WINDSOR, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (WSEH) Athletics Club were runaway winners in their first-ever combined Southern Athletics League meeting in Swindon on Saturday.

The club went into the match as overall champions of the now disbanded Southern Men’s and Women’s Leagues and were placed in Division Three of the established Southern League.

It is perhaps not surprising that WSEH were comfortable victors in the match by some 100+ points over their closest rival and host club Swindon Harriers with Worthing Athletics Club back in third position.

The WSEH sprinters were on song with Malcolm Gledhill winning the 100m in 11.3 seconds and Cameron Challis second in the B-race in 11.4. Gledhill went on to place second in the 200m in 23.4 with Frank Ahanon winning the B-event in 23.6.

Decathlete Peter Moreno was the best of the 400m competitors with his win in 55.9.

The 800m saw James Tidd in charge from the gun, winning in a personal best (pb) of 1:59.02. Jack Davies also clocked a best to win the B-string with 2:06.06.

There were maximum points in the 1,500m via the efforts of Matt Bradley (4:05.01) and Blake Moore (04:06.08). Twin Adam Moore recorded a pb by over a minute when placing second in the 5,000m in 15:49.6.

The 110m hurdles provided victories for Michael Louise (17.1) and Ed Melbourne with a pb of 17.8.

Maximum points were accrued in the 400m hurdles with Moreno timed at 1:01.05, just holding off TJ Spellman in a pb of 1:01.06.

The total domination continued in the 2,000m steeplechase where Nathan Ditton was the A-string winner in 06:29.04 with Joe Spicer taking the B-string in 06:56.08.

The WSEH field events athletes continued the winning trend. David Walker (1.90m) and Moreno (1.85m) secured top spots in the high jump.

Abraham Melbourne cleared a pb of 3.00m for second place in the pole vault.

Sam Challis was similarly placed in the long jump with 6.21m, as was Ollie Carroll in the B-string with 5.18m. The same pairing both took second position in the triple jump with 12.65m and 10.41m respectively.

The WSEH representation in the throws was weakened by the unavailability of several key athletes. Nonetheless, the busy Moreno adequately deputised to win the shot with 11.02m with Theo Melbourne second on 10.05m.

Melbourne went on to record a pb of 35.23m to win the B-string javelin behind Leigh Bosson’s A-string throw of 39.62m.

WSEH completed a successful afternoon with victories in both the 4x100m and 4x400m relays.

The WSEH ladies completely dominated their rivals to win 29 of the 35 events which they contested. The club also placed second in five events and third in the other.

Despite their being very little competition from other clubs, the ladies managed superb performances.

A delighted Amy Herrington started the ball rolling by twice improving on her lifetime best in the hammer. Her throw of 53.99m easily won the event and places her ninth on the UK senior rankings.

Fellow WSEH throwing star Amy Holder was equally pleased after she won the discus with a pb of 53.43m which places her second in the UK discus rankings.

Early season pb’s are unusual with athletes coming off their winter training period, but there were more to come on both track and field.

Anna Croft won her 400m race with an improvement to 59.4secs and Meg Ormond was also victorious in her 800m in a best of 2:23.01. Not to be outdone, Masters athlete Vicky Brooklyn improved her 3,00m pb.

Back on the field discus specialist Clare Fitzgerald improved her shot best to an impressive 15.13m. Fitzgerald contested the shot, discus and javelin and won all three. In the javelin she partnered the club’s top thrower, Anita Fitzgibbon, recording one of many double victories that the team achieved.

There were season’s bests for Alex Barbour in the 1,500m and Nadya Wisham in the triple jump, in which high jump specialist Rachel Westbrook made an impactful double win in her first outing in the event.

The day was rounded-off by easy wins in both relays. The 4x100m squad of Steph Clitheroe, Lesley Owusu, Harriet Jones and Kennedy Bays, and the 4x400m squad of Emily Barrett, Georgie Ellis, Croft and Alanna Fagan totally outclassing their opposition.

This Saturday, WSEH open their UK Athletics Development League series with an Under-15/13 match at Reading.

WSEH Athletics Club entered a women’s team in the National Six-Stage Road Relay Championships in Birmingham on Saturday and finished in a creditable seventh position – their best placing for several years.

Traffic problems delayed some arrivals and the team was hastily re-organised to cover the latecomers.

Sarah Chapman, scheduled for a short leg, found herself drafted into the opening long leg and came home in 25th place with 33:10.

Charlotte Firth, the intended opening runner, took second on the second short leg, improving WSEH to 14th place in 18:02.

Becky Atkinson improved to eighth position on the third leg with 18:56. Carla Molinaro slipped back to 10th on the fourth leg in 32:48 and Nicole Swaffield lost a further place on the fifth leg with 19:16.

A good run on the final leg from the youngest member on the team, Felicity Johnson, lifted the club back up to seventh position in 18:33.