After a season of what ifs , near misses and a lot of frustration, Bedford & County’s senior squad finally had reason to celebrate ( and they certainly did!) with victory in the National Athletics League Championship plate.
After narrowly missing out on qualification for the cup competition, featuring the top 8 teams after the first three round of regular league matches, Bedford went into the match with high hopes of victory. Hopes were further heightened when Bournemouth, on equal league points going into the match, declared a much weaker team than expected. However, a one off match can spring many a surprise, league form went out of the window and Bedford were met with an unlikely challenge from Herne Hill Harriers.
Despite some early setbacks in the form of some unfortunate no shows, which were crucially covered at the last minute, it was Bedford who took an early lead, with a string of strong performances, including 800m victory for Jamie Webster and pole vault victories for Frankie Johnson (A) and Ed Foy (B). By the half-way point, Bedford held a lead of 33 points point over Herne Hill. Some may have called the match for Bedford there. However it was only just beginning and the team managers knew it, this was a match where every point counted and Gaps in events would be punished. It was no time for complacency or miscalculation. With no results update for nearly 2 and a half hours, confidence was replaced with tension. The tension only increased when a series of results updates saw rivals Herne Hill move to within 7 points, before briefly taking the lead after the sprint relays. Bedford were eventually able to shake off the challenge of Herne Hill, in part due to 1500m victories for Sam knee-robinson (A), Ben Davies (B) and Lauren Nicholls.
With Herne Hill finally vanquished, a new challenger emerged for the home team, old foes Peterborough & Nene Valley, who had crept back into the fight with a series of impressive results in the throws. With fewer than 5 events to be scored, they had closed the gap to less than 10 points.
With only the 4x400 relays left to run on the track, Bedford would need some luck and solid performances in the field to secure victory. Bedford’s luck came in the form of men’s team manager, Craig Emmerson, allowing first leg runner, Ed Foy, to miss the race in order to finish the javelin. The gamble paid off with Ed taking the B string win and a crucial 10 points. Ed was replaced in the 4x400 by Joe Strange- who is no stranger when it comes to stepping into relay squads at the last minute! Strong performances continued as top-ranked UK 17 high jumper, Gracie Wall, took victory with a third-time clearance at 1.73m - Gracie finishes the NAL season with a clean sweep of victories. Another performance of note came from Belinda Sergent, who had two 11.70m triple jump leaps - one with no wind and one with an excess! Despite Peterborough’s best efforts, Bedford weathered the storm and emerged victorious after 39 scoring events (including official’s points). The celebrations could now begin. Team mangers Craig Emmerson and Jemma Eastwood collected the trophy together, before the obligatory team photo, only to find themselves being thrown into the water jump (though they were quickly joined by the rest of the team).
Though some may down play the significance of a plate final win, this was far from a secondary achievement. The day saw Bedford’s athletes pull together with a real team spirt that has been needing to emerge for a number of years and will hopefully be the catalyst to more team success.
This is what happens when a squad of athletes pull together and work as a team!
For the full results, see https://www.thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=450523
