Under 23 Etienne Maughan has been having an amazing indoor season - with her hurdle times improving in every race. The highlight (so far) was a silver medal from the Southern Senior Indoor Championships at Lee Valley on 3rd February, when she ran 8.43 seconds for a silver medal in the 60 Metres Hurdles. This ranks Etienne 8th in the UK senior rankings, and is also a club record.

In fact, to date, Etienne has run inside the old Senior Women's 60M Hurdles club record of 8.69 seconds (which she set in 2022) five times this season.

In addition, Etienne clocked a time of  7.63 seconds for the 60m flat at Loughborough on the 13th January - another club record.

Congratulations on the club records Etienne, and good luck for the UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham this weekend!

Congratulations to Thaila Jade Mason and Lyla Danobrega, who have set new club indoor records recently.

Lyla set a new Under 20 Women's 1500m record of 4:46.12 at the England Indoor Championships in Sheffield on 11th February.

Meanwhile Thaila set two new Under 17 Women's records: 9.06 seconds for the 60m Hurdles at Lee Valley on 27th January, and 5.87 metres for the Long Jump at the England Indoor Championships in Sheffield on 11th February.

Congratulations to Tenny James, who set a new M65 British Masters record for the 60m Hurdles at Lee Valley last weekend.  Tenny's new mark of 9.60 seconds is also a club M65 record.

The South of England Indoor Championships produced two gold medals for Bedford athletes at the weekend. On Saturday, Zaphaniah Bryan cleared a superb new personal best height of 1.88m to claim the U17 Men’s High Jup title; whilst on Sunday Thaila Jade Mason’s 5.59m long jump was more than sufficient to pocket the U17 women’s Long Jump gold.  Congratulations to both athletes!

Congratulations to Ed Blythman, Lauren Nichols and Rebecca Murray who have been selected to represent the East of England region in the London International Cross Country at Parliament Hill on 20th January.

Congratulations to Noah Campion, who has been selected to run for the England Junior Men's team at the 61st Juan Muguerza Elgoibar Cross Country in Elgoibar, Spain at the weekend. This is Noah's second international vest of the season, after finishing second in the Cross Internacional de Itálica in Seville.  Good luck for the race Noah!

The Bedfordshire Cross Country Championships take place on SUNDAY 7^th January 2024 at Southill Park, near Biggleswade and are combined with Bucks as usual.

The closing date for entries is Friday 29th December.

For more information and to enter, see http://bedfordshireaaa.org.uk/Beds%20AAA%20Website/bedsaaa/XC/index.html

Congratulations to Jasmine Wilkins, who set a new Senior Women's and Under 20 Women's 60m Club Indoor Best of 7.65 seconds on 6th December at Cardiff!

Three Bedford and County athletes won awards at the Bedford Borough Sports Awards this week!  Congratulations to:

• Gracie Wall, who won the Junior Sports Personality Award
• Sean Chigumba, who won the Junior Disability Sports Personality

and

• Varun Bandi, who won the Senior Disability Sports Personality

A number of our other athletes were also nominated for awards.

Tia Wilson was 34^th in the Euro U23 XC Championships in Brussels  on Sunday. Although Tia was not one of the scoring members  of the gold medal wining British team, it was nevertheless an outstanding performance.  Tia completed the 7K course in 28:58.  Well done to Tia on an excellent run!

We have just received our allocation of guaranteed places in the London Marathon. Bedford and County have been given 2 places this year, which is excellent as it’s only been one for the last five years or so.

If you are a member of Bedford and County AC and would like one of the two places, please apply as soon as possible, and no later than 16th December.

To apply, contact Tony Forrest:

• Text or WhatsApp: 07769 707651,
• EMAIL: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Preference will be given to members who have already applied unsuccessfully to the London Marathon ballot,  but others can also apply, and will be considered if fewer than 2 applicants satisfy the above criteria. The places will be allocated at the Christmas Handicap on 17th December.  If there are more  names than places then a ballot will be held at the Handicap.

Congratulations to Tia Wilson, who has been selected to run for the Great Britain Under 23 team in the European Cross Country Championships in Brussels on the 10th December.  Good luck for the race Tia!