Congratulations to the following who have broken club records recently:

• Tenny James: M65 300m Hurdles (51.1 secs, 9th September, EMAC Final, Cambridge)
• Tenny James: M65 100m Hurdles (16.04 secs, 28 September, European Masters Championships, Pescara, Italy).
• Edith Caux: W65 200m (32.17 secs, 27th May, Lee Valley).
• Chloe Kingman: U15 Girls Pole Vault (2.62 metres, 26th August, England U15 Championships, Birmingham).
• Mia Flynn: U13 Girls Discus (26.34 metres, 23rd September, Biggleswade Open, Sandy).

Congratulations to Tennyson James, who won the M65 100m Hurdles gold Medal at the European Masters Championships in Pescara on 29th September in 16.23 seconds.  Tenny also won Gold in the M/W65 mixed relay, and Edith Caux won Silver in the W65 relay for France.  Roy Chambers, who competes 2^nd Claim for Bedford as a master and for our NAL team came 6^th in the M35 Javelin.

The Eastern AA Cross Country Championships are taking place on 18th November at Horseheath Course near Cambridge, and the Eastern AA would love to see you there.

There are races for Under 13s, Under 15s, Under 17s, Under 20s, and Seniors/Masters.  And there are team as well as individual competitions.  The event also incorporates the Eastern AA Inter-County Competition (contact your respective County for selection) and the Eastern Masters (EMAC) championships.

The Eastern AA was created 1933 and now includes the geographical county areas of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, & Suffolk.  For more information and entry, please follow the link to the Eastern AA website: https://easternaa.com

Congratulation to Tenny James, who won silver in the M65 200m at the European Masters Championships in Pescara, Italy, this week, and a Bronze in the M65 400m.  Congratulations also to Alex Sczhweicki, who won silver in the M75 Cross Country.

Congratulations to Ellie Garraway who broke her own club W50 800m and 1500m records on 6th August at the Masters Inter Area competition with times of 2:28.57 and 5:07.05 respectively.  Congratulations also to Bob Kingman who broke the club's M50 Pole Vault record with a height of 3.85 metres on 10th September at Milton Keynes.

Peterborough & Nene Valley A.C. are hosting a Middle Distance Final Fling on Tuesday 3rd October.  For details, see https://bedfordandcountyac.org.uk/index.php/performance/fixtures/eventdetail/472/-/peterborough-nene-valley-a-c-middle-distance-final-fling

Competition is obviously at the very heart of athletics. We all find our own level at which we can compete, and to a large degree we often compete against ourselves in the quest for a new PB. It is fundamental to the sport.

So, the club committee wants to ensure that the type and format of competition we provide as a club aligns as closely as possible with what the current generation of athletes really want. We are not sure that this is currently the case, based largely on the declining level of support for league fixtures, most notably in the senior leagues, and where the fixture involves a lot of travel.

We need to hear your views – first and foremost, those of the athletes, but also of all other interested parties – parents, coaches, officials, and team managers.

The club is building its social media presence, making more use of the Facebook and Instagram accounts. Social media is a great way for members of the club to keep up with news, club success and information about upcoming fixtures. It would be great to get as many people behind this as possible, athletes and parents alike, so please do give us a follow:

• Facebook: Bedford & County Athletic Club
• Instagram: @bedfordandcounty

We will also need help from you, if you have any photos or news from any event that you would like to share, provided you have the athlete in the photo’s permission, please send them via a direct message on Instagram/Facebook or send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Life member Raph Bouju reached the 100m Semi-Final at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on 20th August, finishing 5th in 10.20 seconds.  Raph had earlier won his heat in 10.09.

Congratulations to Glen Kerr, who set a new club M45 Hammer record of 53.47 metres in the NAL match at Bournemouth on Saturday 5th August.

Congratulations to Jack Goodwin, who, after later another another fine season, has been selected to run for England in the Adidas Home Nations 5K in Cardiff on 12 August.  Jack has a 13:54.33 5000m to his name this year and set a 8:00.44 3000m PB at Watford last month.  Good luck for the race Jack!