Bedford & County hammer throwers were out in force at the Dickenson Classic Memorial Hammer competition in Windsor on Saturday 11^th April, honouring former hammer thrower and BBC commentator Paul Dickenson.

Mia returned to form in style, throwing back over 50m to win the U16 girls’ event and take home an impressive haul of prizes.

Darren experienced a mixed competition but saved his best for last, digging deep in the final round to produce a new personal best and club M55 record, launching the 6kg hammer to 49.07m.

Glen delivered a solid series just shy of 56m, but one of the standout moments of the day came away from the circle. The team caught up with Hungarian Olympic champion Krisztián Pars. Glen and Pars previously competed together back in 2003 while Glen was on international duty for Scotland in Slovenia. Remarkably, Glen still has the original scorecard from that event - a piece of history featuring three Olympic champions: Pars (2012), Adrián Annus, and Primož Kozmus.

Picture of Glen, Krisztian, Darren and Mia.

Well done to everyone that ran in the 1500m county championships at the weekend as part of the Bedfordshire AAA open meeting. There were some outstanding performances with lots of podium finishes for Bedford & County athletes.

A great start to the season for our middle distance runners.

Bedford & County AC and GLL hosted dignitaries and guests, including the Mayor of Bedford Borough Council, Tom Wootton, and CEO of England Athletics, Chris Jones, to a reception and ribbon cutting ceremony to mark the opening of the refurbished stadium ahead of the Bedfordshire AAA Open meeting on Saturday 4 April.

Tenny James reached the podium twice at the European Masters Indoor Athletics Championships held recently in Torun, Poland.

Competing in the M65 age category, he claimed silver in the 60m hurdles in a time of 10.01. He then took the gold as part of the winning GB 4x200m relay team. Their performance of 1.47.67 set a new European record for this event.

Tenny also made the final of the 400m with a seasons best of 62.5 and the semi final of the 200m in 27.9.

On a bitterly cold and blustery day Oriana Johnson and Mia Flynn both managed to set club hammer records - Oriana adding nearly a metre to her very recently set W60 hammer record with her throw of 19.41m, and Mia adding over 10 metres to the club U17 hammer record with a throw of 50.97m, just short of her club U15 record with that weight hammer set on a much warmer day last year.

Well done both! 

On Saturday Oliver Weddell made his England debut in the mixed relay at the SIAB international in Bangor, Wales. He ran the 1500m leg in 4.22, the fastest leg of the day by any of the athletes. 

Oliver Weddell was the star of the Bedfordshire show at the English Schools Cross Country Championships held in bright but cold windy conditions at Liverpool’s Sefton Park on Saturday 14^th March.

Having decisively won the County Championships at Ampthill a month earlier, Ollie stepped up on the big stage to finish 10^th in a very competitive Inter Boys 4.5Km race. His exceptional performance earned him an English Schools vest for the Home Countries International taking place in Bangor following week.

On Sunday at the Irish Masters Indoor Championships in Athlone Bedford & County athlete Richard Phelan won two golds and a silver for LJ (4.16m), TJ (8.64m) and PV (2.40m) respectively.

Well done Richard, a feat made even more impressive as the Pole vault and triple jump were running concurrently!

The season opened in style at StoneX Stadium this weekend, highlighted by a record-breaking performance from Oriana Johnson in the hammer. Oriana launched the implement out to 18.46m, setting a new club W60 record and continuing the excellent progress shown in her recent training.

She also produced strong supporting performances in the other throws, recording 16.12m in the discus and 6.12m in the shot put, completing an impressive all-round competition.

In the U16 boys discus, Holder Botha delivered one of the standout performances of the day with a 3-metre personal best of 34.61m. The throw secured victory in the Pool 1 group and marks an excellent early-season result that points towards even longer throws as the summer progresses. 

A very encouraging start to the season for the club’s throwers, with records falling and personal bests already on the board.