SOME 300 athletes from all points of the compass descended upon the Thames Valley Athletics in Eton to take part in the Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (WSEH)Athletics Club Open Graded Indoor Meeting, writes Dennis Daly.

All the athletes were anxious to assess how their winter training was progressing and some 40 from WSEH were amongst the competitors, producing some excellent results.

The opening 60m sprint produced a win for WSEH Alex Haydock-Wilson in the senior men’s race with a personal best (PB) time of 7.02 seconds (secs).

Marcel Hodge was also a winner of his race in 7.62secs.

Jumps specialist Olly Carroll showed a turn of speed to finish third in his race with 7.90secs, with Rakesh Sagu runner-up in his later race in 8.93secs. James Badham placed second in 7.74secs.

The Under-15 (U15) boys race provided a second place finish for Deman Gumbs in 8.14secs, with Jack Staunton also in the runners-up spot in 8.60secs.

The top ladies race provided first and second place finishes for Harriet Jones (7.83secs), who just held off Hannah Jones with 7.84secs.

Vet 35 Jessica Armah also secured a second place in 7.95secs in the next race.

The best result in the U17 ladies division was newcomer Taliah Headley-Jones who won her race in 8.75secs.

Top WSEH performers in the U15 girls age group were multi-eventer Chanel Lovelock, second in 8.76secs, with Anns Babis third in her race in 8.62secs and newcomer Cami Ho third in 9.10secs. Sampda Sharma won her event in 9.24secs.

There was lower representation in the 60m hurdles races.Taliah Headley-Jones won her U17 race in 10.75secs, with Demara Gumbs second in the U13 girls event in 11.50secs.

The pole vault saw more WSEH success with Abraham Melbourne winning the U20 event with a PB of 3.60m.

Jack Stainton repeated the feat in the U15 age group with his leap of 2.40m. This was the same height cleared by Megan Harris for third position in the U17 ladies competition.

The best result from the WSEH high jump athletes was Rachel Melbourne in third place in the U20 age group with 1.45m.

A NUMBER of the WSEH younger athletes opted to compete in the London Area Indoor Youth Games at Lee Valley with a high proportion of success.

The 60m sprint races saw Louis Davies win his U15 race in the 8.62secs, also repeated by Isla Brown in 8.63secs,with Jessica Cloke second in 8.97secs.

The 200m races produced an U15 victory for Elliott Marston in 27.14secs.

The best results in the 300m races came from Izzie Thompson who was third in the U17 age group in 49.23secs, a time bettered by Isla Brown with her third spot in the U15 race in 45.11secs.

The 60m hurdles races provided a second place for Laurie Sutcliffe in the U17 race in 9.07secs, with Elliott Marston third in the U15 age group in 9.98secs.

For the WSEH females, Abby Masquelier won her U17 event in 9.32secs, with Aimee Smith second on 11.10secs.

Abbi Woodford’s time of 10.58secs produced a third place in the U15 section.

The busy Elliott Marston produced the best field event result with his second place in the U15 high jump with a 1.45m clearance.

DAYA Baga was the lone WSEH representative in the Middlesex Cross Country Championships and finished just outside of the medals positions in the U13 girls race with four place in 11 minutes and 58 seconds.