The first fixture of this year's Southern Athletics League took place at Braintree on 20th May. Overall, the club finished fifth, and the full results can be found at https://www.southernathletics.org.uk/assets/files/results/2023/23sal3N1Braintree.htm. Standout Bedford and County performances included:
There were some excellent performances at the Bedfordshire County Championships, which were held at Watford on 13th and 14th May. Well done to all of the Bedford and County winners, who are listed below, along with their level of performance from new tables produced by England Athletics:
There was a convincing win for Ben Davies in the night's fastest 1500m at the Watford Open Graded Meeting on Wednesday 3rd May. Ben made up a lot of ground on the leader in the last lap and then kicked away with 200m to go to win in 3:57.12. Jamie Webster finished fourth in 4:00.14. Daniel Toner (U17) ran the fastest 100m of the night in 11.76 seconds.
There were some excellent performances at the Bedfordshire AAA & Hertfordshire AAA 1500m Championships in Stevenage on 1st May. There was a win for Imogen Chesterton in the Under 20 Women's event, and medals for Harry Scott (Under 15 Boys), Eleanor Smith (Under 15 Girls), and Lily Farr (Under 17 Women). Well done to all those who took part.
Thalia Mason won the Boston Pentathlon with a score of 2794 points in her first outing as an U17. She set a PB of 7.84m in the shot and cleared 1.56m in the high jump only 2 cm shy of the lifetime best. Her long jump of 5.21m was also a standout performance. Meanwhile on the other side of the country, Stephen Simmons was winning the Somerset Senior Decathlon – his first foray into the senior ranks. Using it as preparation for the England Championships at the end of May he scored 6317 points, his highlights being a PB of 50.90sec in the 400m, an equal PB of 1.80 in the high Jump and a vault of 4.10m only 10 cm shy of his recent personal best.
Well done to Craig Emmerson on a victory in the Turing 10k at Milton Keynes yesterday - Craig's time was 32.13.
The National 6 and 12 Stage Road Relays took place at Sutton Park near Birmingham on Saturday 15th April. The long legs were 5.38 miles, and the short legs were 3.16 miles.
The Senior Men were hampered by illness and injury, but briefly rose to 3rd place in the middle of the race before falling back to finish tenth, in a time of 4:18:03 (they were the eighth English team). Noah Campion's storming 15:09 short leg, which gained Bedford 15 places, made him the fastest runner on leg 2, and was also the second fastest short-leg of the day overall. Ben Alcock's 25:51 gained 3 places, and made him the second fastest on leg 5. Jack Goodwin, who gained 7 places on his leg, Harry Brodie and Craig Emmerson were also in the top ten for their legs.
Tenny James picked up gold, silver and bronze medals in the World Masters Athletics Championships in Torun. First was a bronze in the M65 400m on 28th March in a time of 60.29 seconds. This is a new M65 club record, and also a British M65 Indoor record. Tenny then won silver medal in the M65 60m Hurdles in a time of 9.78 seconds, and rounded off the championships by taking gold in the the 4x200m mixed relay. Congratulations Tenny!
The Southern 6 / 12 Stage Road Relays took place at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London on Sunday 2nd April.
Thaila-Jade Mason: 200m 26.43s (PB); Long Jump 5.26M; Shot 7.56M
Rebecca Murray finished second in the Reading Half-Marathon on Sunday 2nd April in a time of 01:12:39, and Ben Alcock came third in the men's race, in a time of 1:05:08. These results should put both Rebecca and Ben in the top-ten of the UK rankings for this year.
Bedford & County AC's Masters athletes were in action over the weekend at the BMAF Winter Throws Championships at Horspath stadium in Oxford. Darren Kerr took home two silver medals, coming second in the M50 Hammer with a throw of 45.68m, and second in the M50 Weight with 15.13m. Darren also came fifth in the M50 Discus with 31.75m. Graeme Packman collected a silver medal with second in the M65 Discus with 29.69m, and a bronze medal in the M65 Hammer with 22.67m. Graeme also won the non-championship M65 shot with 8.77m.
