A heads-up on the National Athletics League (NAL) for the 2024 track season…

Following last season, there has been a lot of debate about the structure of the NAL going forwards. Much of this was driven by the cost increases that teams were encountering over the years and also an apparent lack of desire for some athletes to want to travel too far away from home. The conclusion of this consultation period resulted in the majority of clubs voting for a new structure starting in 2024.

Briefly, the structure of the NAL (32 clubs) will be a ‘Premiership’ Division consisting of just the top 8 teams. Below this, there will be four parallel ‘Championship’ Divisions which are regionalised North, South, East and West – each containing 6 teams. For the Championship Divisions, of which BAC is a member of the South Division, the season will comprise 4 matches…. Rounds 1 to 3 will be matches meeting the teams within your own division – and, as such, not so far from home. After the three rounds, the top two teams in each Championship Division will go to a 4th Round match where those 8 teams will compete against each other for promotion to get into the Premiership Division – two teams getting promoted. Those teams that don’t make it to the promotion match will also get a 4th match where the remaining teams in the South division will meet the remaining teams in the West Division.

The other significant change is the introduction of standards. This means that in order to score points an athlete must reach a minimum performance standard in that event. These standards should be set at a ‘reasonable’ level but will be set such to stop, say a 5000m race going on several minutes after the winner has crossed the line because someone is jogging round for a point. The values for the standards are yet to be agreed.

Bournemouth AC are in the Division “Championship Regional South” along with Belgrave Harriers, City of Portsmouth AC, Crawley AC, Kingston & Poly AC and Tonbridge AC.

Our 2024 matches are:

Saturday 1st June at Portsmouth
Saturday 22nd June at Crawley
Sunday 7th July at Kingston, London

Round 4 will be held Saturday 4th August at venues to be determined at this time.

Once again, Suzi Shepherd will be managing the ladies side of the team, and myself, the men’s side.

I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about the NAL for 2024… please do ask!

Tim Hughes.

BAC National Athletics League 2021

Hi all – We are close to just four weeks to go now for the first NAL match of the season for our Senior and U20 athletes…. Sunday 6th June at Tonbridge.

Amy Spencer and I have over the past couple of weeks ‘messaged’ many of you who we consider would be looking to compete – if you have received such a message then please do reply to us with your availability and preferences for the season. It is important we understand what your wishes are in order to help our team selection. There are a number of you out there still to reply…. Please Do  Also, if you have not received a message from us and were hopeful of competing in the NAL this year then please also contact myself or Amy.

Soon we will be selecting the team for the first match and we are looking forward to a different, but exciting season of competition culminating in two home matches at our brand new athletics facilities.

I am now able to share with you the new NAL Website which has officially been launched today. Please do have a look at this for quite a source of information about the fixtures forthcoming and past. Of particular interest this year is the NAL Rules of Competition for 2021 which explains how this season’s matches will operate. That can be found under the ‘Competition’ Tab. https://www.nationalathleticsleague.org.uk

Amy and I are looking forward to seeing many of you soon, hopefully in competitive action. We wish you well with your preparation and all the best for a successful season.

Regards,

Tim and Amy.

I am able to now confirm the dates and locations of the National Athletics League (NAL) matches for 2021.  The NAL is for Senior and U20 Men and Women. 

The four fixtures are now:

Sun 16-May   SportCity, Manchester
Sun 6-Jun        Chelmsford
Sat 3-Jul           Chelmsford
Sun 8-Aug        Bedford

2021 NAL Structure and Venues V2.1

This is a “Plan A” approach to the NAL where the Covid-19 situation allows this “normal” shape of competition to go ahead. There is also a “Plan B” (smaller meetings, more local travel) and even a “Plan C” to attempt to cater for alternative situations.

Myself and Amy Spencer will be managing the Bournemouth AC NAL team and we look forward to seeing some new faces as well as many familiar ones in the team for 2021 as we aim to go out there and “smash it” in our usual BAC way.

Any queries about the league – please contact me.

Stay Safe and Train Hard,

Tim Hughes.

