Report by Craig Emmerson:
Sunday the 22^nd of May saw Bedford & County’s senior Men and Women open their Southern athletics league campaign at Hemel Hempstead.  After a reasonable start to the season in the First NAL match, Team managers Craig Emmerson an Emma Coombes had hoped that a solid team performance would really kick start the season for the seniors. However it wasn’t to be quite to be.

A cruel mix of injuries, Illness, and exams, affecting both athletes and officials in the 24 hrs before the match, saw gaps begin to emerge in what had been a very strong team.  Whilst both Craig and Emma worked hard to fill these gaps, with Craig taking it upon himself to try and cover as many gaps as he could and Emma in the hammer, before going to track judge. however, the damage had already been done and Bedford were unlucky to finish 4^th, after more late injuries left the team unable to hold off 3^rd place from London Heathside, who only overtook Bedford in the final two events.  A special thanks must also go out to all parents and coaches who volunteered to help officiate, without whom some events would’ve been unable to go ahead.  

However, despite a disappointing team result there were a number of great individual performances and shoots of hope for the rest of the season:

• U17’s Milly D (10:10.3) and Lyla D (10:31.4) dominated the 3000m to take a 1-2 and maximum A and B string Points, with neither looking in danger of being overtaken at any point. Milly’s time was also an English schools qualifying standard.
• U20’s Daniel HG-FS (51.9) and Ash-S Ds (54.0) won the A and B string 400m in convincing fashion. Daniel finished with a near 20m lead from the rest of the field
• Peter Benedickter (64.5) won the 400m hurdles after seeing of a late surge from the London Heathside athlete.
• Leanne Buxton took the victory in both the Shot (10.83) and long jump (5.02), with u17 Jessica F (4.92) took the B string long jump.
• Craig Emmerson (6:38.4) led the 2000m steeplechase from gun to tape to take the victory by a considerable margin. However the race wasn’t without drama, as an error in the lap counting would’ve seen the athletes complete an extra lap and invalidate any performance for ranking purposes. It was only after the 3^rd lap that Craig, with help from fellow team manger Emma Combes was able to get the officials to correct the error.
• Jemma Eastwood (3.15) won the Pole vault

Attention now turns the National Athletics League match at Bedford Stadium on the 4^th of June, where Bedford & County will host some of the best club athletes in the country.  Entry is free to all, with the first events starting at 11 AM.  The next SAL match is on the 12^th of June at Mile end.