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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

Congratulations to Graeme Packman who set a new M70 Club Shot Record at the Corby Open on Weds 14^th July with a Put of 10.24m. 

Despite the searing heat which was a major factor at the English Schools Athletics Championships, Bedfordshire produced their best results for several years with a gold medal, three silvers and double bronze; and a total of 14 of the team of 22 placing in the top eight whilst posting 13 lifetime best performances between them.

The overall points total of 102 was the highest for a number of years whilst the junior boys were a mere half-point off winning the trophy in the category C competition for medium sized counties.

A large contingent of the club’s junior athletes made the short journey to Sandy for our 3rd EYAL match. In the very warm conditions they produced 87 PBs (35 for the girls and 52 for the boys) and 3 SBs for the girls. We currently sit in 6th position (still awaiting results from the match at Barnet which may affect our standings).  

The U14 (93), U16 (123) & U18 (82) boys finished 3rd, U16G (115) 2nd and U14G (125) & U18W (113) 1st in their respective age group competitions.

There were some amazing Pole Vault results from the EYAL at Sandy last weekend:

Eliza 1.90m - 1st U14 girls (massive clearance at 2m but pole hit the bar)
Lois 3.25m PB - 1st U16 girls
Chloe 3m (big SB) - 1st U18 girls

Ben 3.90 PB - 1st U16 boys
Oskar 3.60 PB - 2nd U16 boys (though non-scoring as only 1 vaultee per age group)
Darian 1.90m PB - 1st U18 boys (first ever competition)

Lois, Oskar and Ben are all jumping at ESAA champs next weekend.