Congratulations to Leanne Buxton, who won the British Masters W40 Indoor Pentathlon in Sheffield on 23 January, and to Penny Butcher, who took the bronze medal in the W60 pentathlon.  The full results were:

The indoor athletics season has got into swing over the last month or so.  Here is a roundup of results:

Congratulations to Gracie Wall who had a convincing win in the Under 17 Women's High Jump at the Southern Indoor Championships last weekend.  Gracie cleared 1.69 to take the title, 6 cm higher than the silver medallist.

The fourth round of this season's Chiltern League took place at Campbell Park, Milton Keynes on Saturday 15th January.  There was a win for Ben Alcock in the Senior Men's race, with Harry Brodie second (and also the top finishing Under 20).  There was also top ten finishes from Evan Supple in the Under 17 Men's race, in the Under 15 Boys event for Cameron Barnes, Harry Scott in the Under 13 boys, and Milly Dunger and Lyla Danobrega in the Under 15 Girls race.  We finished third in the overall team competition.  

Photo by kind permission of Barry Cornelius.

Full Bedford and County Results:

The Bedfordshire AAA Cross-Country Championships took place on 8th January.  There was a large turnout of Bedford and County athletes, and some excellent performances.  

The 41st Annual Bedford and County AC Christmas Handicap took place on Sunday 19th December. Ten year old Izzy Danobrega took the Pete Dancer Memorial Trophy following in the footsteps of her big sister Lyla who took the title at the same age in 2017.  Izzy recorded an excellent 21:47 for the 3 mile course, only 12 secs slower than Lyla's 2017 time.  The race raised money for Pancreatic Cancer UK.  Anybody who would like to make a donation can do so at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Bedford-and-county-ac 

There were excellent performances at the 5 mile race at Battersea Park on Friday 17th December.  Matt Begin finished 3rd in 23:42, Ben Alcock came sixth in 23:45, Harry Brodie came eleventh in 23:55, and Sam Knee Robinson came fortieth in 25:38.  As well as finishing eleventh in the main race, Harry was the second under 20 home, and his time should move him up to 6th place in the UK Under 20 all time rankings.  Ben is now equal 4th in the Run Britain overall 5 mile rankings for 2021.

The third round of this season's Chiltern League took place at Stopsley Common in Luton on Saturday 4th December.  There was a win for Harry Brodie in the Senior Men's race, after his ninth place finish in the Under 20  British Athletics Cross Challenge a week earlier.  Ben Davies finished third.  There was also a win in the Under 15 Boys event for Cameron Barnes, a third place for Harry Scott in the Under 13 boys, and second and third places for Milly Dunger and Lyla Danobrega respectively in the Under 15 Girls race.  We finished third in the overall team competition, first in the overall male team competition, and third in the junior competition.  

Photo by kind permission of Barry Cornelius.

The second round of this season's Chiltern League took place at Teardrop Lakes in Milton Keynes on Saturday 13th November.  The match included the UKA Cross Challenge event.  There were some fine performances from Bedford and County athletes, including from Dan Jarvis who came third in the Senior Men's Cross Challenge whilst winning the Division 1 Chiltern League Match, and from Rebecca Murray, who won the women's Division 1 match whilst coming seventh in the cross challenge.  We finished second in the overall team competition, and won the overall seniors' competition.  

Photo by kind permission of Barry Cornelius.

Some of the highlights were...

The club sent 10 teams to the English Cross Country Relay Results that took place at Mansfield on Saturday 6th November.  There were two top ten finishes.

There were some very good performances at the first Chiltern Cross Country League match of the season in Oxford on Saturday 16th October.  Ben Davies came third in the Senior Men's race, with Jake Richardson one place behind him, and Jamie Seddon in seventh.  The Senior Men finished second in the team event. 

Photo by kind permission of Barry Cornelius.

Bedford and County Teams achieved two top-ten finishes at the National Road Relays at Sutton Park on Saturday 9th October.

The Senior Men's A team finished an excellent 6th, and the Under 15 Girls team came a brilliant 3rd.  For the full results...