Written by Alex Seftel
The NAL Championship Promotion Match takes place on Saturday at Oxford Horspath, with the top two teams on the day advancing to compete in the Premiership during the 2027 season.
Six teams will contest the match, including City of Sheffield and Dearne and Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, who are looking to return to the top division at the first attempt following relegation a year ago.
The teams competing:
City of Sheffield and Dearne – relegated from the Premiership in 2025, they won the Championship North regional group to qualify for this match and their regulars include Lee Thompson and Alicia Barrett.
Blackheath and Bromley – relegated from the Premiership in 2024, they won the Championship South regional group to qualify for this match and have featured international athletes like Charlotte Henrich and Zara Obamakinwa this season.
Chelmsford AC – last in the Premiership in 2023, they won the Championship East regional group to qualify for this match.
Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers – relegated from the Premiership in 2025, they won the old BAL Premiership in 2012 & 2013 and the old UKWAL in 1997 & 1999, with their regulars including Hayley McLean and Greg Thompson.
Yeovil Olympiads – won the Championship West regional group to qualify for this match.
Crawley AC – second the Championship South regional group to qualify for this match.
Cardiff AC and City of York withdrew from the competition.
The athletes entered:
City of Sheffield and Dearne have included Lee Thompson in their team, with the 2021 European indoor 4x400m bronze medallist expected to contest the 100m and 400m. Thompson – twice a UK indoor 400m champion – set his 10.61 100m personal best set at the NAL in Scotstoun in 2023, as well as his 45.58s 400 lifetime best set at the Premiership match in Derby last year.
Alongside him is the three-time UK champion Alicia Barrett, who set an NAL Championship record (all second-division performances since 2021) of 13.39s at the most recent match on 22nd August.
Hoping for big points in the field will be the reliable javelin thrower Joe Dunderdale, as well as Chuks Osammor, who is down for the shot put and discus. The 2024 UK champion won both events at their match in Nottingham in July.
Talking of multiple events, UK W35 pentathlon record holder Jo Rowland is down for the 400H and shot put SP.
In the sprints, Bangladesh international and Olympian Imran Rahman has entered the 100m, the same event he did at the recent Commonwealth Games. Turkish finalist Hakan Dalbal is down for the 200m.
Zara Obamakinwa of Blackheath and Bromley, who set a UK under-23 record of 61.87 in her match in July has not yet been declared on OpenTrack but may compete on Saturday.
Her entered team-mates include double England champion Dillion Claydon. He is set to do the shot, discus and javelin, having won the first two of those events at all three of his NAL matches this year, along with a third place in javelin in Kingston on 22 August. His 18.25m shot put personal best in Bromley in July was also an NAL record for the Championship division.
Another athlete who recently won two events is Kelechi Aguocha, who took maximum points in the high jump and triple jump in Kingston in August.
Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers’ contingent includes young international talents like Holly Ryan, who is down for the 400m and 4x100m relay, with her quartet setting an impressive time of 47.26s to win in the third match of the season last month. Holly competed for Great Britain at the European Athletics U18 Championships, coming fifth in the 200m and 4th in the Medley Relay.
Former UK javelin champion Jo Blair has been entered for that event as well as the shot put and hammer. The UK W35 javelin record holder is now W40 and has thrown 43.55m this year, with the national record having been held at 46.02 by Clova Court since 2000.
As for Chelmsford AC, 16-year-old Monica Malagala won the shot put in both the qualifying match and the final at the UK School Games. She achieved a distance of 15.26m with a 3kg shot when she was 2nd at English Schools and also won the SIAB international. She is also expected to do the discus and hammer. Southern under-20 indoor silver medallist Amelie Scott was another winner at the School Games and she is down for the 100m hurdles.
Yeovil Olympiads and Crawley teams will be added once they are formally declared.