NAL Championship Promotion Match – Oxford Horspath – 16 August
Written by Alex Seftel
Eight clubs are preparing to fight over two places in the NAL Premiership for next season, with Joe Brier, Lewis Church, Harry Kendall and Kissiwaa Mensah among those entered.
Chelmsford AC, City of York AC, Crawley AC, Herts Phoenix AC, Sale Harriers, Swansea Harriers , Tonbridge AC and Yeovil Olympiads are all involved in the Championship Promotion Match this Saturday 16 August at Oxford Horspath.
Swansea are among the teams returning to the match, having won the Championship West regional group for the second year in a row. The Welsh team were unbeaten across their three meetings, collecting a maximum of 18 league points, while Yeovil Olympiads finished ahead of Cardiff to book their place at Saturday’s event.
The side in green and white will undoubtedly be one of the favourites, given European 4x400m champion Brier’s presence in the 400m, while they also boast the experience of UK shot put medallist Patrick Swan doing all four throws events in the field.
Closer encounters occurred in the season’s earlier matches in the other regional groups. Newcomers to the NAL this season, City of York beat Sale Harriers by two league points, with both progressing from the North group, which only had 5 teams this year.
Sale are looking to return to the Premiership at the first time of asking, having been relegated along with Blackheath and Bromley a year ago. Their promotion push could be aided by rising middle-distance star Lucy Armitage, who has impressed over 400m, 800m and 3000m to win big points for the club this season. UK Championships 200m finalist Markus McLean is also involved.
The South and East groups both went down to points scored in individual matches, similar to goal difference in football. Tonbridge beat Crawley by 30.5 match points in the former. The latter saw Chelmsford and Herts Phoenix separated by just 18 match points.
The Eastern pair edged out former Premiership side Blackheath and Bromley, as despite them having more match points than anyone else, they fell short in terms of positions within those matches, which resulted in a deficit of one league point to their aforementioned rivals.
Tonbridge have already confirmed that their horde of excellent multi-eventers will turn out in Oxford. Lewis Church, Harry Kendall and Matilda Secker are among those on the entry list. Their wide set of skills and determination to help the team could pay dividends.
Church is down for the pole vault, high jump, shot put and 110m hurdles. Kendall will join him in the shot, while also doing the discus and javelin. Secker is likely to focus on the long jump, 100m hurdles and javelin, before finishing with the 4x400m. Jack Higgins, who made his major championship debut at the European Indoors, is set to do the 1500m and 4x400m.
Chelmsford will be delighted to have European under-23 relay champion Kissiwaa Mensah potentially involved in the 100, 200, 4x100m and 4x400m. World under-20 semi-finalist Onyeka Okoh (400m, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relay) and former BUCS shot put champion Jess Hopkins are also entered.
Last season’s affair saw Shaftesbury Barnet and City of Sheffield and Dearne finish in the top two, in order to go up a division.
