Woodford Green finished in a fine second place in the Premier Division of the British Athletic League on Saturday.

The club’s senior men’s team placed a close second in the final fixture of the season at Newham on 326 points, 14 points behind winners City of Manchester (Sale Harriers), with Sheffield (278 points) and Birchfield (274 points) in third and fourth respectively.

The results mean Sale clinched the league title with 29 points, with Woodford five points further back, meaning they have placed no worse than third since they were champions in 2005.

Team manager Gladys Bird was very pleased with what was a fine all-round team performance, with all athletes making valuable contributions. Maximum points in winning both the A and B string of the high jump from Robert Wolski and Ben Challenger and discus from Emeka Udechuku and Tom Norman were of note, as was a 4x100m victory from a team which included three junior athletes.

The high jump and discus were two of those most affected from very heavy rain.

In the A high jump, Wolski won with a clearance of 2.15m, and was very close to 2.20m, while Challenger claimed the B with 2.10m.

The discus throwers were similarly affected by the rain and a very wet throwing circle, but Udechuku, whose season has been a low key one following recent fatherhood, was able to win a very close A competition with 53.74m and Norman won the B with 53.05m.

Udechuku then also had a solid shot competition as he placed fourth in the A with 16.58m, and Anthony Oshodi was second in the B with 15.09m.

The other throwing events, as usual, produced good points for Woodford.

In the hammer, Mark Dry came second in the A with 68.85m and Andy Frost was also runner-up in the B with 66.54m.

The javelin saw Simon Bennett place fourth in the A with 61.63m and Stuart Harvey won the B with 57.65, good performances from two athletes who have been hampered by injury all season.

Elsewhere in the field, and also affected by the heavy rain, Ezekiel Ewulo was third in the A long jump with 7.23m and in the B, junior Healson Ihuoma was second with 6.78m.

Missing specialist triple jumpers, pole vaulter Alasdair Strange, placed sixth in the A with 13.04m and Healson Ihume gained further valuable points after finishing fourth in the B with 12.89m.

The track events started with a high standard 400m hurdles and Francis Smith placed sixth in 53.64 secs, while James Wright was fifth in the B with 60.39 secs.

The same pair competed in the 110m hurdles - Smith finishing fifth in the A with 15.48 secs and Wright was fourth in the B with 15.74 secs.

In the 100m, Toyi Durotoye was disqualified for a false start but in the B, junior Sam Watts was fourth in 10.97 secs and later impressively won the B 200m with 21.59 secs, as another junior, Jordan Kirby-Polidore, was a fine third in the A with 21.31 secs.

In the 400m, decathlete Dan Awde was narrowly beaten into second place in the A race where he recorded 47.53 secs, while in the B Nathan Wake was fifth with 50.06 secs.

Over 800m Andy Mariani was fifth in the A with 1 min 53.63 secs, and in the B Tom Phillips was also fifth with1 min 53.23 secs, while in a tactical 1500m Jon Cook placed fifth in the A with 3 mins 54.47 secs and Alex Cornwell came second in the B event in 3 mins 59.39 secs.

The 5000m also brought good points as Hywel Care placed fourth with 14 mins 41.66 secs and Dan Agustus was second in the B with 15 mins 06.43 secs.

As it has done all season, useful points were also gained in the 3000m steeplechase, with Ryan Mckinlay fourth in the “A” with 9 mins 32.36 secs and Tomaz Plibersek third in the B with 9 mins 37.46 secs.

The relays rounded off the meeting and the 4x100m team won for the second BAL fixture in succession, this time with a squad which included three juniors as Omololu Abiodun, Sam Watts, Toyi Durotoye and Jordan Kirby-Polidore combined to record 41.23 secs, and the 4x400m team of Abiodun, Wake, Mike Baker and Awde placed fifth with 3 mins 19.03 secs.