Five British champions for Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC at UK Championships

WSEH AC’s Tade Ojora. Photo: Getty Images for UK Athletics.

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The jewels of the Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow (WSEH AC) track and field stable came to the fore to win their respective events at the UK Athletics Championships in Manchester this weekend.

High jumper Morgan Lake, 400m runner Alex Haydock-Wilson, 400m hurdler Jessie Knight, hammer thrower Jake Norris and 110m hurdler Tade Ojora were all crowned British champion at a wind and rain-affected championships.

In the men's 400m, Haydock-Wilson (Benke Blomkvist, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) pushed through the pain barrier to claim his first British outdoor title in 45.97seconds, with a near photo finish separating Lewis Davis from Michael Ohioze for second and third on the podium. Defending champion Matt Hudson-Smith (Birchfield Harriers) pulled up early on the back straight. Haydock-Wilson said: “I had been feeling so frustrated as I have achieved in Europe but not here at the nationals, so I am so relieved to finally get the win here. Even today I hesitated on the back straight, but I told myself: this is yours, just go get it. This opens the doors for London Diamond League, and I’ll try and get the standard. This gives me lots more faith and freedom that I can do it.”

The men's 110m hurdles went with the form book as UK number one, Ojora raced away from the field to claim his third straight British title in 13.16 (+3.2). The battle for the minor medals saw Bracknell runner Josh Zeller (13.34) pip Sam Bennett (13.46).

Ojara said: “It feels amazing to have secured a place on the British team at the Worlds. To have got the qualifying mark a few weeks ago – it took some pressure of me going into today, so I could run relaxed. Now I need to get a lot of training in before the worlds, as I don’t want to just show up there.”

Jessie Knight (Marina Armstrong, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) warmed up for the world championships in Budapest in fine style by winning the 400m hurdles in 54.99 ahead of Lina Nielsen (55.62) and Emily Newnham who lowered her personal best to 57.13 to clinch bronze.

Knight reflected: “The feeling never gets better – I’m very proud to be British Champion; I always put my flag pictures up around the house. I’ll be celebrating with a 4.5-hour drive home and getting ready for work in the morning – but I’ll be taking this medal proudly to school tomorrow.”

At the opposite end of the arena, Jake Norris (Paul Dickenson, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow) was equally dominant in winning the men's hammer title.

Norris set out his stall early, with a throw of 73.72m in round one, a mark he improved on with his third attempt of 74.75m.

Silver and bronze were separated by six centimetres, with Ben Hawkes’ 70.08m securing him the second step on the podium from Craig Murch (70.02m).

In difficult, wet conditions, WSEH's Morgan Lake once again proved to be a cut above her British rivals as she took the women's high jump title with a clearance of 1.90m. It was enough to secure her eighth British title as well as a place on the GB team for Budapest.

Emily Madden Forman (Andrew Wood, Trafford) won silver ahead of Gabrielle Garber (Jessica Taylor-Jemmett, Leeds City) with both athletes managing 1.81m.

Lake said: “This was the objective for the weekend, although I wanted to get some heights in as well. I am happy with 1.90 but then the rain came down so heavy I couldn’t really focus and see in front of me. It is good to secure my ticket to Budapest. I have been trying something new in training so once I had the win it was a good time to try although the rain, in retrospect, did really affect me.”

Georgina Forde-Wells (Lukasz Zawila, Rugby & Northampton) produced the performance of her life to win the women's triple jump from silver medallist and current UK lead, Temi Ojora (Daniel Sawyers, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow).

Forde-Wells sailed out to 13.56m (+0.9), with Ojora managing a best mark of 13.40 (+1.1).

The men's 3000m steeplechase final saw former Piggott School pupil Zak Seddon (Bracknell AC) go neck and neck over the final 400m with Will Battershill (Luke Gunn, Erme Valley) but Battershill ultimately came out on top in a brilliant dual. Using the momentum off the final barrier, he pulled away from Seddon to take the tape in 8:44.19 to Seddon’s 8:44.94. Jamaine Coleman completed the podium with a time of 8:54.40.