Saturday 2nd November saw the English National Cross Country Relays at a wet and windy Berry Hill Park, Mansfield. Bedford and County fielded sixteen teams in five different age categories. We achieved four top twenty finishes, the highlight of which was an outstanding bronze for the Senior Men’s A team. Team Manager Tony Forrest takes up the story:
This year has seen the establishment of Bedford and County’s Wheelchair Racing section. Youngsters Varun Bandi and Hugo Cracknell, who are fourteen and fifteen respectively have shown great promise for the future.
Saturday 12th October saw more than fifty runners from Bedford and County, ranging in age from under 11s to masters, take part in the first round of the Chiltern Cross-Country League. Competing against forty-three clubs from Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire, Middlesex, Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire, Bedford finished in second place overall. In the age group competitions, all of the club’s teams finished in the top ten, with the Under 20 Men winning their competition, and the Senior Men, Under 15 Boys, Under 20 Women, and Under 13 Girls all finishing second.
Forty-six runners from Bedford and County, ranging in age from eleven up to fifty, took part in the English National Road Relays at Sutton Park, Birmingham on Sunday 6th October. In total, fourteen teams from the club took part, and three of them achieved top twenty finishes.
Around sixty athletes from Bedford & County made the trip to South London to compete in the Southern Road Relays at Crystal Palace on 22 September. The Under 13 Girls produced a brilliant team performance to win silver. Competing against over fifty teams from across the South of England, the girls’ team clinched a superb runners up spot in a classy field.
Three of our juniors were selected to compete in the English Schools Combined Events Championships at Exeter on Exeter on 21st and 22nd September. Well done to Darcy Button, Stephen Simmons, and Gracie Wall.
In a magnificent all-round display Stephen Simmons won the English Schools Intermediate Octathlon title. Despite strong winds on Saturday and some heavy showers on Sunday, Stephen focused on each of the eight events determined to make each one count. He did so with devastating effect, setting lifetime personal best performances in seven of them. It is difficult to know which one was the most outstanding highlight.
The Men’s Masters Team narrowly failed to regain the Eastern Masters Athletics Club League Trophy at Milton Keynes on Sunday 22 September.
The overall result was still in doubt up to the last event, the medley relay, and with Marshall Milton Keynes just about hanging on to win that event it meant that they took the trophy by half a point. The winning margin was only 1.8 seconds.
Bedford and County AC's mens squad commenced the 2019-20 winter season with an impressive 3rd place finish in a very strong South of England 6 Stage Road Relay Championship, at Crystal Palace on Sunday. Heavy rain showers failed to put a damper on proceedings as the Bedford squad achieved their best finish in years.
The Club’s junior athletes finished off their season with a superb 3rd place in the EYAL Plate Final on Sunday 15th September on their home track.
Both girls’ and boys’ teams had a few athletes missing from their squads due to school trips and illness, but those who stepped up did themselves and the team proud. The U13 girls won their age group with U15 girls 2nd, U17 women 3rd, U13 boys 6th and U15 boys & 17 men 5th.
Seven of our juniors earned the right to represent Bedfordshire in the Southern U15/U20 Inter County Championships in Oxford on 7th September, and there were some outstanding performances.
It’s not only Liverpool who can win European titles.
Bedford and County has its very own European Champions: Tennyson James won a tight-fought M60 100m Hurdles at the European Masters Championships in Venice in a season’s best of 15.59 seconds. Tenny also set a club record of 47.77 seconds whilst coming 7th in the 300m Hurdles.
Several of Bedford and County AC’s athletes were in action at the Great North Run on Sunday.
Without doubt, the outstanding run of the day must go to Josh Lunn, who ran out of his skin to finish in 15th place with the phenomenal time of 64:25, a mere 4 secs outside the Bedford club record. Josh, who’s previous personal best was 66:29 from last winter, had been hoping to run in the low to mid 65’s. But no doubt inspired by lining up on the elite start line alongside Mo Farah, Josh proceeded to exceed all expectations with his brilliant performance.
