Bedford and County AC

Adam completes seventh star marathon at Sydney

Bedford & County's Adam Harris completed the TCS Sydney marathon, adding to his numerous sub-3-hour finishes and a Seven-Star award for the World Abbot Major marathon series on the 30th August 2026.

He has already achieved the prestigious marathon majors Six-Star award, by running the London, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York City marathons and the Tokyo marathon with the club Vice president Paula unwittingly finishing close by who also has a 6 Star. Adam met up with Paula at the Sydney marathon where she was commentating to sign his vest.

Club record for Oriana at the World Masters Athletics Championships

Oriana Johnson competed in the W65 Women’s Hammer Throw at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Daegu, South Korea.

Oriana produced an excellent performance to finish 19th overall, exceeding her pre-competition ranking in a very strong international field that saw seven athletes throw beyond 30 metres.

Her best throw of 19.78m was the third-longest competition throw of her career and, even more impressively, set a new W65 club record.

Oriana added more than 2.5 metres to the previous record, set by Dorothy Fraser in 2004, bringing a 22-year-old club record to an end.

A superb achievement on the world stage and a performance Oriana can be extremely proud of.

Ben takes gold at the England Octathlon

Ben Phillips added a fourth gold to his tally of 2026 National medals at the England Octathlon Championships at Bedford last weekend.

Personal Bests in his first two events (100m – 12.76sec and Long Jump – 5.42m) set him well on his way. He followed up with a near pb of 43.19m in the javelin before his strongest event – the Pole Vault. Ben’s clearance at 3.95m was the highest of the day but was disappointed not to clear a new personal best of 4.05m, ending the day with a clear lead in the U15 competition and 6th in the combined U15/16 event.

Eastern Young Athletes League – Match 4 16th August at Bedford

A slightly depleted team of the club’s junior athletes turned out for our 4th and final league match of the EYAL on our home track. In warm conditions they produced 53 PBs (22 for the girls and 31 for the boys). We needed to finish second to Havering and hope the results at Shaftesbury and Norwich went our way to maintain our 4th place league position and advance to the Top Six Cup Final. Throughout the day the lead kept swapping between us and Havering. We eventually triumphed and beat Havering by 61 points. With Shaftesbury and Norwich both finishing second in their matches we held on to our 4th place. This is the highest we have finished since 2019.

The Don Turner U14 Southern Inter-County Competition – Sunday 2nd August

A large contingent of the club’s U14 athletes travelled to Walton-On-Thames on Sunday to represent Bedfordshire. For many of these young athletes it was the first time they had worn county colours. Only 3 of the team were not Bedford & County athletes. The boys team finished 10th with 185 points and the girls were 11th with 207 points.

Doug Anderson 5k

A few of our athletes took part in the Doug Anderson 5k at Bedford Park on Wednesday 22^nd July.

Thomas H finished 8^th and was 1^st U17M in 16:43

Andre B finished 24^th in 18:13

Ellie H finished 32^nd and was 2^nd female in 18:57

Leah C finished 58^th and was 1^st U20F in 20:13

Ellie S finished 75^th and was 1^st U17F in 20:42

Rosie C finished 108^th in 22:06

Ellie H, Ellie S and Leah also won 1^st female team.

England Athletics Age Group Championships 2026

The England Athletics Age Group Championships were held at Bedford International Athletic Stadium on 25th and 26th July. Bedford and County Athletes had a successful day out with multiple medals won.

Frank Jackson

The Club is very saddened to record the death of longtime member, Frank Jackson. Frank died on Sunday afternoon 19th July 2026 at St John’s, Moggerhanger, after a short but very serious illness. He died of a very rare form of cancer.

Over the years Athletics and Bedford and County AC were a big part of Frank’s life. He was a member for 46 years, joining the club in 1980. The latter part of this period as an Honorary Member in recognition of his success as an athlete and his work for the club and the wider athletics community. He was responsible in many ways for making Bedford and County the club it is today.