Once again, the success was down to sheer determination of the enthusiastic team which were by far the team with most presence in the stadium that day. There were a number of comments from other teams about how good our support for each other is and you certainly couldn’t fail to hear the half dozen or so cow bells that rang out during the majority of BAC performances alongside a number of increasingly popular team chants.

As is often, the match kicked off with the Long Jump. Alarm bells rang when during the warm up James Lelliott reported having an adductor strain which prevented him from sprinting properly. Discussions took place to decide which events he felt he could do and that did include continuing in the Long Jump. A brave effort saw him win the B string event with Bradley Pickup making a welcome 2018 team debut winning the A string in 7.32m. Later Lelliott jumped to a convincing win in the Triple Jump A string (13.98m), took 1st place in the B Discus, with 40.20m and threw 57.09m to place 3rd in the B string Javelin.

Bradley Pickup Long Jumps to Victory

James Lelliott launches the Javelin

Dan Brunsden completed the trio of heavy throws placing 3rd in both the A string Discus and Shot, and 6th in the A string Hammer. Andrew Sheerin completed the line up for the heavy throws placing 3rd in the B string of his main event, the Hammer, and 4th in the B string Shot.

Hammer Time for Dan Brunsden

High Jump new boy, Lewis Sainval, continued to enjoy his new hobby clearing 1.93m for a fine 2nd place in the A string event. Cameron Hale won the B in 1.73m. In the Pole Vault Hale and Andy Brown both finished in 5th place in each of A and B.

On the track, Ronnie Wells continued to improve with a superb PB of 10.43s in the 100m A race. New recruit Joel Harvey gained a valuable 2nd place in the B string running a PB of 11.04 in his debut race for BAC. Harvey later finished 4th in the A string 200m in 21.87s with Kev Hodgson making a return to the team to finish 3rd in the B string. Hodgson had shortly earlier competed in his main event, the 400m coming 4th in the A string in 49.21s with Muiris Egan 4th in the B race. The two 400m lads then combined with Joel Harvey and Piers Copeland to run an impressive 4x400m Relay in a time of 3:21.36, not too far short of the BAC club record.

Nobody is catching Ronnie Wells today

Joel Harvey and Kev Hodgson showing how a baton change should be done in the 4x400m Relay

Piers Copeland won the 800m A race in impressive style with what appeared to be an ‘easy’ 1:50.80. Lewis Sainval was 3rd in the B race with 1:59.17. Jamie Grose was 4th for A in the 1500m with 3:59.69 and Dan Mulryan 3rd for B. The 5000m lads, Rob McTaggart and David Long, took good points each finishing 3rd in the A and B races.

Piers Copeland in ‘cruise mode’ before winning the 800m

No danger from the sun with David Long’s 5000m hat on

Ayo Byron also appearing in his first BAL match for BAC had an impressive A string win in the 110m Hurdles in a time of 14.98s. Cameron Hale set a new PB of 17.05s to come 3rd in the B race. Ayo had also earlier helped the team in the 400m Hurdles along with Lewis Bartlett, both setting new PBs. Josh King ran a commendable 10:10.77 SB for 3rd place in the 3000m Steeplechase A string with Dan Mulryan a valuable 2nd place in the B.

Ayo Byron flies to victory in the 110m Hurdles

Tim Hughes was once again delighted with the performance of the team. “I never expected that we would travel to Nuneaton and win by around 65 points.” he said, “The guys have really upped their game and so want to do the best they can and win every match now. I’m now not only hopeful of promotion to Div 1 this year, but also of a grand slam set of wins in all four matches.” He goes on to say “Once again the team showed their excellent support towards each other. The BAC cheering and the cow bells were dominant at Nuneaton. I think people know who we are now! I’m looking forward to the Big Saturday at Bedford now and proving in front of the entire BAL league that we continue to be a really strong team – and one that it is fun to be part of.”

Some of the team with a cheeky celebratory refreshment following the superb win.

Photos: Thanks to Lisa Shepherd

BAC were up against seven other teams in Division 2 BAL, their second season in that division. This year saw four fresh teams to encounter including Glasgow, Basingstoke and Rugby.  The team were determined to get off to a flying start to the season in order to ensure promotion to Division 1 having tantalisingly missed that opportunity last season by only 5 points.  Saturday’s win really does set out the team’s stall.

