NAL Premiership Round 1 – Eton – Saturday 31 May
Written by Daniel Rees and Alex Seftel
Harrow AC got the better of Thames Valley Harriers in a close and exciting battle on a sun-soaked afternoon in the first match of the 2025 National Athletics League Premiership at Eton.
In doing so, they emulated last year’s result and boosted their hopes of knocking TVH off the perch that has seen them win four consecutive titles.
Tony Bush’s side enjoyed a series of clean sweeps. Their men’s team took maximum points in the 100m, 110m hurdles, and high jump, and their women’s team did the same in the javelin, 100m hurdles, and 1500m.
Behind the leading pair, there was a great battle for third, with Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow narrowly beating Woodford Green with Essex Ladies by a margin of just two points.
TVH looked impressive from the off, beginning in business-like fashion, as Molly Palmer continued her recent good long jump form to take the win with a best of 6.28.
The first track event saw her team-mate Samuel Clarke delight in a personal best of 50.66 in the 400m hurdles, before Nicole Kendall sailed clear in the women’s A race in 58.12 and Sophie Elliss clinched the B race in 60.55.
Three victories out of four was excellent, but Harrow went one better, achieved a full lockout of the shorter sprint hurdles through Marli Jessop, Etienne Maughan, Edson Gomes and Maranga Mokaya.
That was after Olympic discus thrower Nick Percy took a routine win with a best throw of 61.15 in his second round to fend off former Shaftesbury Barnet teammate Greg Thompson, who hauled the implement out to 56.38.
Afterwards, the recent Great Britain senior debutant Poppy Malik took the 400m field by storm in 52.12, to rubber-stamp Harrow’s determination to challenge for the NAL title.
Speaking of GB internationals, Charlotte Payne’s 65.64 hammer throw was more than four metres clear of the competition for Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow.
Also scoring big points were their men’s hammer throwers, with former American collegiate athlete Jake Norris involved in his third competition at Eton in the space of two months. His final round throw of 74.14m meant he took a straightforward win in the A-string, whilst fellow American collegiate alumnus Bayley Campbell achieved a mark of 66.39 in fourth.
In the women’s triple jump, BUCS silver medallist Amy Warre took second for WSEH behind Harrow’s Adelaide Omitowoju with a jump of 12.78, while Belinda Sergent won the B-string with 11.91.
Woodford Green with Essex Ladies enjoyed a 400m win for former UK champion Alex Knibbs in 46.27, while new signing Ethan Akanni – previously of Birchfield – took second in the 110m H behind Harrow’s Edson Gomes, who was competing in his first 110m H in two years.
But it was perhaps the jumps where Woodford’s athletes truly excelled, with Scottish international Calum Henderson recording a PB of 7.40m to fend off teammate and B-string competitor Thalosang Tshireletso, who jumped 7.22m.
In the triple jump, London and Rio Olympian Tosin Oke – now 44 – jumped 15.53m to take an outright win. In the B-string, Tshireletso needed only one jump to clinch the ten points needed for Woodford to score a maximum return of 22 points.
Scottish representative Glasgow Jaguars will credit their sprinters and distance runners for their more than respectable finish, with international sprinter Alyson Bell dipping under the Commonwealth Games standard when she won the women’s 200m in 23.01.
In the men’s 800m, U20 Grant McEachern took nearly four seconds off his PB to take third behind Thames Valley’s Max Bishop and City of Sheffield and Dearne’s Rob Shipley.
Jaguars were also the top scorers in the women’s steeplechase thanks to Alicia Paton and Becky Dunphy, and in an impressive show of squad depth, they then won the women’s 4x400m thanks to Kelsey Stewart, Kathryn Christie, Annie McLean, and Mhairi Patience.
Their men’s team at one stage looked like matching that achievement before they were overpowered by a Thames Valley quartet of Jason Hoyle, Chris McAlister, Victor Ricardo Dos Santos, and Samuel Clarke.
Birchfield Harriers, who stayed up on the final day last season, may also struggle this year after they finished a distant sixth, but there were still bright spots for the midland outfit.
Benji Pearson threw over 70m for the first time in a decade to take a comfortable win in the A-string javelin, while teammate Greg Millar threw 64.61m to win the B-string.
In the women’s shot put, Adele Nicoll showed her class with a thumping victory which came courtesy of a throw of 17.36m. Kirsty-Anne Ebbage won the B-string with a throw of 10.74m.
Sheffield had initially made a bright start. In the pole vault – which has been a strong event for the northern club in recent years – George Hepinstall finished joint-first after he cleared 4.80m at the first attempt alongside Thomas Walley of Thames Valley and Sulaiman Ouiles of Harrow.
English champion Rob Shipley played percentages in the 800m and seized control of the race in the final 200m, breezing past his competitors to win in 1:52.52sec.
Despite their string start, though, Sheffield scored noughts in the women’s 800m, 1500m, and 5,000m whilst both steeplechase categories were also left blank, leaving them to slip to seventh in the match’s final standings.
Shaftesbury were similarly patched up, and absences from new signings Tom Wilcock and Evan Blackman showed as the London side fell to an eighth-place finish.
Positives instead came in the form of Thompson and decathlete Evan Campbell in the shot put, with each throwing 16.54m and 14.18m respectively.
A regular in the team, Krishawn Aiken took the 200m in an impressive 20.79, ahead of Woodford’s Ethan Franklin, who achieved the European under-20 qualifying standard with 20.84. In all, five men were under 21 seconds.
In the women’s high jump, Rebecca Wheeley-Henry equalled her PB, jumping 1.70m to win the A-string whilst teammate Lily Holt placed second in the B-string with 1.60m.
All said and done, Harrow finished with 644.5 points, 16.5 ahead of Thames Valley.
With 443.5 points, WSEH were only two clear of WGEL in the fight for third place.
The standings make for an intriguing match in Derby next month. No team finds themselves streaks ahead or miles behind – and all have something to play for.
