The third fixture of the 2022 Eastern Masters League took place on Wednesday 22nd June at the University Track in Cambridge. On what turned out to be a fantastic night for athletics (‘Oldies’ like a calm and sunny evening), the Bedford & County Masters Men’s Team managed a match winning performance, securing victory over Milton Keynes by 114.5 points to 114.0 points.
The young athletes of the club had another fine turn out on a cool, damp Sunday at Stevenage for the 2nd EYAL match. With a bigger and stronger team than the first match we finished a very strong 3rd place.
Report by Jim Keech, Men's Masters Team Manager.
Due to facility non-availability at Sandy the first fixture on 4th May was moved to Milton Keynes at very short notice and all teams were pleased, and a big thank you to all involved in ensuring the event was successful. It was great to see many friendly faces again, I won’t say old as the rules of the league insist on this as a condition of entry !! We had some new faces doing track for the first time: Charlie Palmer and Steve Horton both finished with smiles and promises of doing it again. Sadly we were hit by some late withdrawals. but with some sterling performances across the evening the team managed to finish in second place only 13 points behind Milton Keynes.
Saturday 4th June saw Bedford and County’s senior Men and Women host round 2 of the National Athletics League Championship (Fixture A). Following a reasonable result in a tough round 1 match at Chelmsford that left the club 13th out of the 16 teams in the league, there was a sense among many that Bedford had a point to prove in a match that would see them face all the teams that finished below them in the 2021 season, local rivals Peterborough and Nene valley, and last season’s Champions, Crawley.
Two Bedford & County members competed at the England U20 Decathlon Championships held at Bedford last weekend (28/29 May).
Returning from his medical studies in Canterbury and with limited training behind him, reigning English Schools Decathlon Champion Stephen Simmons performed remarkably well, finishing in 5thplace having set two personal best performances and being very close to his lifetime best in five of remaining eight events.
| Team | Score | |
| 1 | Dacorum AC | 224.5 |
| 2 | Havering AC | 172.5 |
| 3 | London Heathside | 153 |
| 4 | Bedford and County AC | 143 |
Report by Craig Emmerson:
Sunday the 22nd of May saw Bedford & County’s senior Men and Women open their Southern athletics league campaign at Hemel Hempstead. After a reasonable start to the season in the First NAL match, Team managers Craig Emmerson an Emma Coombes had hoped that a solid team performance would really kick start the season for the seniors. However it wasn’t to be quite to be.
Report by Jodi Henderson:
Firstly, I would like to thank all of the parents and athletes for such a warm welcome as Boys Team Manager – you have all made my job much easier!
On Sunday 8 May, the U13 and U15 boys represented ‘Team Bedfordshire’ in the first round of the YDL. It was a tough field and the team scored 261 points overall and finished in 5th place. Standout performances came from Dane R in shot who came 1st and a 3rd place for Bejay M in the 80m hurdles.
Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire both staged their county championships recently, and Bedford and County athletes competed at both events. There was only a partial field programme at the Cambridgeshire championships due to lack of officials. Those field events not held on Saturday will be held at open meetings in June.
The youngest members of the junior section of the club took part in a very tough first YDL Match at Bedford on 8th May as part of Team Bedfordshire, a composite team with Biggleswade, Leighton Buzzard and Luton. We were up against some extraordinarily strong teams from Basildon, Brighton and Hove, Croydon, Herne Hill and Medway and Maidstone.
The first round of the Eastern Young Athletes League took place at Peterborough on Sunday 1st May. The youngest members of the club opened the track and field season with their first EYAL match at Peterborough on 1st May. For many of the athletes this was the first competition they had ever done. They all performed brilliantly. We came away with 83 PBs and 16 SBs.
Report by Tony Forrest:
Bedford & County’s Senior Men’s team were in action on Saturday in the National 12 Stage Road Relay Championship, which is held at Sutton Park Birmingham. Entry to the race is by invitation only with all teams having to qualify from either the English Areas, or the Scottish or Welsh championships. The 12 stage Relay comprises alternate long and short legs of 5.4 and 3.2 miles respectively, starting with a long leg.
Leanne Buxton and Penny Butcher each brought home Pentathlon Gold Medals from the European Masters Indoor Championships held in Braga, Portugal on Sunday (27th February).
