The Lee Valley Athletics Centre housed the Division Two match of the UK Women’s League last Sunday as Enfield & Haringey AC played host to seven clubs. The home club improved on their fifth place in the first match by finishing second to Woodford Green and leap up the League tables to third, one point behind perennial rivals Blackheath & Bromley. With a possible promotion to Division One as the reward for all three clubs, the final match at Grangemouth on 2nd August could be a momentous occasion.

As usual the sprints provided the LVAC based club with valuable points: Tunrayo Nubi took second spot in the A 100m with a 12.24 timing while Rachel Telfer was a clear winner of the B race with 12.15. The 100m placings were repeated in the 200m races; Lucy Onyeforo ran the half lap in 25.88 for second place in the A string event but Margaret Adeoye went even faster to win the B race in 25.38.

Michelle McNamara dipped under 57 seconds for the first time in the 400m, her 56.69 timing giving her the third place points. Nikki Silva, who also took 4th place (59.61) in the B 400m, trimmed her PB to 2:23.06 in finishing a close up second in the 800m.

Two sure-fire EHAC points earners were in action in the horizontal jumps: Davinia Houston sailed out to 5.68m in the Long Jump for third place in the A competition, Dee Bakre’s best jump was measured at 5.52m for her first place in the B strings. Dee came back to earn third place in the triple jump with her 11.76m performance.

Perhaps the best performance of the afternoon came from the EHAC sprint relay squad, their 47.80 seconds win in the 4 x 100 out-running the formidable Blackheath& Bromley quartet.

In contrast, the Enfield & Haringey AC men’s team will have their work cut out to avoid relegation from the top division of the British Athletic League. Currently in seventh after narrowly losing out on second place in the first match at Sheffield and finishing seventh in the second match at Manchester last Saturday, the north London club will have to rally all its stars for the next two matches if it is to enjoy Premier League competition again next year.

Several members of the beleaguered team were making their debuts in the club’s A team after making regular appearances in the Southern men’s squad. John Simpson backed up Nigerian international Hakeem Ogunyemi’s third place in the A 100m (10.38) with his own sub-11 second run for fifth place in the B 100m (10.96). Leron Norbert took second place in B High Jump with 1.95m to back up Chris Baker’s 2 metre clearance for 5th in the A event.

Enfield & Haringey’s top points earners were Shaun Collins and Ben Nagy in the 3km steeplechase; Nagy, seeking a qualifying time for the European U20 championships took an early lead but was to pay for his impetuousness later in the race when he faded to fourth although finishing first in the B race. Collins ran more conservatively and with 600 metres remaining was running alongside City of Manchester’s Stuart Stokes – whose 8:23.66 from 2008 picked him out as the fastest man in the race – at the head of the field and thinking about making a run for home. However, whenStokes surged out of the penultimate water-jump he quickly opened a 20 metre gap which Collins was unable to close despite a fast final lap by the 19-year-old which won him a new personal best of 9:09.20.

Jon Pepper returned to racing for EHAC after a frustrating time nursing an Achilles tendon injury and although losing places in the final third of the race came back strongly over the last lap for a gutsy sprint up the final straight for a well taken third in 14:42.97.

Rhys Fowler ran a canny race in the A 800m, trailing the entire field at the bell in 55 seconds – the leaders steamed through in 52 – Fowler passed four rivals in the final 200m to record a lifetime best of 1:52.73. Second string runner, Denis Healy ran an identical race, going through in 57 seconds and coming home with 1:54.86, in 4th just missing out on his personal best set in the first BAL match More good points from club stalwart Matt Brown throwing 55.01m to take second in the discus and Peter Smith who whirled the hammer to 62.03m for his 5th place in a good standard competition. Enfield & Haringey’s busiest athlete was Lucas Zambrzycki who toiled steadfastly in the Javelin, Shot, Discus and Pole Vault – good training for his decathlon ambitions.