Eight of our athletes made the Bedfordshire and Luton team for the prestigious English Schools Athletics Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium back in July. Well done to Jordan Ackuaka (Shot Put), Alex Alston (1500m Steeplechase), Joe Bennet (200m), Etienne Maughan (100m), Stephen Simmons (100m Hurdles), Gracie Wall (High Jump), Jamie Webster (800m) and Tia Wilson (3000m), who all won places on the team.
Everybody did outstandingly well to earn the chance to cross-swords with the best youngsters in the country, and the championships saw some wonderful achievements.
Gracie Wall performed magnificently in the Junior Girls’ High Jump. In a long and tense competition with a large field of 21 Jumpers, Gracie held her nerve to finally triumph over Somerset’s Lucy Fellows with a huge clearance at a personal best height of 1.68M, which Lucy could not match. Elsewhere in the Junior Girls’ competitions, Etienne Maughan placed a brilliant 5th in the Junior Girls 100m with 12.27 seconds (12.19 in her heat). Gracie and Etienne helped the county to lift the Junior Girls’ trophy for the very first time, clinching the title by just one point from rivals Suffolk!
The Senior Girls’ 3000m also saw a medal for Bedford and County. Ignoring the very fast pace set by the leader, Tia Wilson settled in for the long haul. Pushing on over the last two laps, she came within striking distance of the fast fading 3rd place on the final bend, outpacing her over the last 20 metres to gain her first ever national track medal and setting a new personal best time of 9 minutes 44.15 seconds by some 12 seconds in the process.
Alex Alston produced a brave performance in the Inter Boys1500m Steeplechase. Having smashed his knee into a steeplechase barrier on the second of the seven and a half laps, he clung on to finish in an excellent 5th place in 4 minutes 34.91 seconds - not far off his best time.
After a fast start in the final of the Inter Boys’ 100m Hurdles, Stephen Simmons was in contention for a medal. Stephen also started hitting barriers. Nevertheless, he still set a new official personal best of 13.50 seconds (which he has since bettered), finishing seventh.
Overall, our youngsters contributed hugely to an excellent Bedfordshire and Luton Schools performance. In addition to the Junior Girls winning their age group, the Senior Girls team finished 3rd, the Junior Boys 4th, the Inter Girls 5th and the Inter Boys 6th. As a whole the team finished 4th amongst the 13 medium sized counties.
If you would like to watch videos of the competition, head to https://www.runjumpthrow.com/event/esaa-track-and-field-championships/ and for full results go to https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=%20291673&top=5000.
