Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club

The Ladies team from Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow A.C. (WSEH) made a strong start to their 2009 national league endeavours on Saturday when they placed 2nd to the mighty City of Manchester club. They also beat Birchfield, another highly funded big city club, despite them also having home advantage.
The team maintained Premier Division status of this, the UK’s top athletics league for women, for over 10 years and looks set to have another successful season. This status draws top athletes to the club, who are searching for the top class competition the Premier Division offers.
The cold, wet and windy weather was no conducive to top performances, but this did not stop Helen Pryer gaining seasons bests in both the 100 and 200 metre sprints. Her 200m time of 23.4 was just four hundredths of a second outside the club’s long standing record, which was run by one of the club’s previous internationals, Shirley Thomas in 1984. Had the electronic timing not broken down, perhaps it would have shown that Pryer had in fact been closer to or even broken that record.
Nor did it stop the gutsy Martha Reynolds taking victory in the league’s inaugural 2000m steeplechase event, to add a league record to the club record she had also achieved.
With weather more suited to the cross country season, Kelly Reid, Christine Long and Rebecca Taylor where pleasantly surprised with season’s bests in the A & B 800m and B 1500m races. Vicky Fouhy placed a creditable 3rd in her 1500m A race, whilst Kerry Harty & Rachel Stedman both gained excellent 2nd places in the 3000m. Harty did exceptionally well, having broken the Northern Irish 3K record on Wednesday, with a run of 9 minutes 12 seconds!
Whilst a delighted Emily Parker gained a season’s best in her 400 Hurdles race, her partner, Caroline Heaney found the going tough with wind adding to the impact of an injury to adversely affect her stride pattern.
Despite both not quite at the peak of race fitness, Dawn Wilson & Shelayna Oskan placed in the top three of the 400m races, with their performances promising much more in the weeks to come.
In the 100 Hurdles, a 7th & 6th places attained by Jenny Heckford & Laura McGawn belied the strength of their individual performances, particularly as Heckford has just returned from injury and McGawn had just completed the High Jump, which started late because it was moved indoors.
It was a dismal day for field event athletes, with rain making throwing circles and jump run-ups slippery and the wind and driving rain making it impossible to keep warm or dry. Performances were inevitably below par, but it not prevent the throws squad of Joanne John, Bola Ogun, Jenny Scott, McGawn & Frances Smithson bringing many valuable points to the team tal
Like the throwers, the Long & Triple jumpers, Sarah Wellstead, Jenny Pacey & Shakira Whight had to think about self preservation on slippery run-ups. But they too scored many valuable points.
Just as the match was reaching its close, the weather brightened slightly. WSEH’s 4x400 relay team went one better and really shone. They left the other teams in their wake for a winning margin of approximately 20 metres. It was a great end to a truly successful day!