There were two notable performances in Sheffield over the weekend.  Stephen Simmons finished 5th in England Indoor Senior Men's Heptathlon with 5069 points.  The breakdown of Stephen's events was as follows:

• 60m: 7.05 (PB)
• Long Jump: 6.80m
• Shot: 12.46m
• High Jump: 1.84M (= PB)
• 60m Hurdles: 8.43s
• Polve Vault: 4.10M
• 1000m: 3:04.56

And at the British Milers Club Indoor Grand Prix Jack Goodwin finished eighth in a high quality field in the 3000m in an indoor PB of 8:02.85.  This gives Jack the qualifying standard for the UK Indoor Championships.

Well done to both athletes!

Thaila- Jade Mason took second place at the South of England U17 Pentathlon Championships last Sunday with a score of 3252 points, exceeding her previous personal best by 459 points.
She made an excellent start to her  campaign by taking first place in the 60m hurdles, posting 9.01 sec (previous  PB 9.16 sec.) and then consolidated her lead with a  superb clearance at 1.65 metres – improving her PB by 2 cm.
Following a disappointing shot (8.18M) from a slippery circle, she was still tied for the lead and despite not finding the board was still the best in the Long Jump with 5.46 M and going back into an outright lead.
At this point, the after-effects of a recent bout of tonsillitis and having 15 jumps in the High Jump began to take its toll. She struggled in the 800m losing the lead to her erstwhile rival Estee Norman of  Epson and Ewell.

What a start to the cross country season - our home match at Keysoe is always one of the favourites on the race calendar.
There were some start line nerves from the girls but they all soon over come them to smash out brilliant runs - and they all loved the water splash!

For a handful of the girls this was their first race wearing the club vest.

Under 11s

• Amelia D 15th in 8.08
• Holly H 17th in 8.16

Under 13s

• Serena FA 10th in 12.39
• Molly H 14th in 13.06
• Molly B 33rd in 14.30
• Martha JA 39th in 14.51

Under 15s

• Ellie S 13th in 15.27
• Ellie H 21st in 13.06
• Megan R 35th in 16.42
• Sophie H 47th in 18.08

Under 17s

• Lily F 2nd in 18.54
• Sarah P 7th in 20.30
• Jessica P 25th in 22.34
• Nelly P 31st in 23.41

There was a strong showing from Bedford and County’s women on Saturday 7th October at the National Road Relays in Sutton Park, Birmingham.

In what was an unseasonably warm day on Saturday 7th October, the Boys team had a great turnout at Sutton Park for the National Road Relays.

The SEAA Road Relays at Rushmoor Arena, Aldershot were a fantastic first fixture of the winter season. The boys team had a great turnout, with 7 teams representing Bedford and County. For some of the team, it was their first outing at a road relay and it did not disappoint! The weather was on our side and the atmosphere within the team was fabulous. There were lots of great individual performances within the boys teams and some gritty runs for the boys who were on the starting leg – they all got stuck in and stood their ground to hold their position. Well done all.

On Sunday 10^th September 13 Bedford & County athletes swapped their club vests for Bedfordshire vests.  For many of these athletes it was the first time they wore the white, black, red and gold of Bedfordshire.  They came away with 4 3^rd place places for Quardi in the U15B 200m, Dane in the U15B shot, James in the U17M 400m and Archie in the U17M long jump.  Lily U17W 800m, Verity U17W Hammer and Theo U17M 1500m all produced PBs.

BEDFORD & COUNTY AC Men’s Team were victorious at The Final of the Eastern Masters Athletic (EMAC) League which took place on Saturday 9th September at Bedford.

Thaila-Jade Mason took a second South of England Championship gold when she added the U17 Long Jump title to the Heptathlon U17 title she had won a fortnight earlier. Competing at Lee Valley on Sunday 13 August, three of her four valid jumps (5.73m;5.68m and 5.57m) were comfortably ahead of the silver medalist who jumped 5.30m.

With the sun shining on Sunday at Bedford stadium, it was far less a soggy day than our last fixture! This was our final EYAL fixture of the 2023 season. Bedford and County AC finished 3rd overall on the day and all of the boys teams all came 3rd individually with the under 13’s scoring 69, under 15 scoring 68 and under 17’s scoring 57 points.

Our final EYAL league match saw 33 girls compete in warm, windy conditions on our home track.  We had the best results of the season with 26 PBs, 3 SBs, 15 A string wins, 7 B string wins and 2 relay wins.

Our A String wins were:

Thaila-Jade Mason added a heptathlon gold medal from the South of England Championships to the two long jump silvers she had won earlier in July at the English Schools Championships and the Schools International.