of the race, she finished strongly to hold off Birchfield’s Anouska McConne and Shaftesbury’s Amy Campbell in the race to the line. Hood, showing great team spirit, gathered valuable team points as she took to the track a second time, not so long after her main event, placing 4th in the B 3000m in a very productive “warm down.”
Carey Easton, a contender for a place in the Olympic 4×400m team, took the 400m in 53.48, well clear of Windsor’s Lesley Owusu, with Kathryn Evans 3rd in the B race in 55.69. Stephanie Walker and Avril Jackson ran well in the 400m hurdles, Walker taking 3rd in the A event in 62.40 and Jackson running a storming race to win the B race in 61.95, less than half a second outside her best despite the strong wind.
In the short sprints Gillian Cooke recorded personal bests over 100m and 200m to make up for a disappointing long jump where she recorded only two valid jumps, placing 3rd in the A string with Sarah Warnock faring better in the B string, only 4cm short of her best with 5.64 for 1st place. Moving directly from the sandpit to the 100m start Cooke shaved one one-hundredth from her best to record 11.95 (+1.7) for 3rd in the A race, returning, rather nervously, later in the day to place 2nd in the B 200m in 24.52 (+3.1), the last 20 metres of the race perhaps best forgotten!
On the field Edinburgh’s best result came in the pole vault which took place indoors due to the inclement weather early in the day. Doctor Kirsty Maguire celebrated her 25th birthday by clearing 3.90 for 3rd in the A event despite a hectic schedule that saw her finish work on the wards on Friday evening, rushing down to compete, before heading straight back up the road to start her shift on the Saturday, while Stephanie McKenzie had a dream UK League debut, clearing a personal best 3.60 for 2nd in the B event, only 10cm short of the Commonwealth Youth Games qualifying mark. Laura Chalmers, having finished 3rd with 51.30 in her main event, the hammer, went on to launch the discus out to a best of 43.49 for 5th.
Edinburgh’s 2nd place finish in Manchester leaves them a strong 2nd overall going into the final match at Eton on the 2nd of August. In the division two match in Liverpool on Sunday Victoria Park City of Glasgow finished 2nd on the day, moving them up the table after their 7th place finish in the opening match of the season.
Full Division One Match Result:
City of Manchester 208
Edinburgh AC 182.5
Trafford AC 173.5
W,S,E&H 163
Birchfield 145
Shaftesbury 133
Woodford Green/Essex Ladies 125
Rugby & Northampton 94
League Standings after 2 Matches:
CoM 16
EDIN 13
TRAF 10
SBH 10
BIR 9
WSEH 7
WG/EL 5
R&N 2
