Champions!

Victory in the final SAL match of the season at Tooting Bec on Saturday saw the Club complete a clean sweep of five out of five wins to finish at the top of Division 2 West and secure promotion to the First Division for next season.

'Another fantastic team performance and five wins from five matches, so we are crowned League Champions!' said a happy Keith Scofield, despite sporting war wounds from his own contribution in the pole vault (right).

'For the Club this is huge. Winning breeds confidence and athletics is all about inner self belief', he says. What has pleased him increasingly over the series of matches is the willingness of athletes to put up their hands to help cover every event, in some cases stepping well outside their comfort zones. 'It's good for us all of us – even if it's scary sometimes. I''m hearing lots of athletes saying, 'yes I can do something I have never done before, which is fantastic', he says.

'Roll on Division 1. It will be exciting, with lots of challenges ahead and big teams to go up against like Thames Valley Harriers, Tonbridge, Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow, Harrow, and Chelmsford'.

The cyclical nature of athletics, however, is that after only a short period of celebration and recovery the Club's athletes go again over the country and indoors, and, as Keith stresses, 'a good winter is the foundation for summer success'.

'A number of the men and women did three or four events and it is great to see everyone pulling in the same direction, taking the lead from people like Stuart Leigh who won the 110m hurdles, then did the 400m hurdles, the pole vault and triple jump. At 58 he is a true inspiration.

'Thank you so much to all the coaches, officials (who turned out for each match and earned vital points to contribute to the team scores), and the helpers who made this possible', he says.