A warm and sunny Saturday saw 20 U13 and U15 girls make the trip to Woodford Green for the 2nd match in the YDL. This was again a tough competition for the youngest members of our club as we are in a division with teams from Brighton, Cambridge Harriers, Crawley, Herne Hill and Woodford Green and as usual all the girls gave everything they had in every event they took part in and came away with 19 personal bests and 1 season’s best.
Congratulations to Lyla Danobrega, who broke her own 1500m Steeplechase club record at the weekend. Running at the British Milers Club PB Classic at Oxford on 3rd June, Lyla won her race by over ten seconds in 5:11.06, which becomes the new club record for both the Senior Women's and Under 17 Women's categories. This moves Lyla up to fourth spot in the UK under 17 rankings.
Congratulations also to Raph Bouju. A fantastic run at the weekend at the FBK Games in Hengolo saw Raph reduce his 100m PB to a world-class 10.09 seconds whilst coming third behind Reece Prescod and Yohan Blake. This break's Raph's own 100m club record. Raph also broke Richard Ashby's club 200m record in May with a time of 2.65 seconds. Richard's old mark of 20.85 seconds had stood since 1985.
Good running at the the Challenger meeting in Belgium on Saturday 27th May with Raph Bouju claiming PBs over 100m and 200m. Raph's new 100m PB of 10.20 seconds currently ranks him sixth in Europe, whilst his 200m PB was a very speedy 20.65 seconds. Aston Lockwood clocked 22.57 seconds for 200m. At the same meeting, Jack Goodwin ran a fast 13:54.33 5000m. Meanwhile at the British Milers Club Grand Prix in Manchester, Tia Wilson claimed a 5000m PB of 16:30.22, finishing strongly to come second in her race, and Jamie Webster won the 800m G race in 1:53.88.
The second EYAL match was a lot warmer and drier than our first at Norwich. The girls had a fantastic day winning the U13s and coming 3rd in both the U15s and U17s. We had 38 PBs and 10 SBs.
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:
As reported previously, Bedford and County athletes enjoyed a successful County Championships at Watford on 13th and 14th May, and some athletes won awards.
Summer is finally starting to feel like it has arrived! Well done to all of the boys team who competed on Sunday – your hard work in training is really paying off. In total we saw personal bests in 24 events, with a number of the boys who are starting to move up the performance levels. Please check out https://www.englandathletics.org/competitions-and-events/pb-awards/ for more information and see what your personal level is.
Congratulations to Bob Kingman who broke Tony Mackay’s 33 year old M50 Pole Vault club record with a vault of 3.70m in the SAL match at Braintree on 20th May.
Congratulations to four Bedford and County athletes who won awards at the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire County Championships on 13th and 14th May. They were:
127 Bedford and County athletes registered for the main meeting, and 35 for the 1500m (run on a different day).
For all the Bedford and County winners, and the full results see Bedfordshire County Championships.
