Despite a valiant effort by the 9 women that made the trip to Wigan for the final UKWL match, the team could not achieve enough points to survive in division 3.

The athletes that made the trip were Emma Kavanagh, Olivia Ross Hurst, Stephanie Gaynor, Clare Marsh, Nicky Burrows, Natasha Taylor, Hayley Wills, Helen van Kempen and Julie Simmons.

A fantastic effort was made by Natasha Taylor who bravely offered to run the 800, 1500 and 3000 races in the same afternoon in an attempt to save the team from relegation. She ran exceptionally well in all 3 races, running close to her personal best times. Her first race was the 800 where she came 5th in the B string after a sprint finish overtaking 2 athletes in the final 50m to record a time of 2.30.15. In the 3000 Natasha was 4th in the A string race with a time of 11.16.81 and finally in the 1500, Natasha still had enough energy left to put in another sprint finish to come 6th in the A string with a time of 5.09.11.

Joining Natasha in the 3000 and 1500 was Julie Simmons who was running for the club for the first time in quite a few years. Julie ran extremely well in the 3000 to win the B string race with a time of 12.05.11, she was 7th in the B string 1500 with a time of 5.44.76 and threw a Discus to come 7th in the B string.

Another great effort was made by the ever reliable Hayley Wills. Hayley was second in the A string 800 with a time of 2.12.69 and then went on to win the A string 400 in a time of 56.74 just 40 minutes after she finished her 800 race. Hayley went on to come 7th in the B string Javelin and ran in both the 4 x 100 and 4 x 400 relays.

Stephanie Gaynor was looking forward to racing against one of her rivals Zara Hohn from Wakefield in the 100m Hurdles. Steph was not happy with her start to the race but hurdled well to come a close second to Zara in a time of 14.22 secs. Steph went on to come 5th in the B string Shot and 7th in the A string Javelin as well as running in both relays.

Emma Kavanagh also gave her best to secure points for the team by coming 3rd in the 400 Hurdles with a time of 67.37. Emma also came 7th in the A string Long Jump and despite an injured shoulder bravely cleared 1.45 in the High Jump to come 5th in the A string. Emma was also a member of the 4 x 400 relay squad.

Olivia Ross Hurst was also prepared to make the journey up North for her first outing of the season. Despite not being fully fit Olivia ran well in the B string 400 to come 6th in a time of 62.99. She went on to achieve 3rd place in the B string High Jump with 1.45 and was 8th in the A string Shot Putt. Olivia was also a member of the 4 x 400 relay squad.

Nicky Burrows had her arm twisted at the last minute by her Dad, the team manager, for her first match of the season. Nicky has not trained whilst she has been away at University but gave her best to come 3rd in the B string Hurdles race, 7th in B string Long Jump and 8th in Triple Jump. She also ran first leg of the 4 x 100 relay.

Helen van Kempen has also missed a lot of this season through injury but stepped in to the team for this match and came 5th in the B string 400 Hurdles and also threw a Discus and Hammer to try to achieve points for the team. Helen ran last leg in the 4 x 100 relay.

Finally, Clare Marsh who as Women’s team stalwart is always prepared to try anything for the benefit of the team, turned her hand in this match to the Hammer and the 100 and 200 sprints where she gave her best to achieve points for the team.

In the relays the 4 x 100 squad of Burrows, Wills, Gaynor and van Kempen were 8th and the 4 x 400 squad of Gaynor, Ross Hurst, Kavanagh and Wills came 4th with a time of 4.03.56.

The team finished the match in 8th place and their final league position of 8th resulted in relegation to Division 4 along with Reading. Local Rivals Enfield and Haringey won the league and will be promoted to Division 2 along with Blackheath and Bromley. Herts Phoenix Women will be hoping for better availability for their 3 matches in Division 4 next season where if they can get full teams out feel that they have a good chance of being promoted straight back into Division 3.

Ian Burrows – Team Manager