Bedford & County athletes brought home a rich haul of medals from the East of England Indoor Athletics Championships held at Lee Valley on 8th and 9th of February.

Three Golds and a Silver from Talented Teenage Trio

Gracie Wall, the English Schools 2019 U15 High Jump Champion took the gold in the U 15 Age Group with a perfect record of clearances, failing only at 1.67M, just a centimetre below her lifetime best. Her 1.64 M performance took her straight to the top of the UK 2020 rankings.
Meanwhile, Etienne Maughan, 4th in the England U15 75m Hurdles Championships last summer, was running her first ever races over indoor hurdles. Three exceptionally good races later and she was also a champion, snatching gold in a tightly contested Under 17 final. Her semi final time of 8.77 sec placed her 2nd equal in the UK U17 rankings.

The England Schools Octathlon Champion, Stephen Simmons, was aiming to excel in both Long jump and Pole Vault in the Under 20 age group. He first won gold in the former with 6.34 Metres, his only valid jump of the competition, and then went on to the pole vault where he is still very much a novice learning his pole vault trade. With only 12 vaulting sessions under his belt, he nevertheless he took the silver medal. A promising series of clearances, up to and including 3.50 metres, augurs well for future progress.

Masters Make More Medals

Competing in the Senior Pole Vault against athletes 20 years and more their junior, the Masters added to Bedford’s medal total. Jemma Eastwood soared over 3.20M for a Silver in the Ladies event; whilst Simon Eastwood and Mark Burgman claimed silver and bronze in the men’s version.