An early start to the day saw James Lelliott compete in the first of his seven events, the Long Jump. Lelliott opened up his campaign with a convincing win, jumping 7.25m.  Cameron Hale, also looking forward to seven events, was second in the B event.  Soon after this was the Hammer event with Dan Brunsden and Andrew Sheerin both throwing respectable 4^th places.  Sheerin slipped during one of his trials and hit his head hard on the concrete.  Thankfully he was quick to recover though – nothing keeps this enthusiastic Scotsman down.

James Lelliott’s Long Jump victory

Newcomer to the team, Lewis Bartlett, enthusiastically approached his debut 400mH race finishing in a respectable 6^th place.  He had only been practising for the event for around a week and he battled hard to gain valuable points.  Bartlett later joined Josh King in the 3000m Steeplechase but unfortunately had to withdraw during the race due to hamstring tightness.  King, making his season debut, ran a respectable 10:17 for 4^th place.

Lewis Bartlett’s debut at the 3000m Steeplechase

Lewis Sainval had earlier agreed to stand in for the High Jump, an event he had little experience of. The event immediately followed his 800m race, but he valiantly took it on as the supporting team watched the bar height keep increasing with Sainval’s successive clearances.  In the end he achieved 2^nd place in the A string with a remarkable 1.90m.  Cameron Hale was 3^rd in the B event.

Lewis Sainval’s impressive 1.90m in his High Jump debut

Lewis Sainval’s 800m saw him achieve a season’s best time of 1:59.90 for 5^th place in the B race, whilst Jamie Grose has a hard fought 1:58.72 in the A race.  Grose then later went on to gain a valuable 4^th place in the A string 1500m with Rob McTaggart doing coming 4^th in the B race less than a fortnight after his superb London Marathon effort.

Newcomer Ronnie Wells back on his old ‘home’ track for the first time since joining BAC never failed to impress with some outstanding sprinting.  Wells won the 100m A race in 10.59s with James Lelliott in a rare dead heat for 1^st in the B race with 11.01s.  The pair then also covered the 200m races with Wells narrowly missing a win in the A race with a time of 21.71s and Lelliott 3^rd in the B race with 22.35s.

Ronnie Wells in winning form in the 100m

In the 400m, Muiris Egan ran a strong race to set a seasons best time of 51.79s, taking 6^th place in the A race, whilst a now tired Lewis Sainval ran a new PB in the B event of 52.10s to take 5^th place.  Dan Mulryan and David Long both ran impressively in the 3000m race. Mulryan was narrowly beaten in a home straight dash setting a new PB at 8:31.20, with Long winning the B race in 8:47.40.

David Long and Dan Mulryan gain big points in the 3000m

Back in the throws, Dan Brunsden took 4^th place in a competitive Discus competition with newcomer Josh Kelly setting a new PB of 34.84m to take 3^rd  place in the B event.  In the Shot, Brunsden was 4^th in the A with Kelly a good 2^nd place in the B event.  In the Javelin James Lelliott threw a lifetime best 61.45m to take 2^nd place in the A event with Cameron Hale also setting a new PB to win the B event in 52.94m.

James Lelliott launches the Javelin to a 61.45m PB

A BAC debut for Josh Kelly in the Shot

In the Triple Jump, James Lelliott convincingly won the A event in 14.25m with Cameron Hale 2^nd in the B, with a PB of 11.81m.  The same pair had earlier competed in the Pole Vault to gain valuable points.

The 4x100m squad of Wells, Lelliott, Hale and Egan narrowly missed a win in a time of 43.28s.  The 4x400m squad went into the final race of the day knowing that BAC had already won the match, but Grose, Long, Sainval and Egan pushed hard to achieve some decent spilt times and a 6^th place finish.

One match now completed with three more to go, culminating in the final match at King’s Park on 5^th August where the promotions and relegations will be decided.

Tim Hughes was delighted with his team’s determination on the day.  He said “It just goes to show that when we take a few hits on athlete availability the rest of the team come together to make things good.  I’ve said it before, but the success of our team is down to the enthusiasm of the athletes and the hunger to win.  A shining example in the match was Lewis Sainval in his superb 2^nd place in his High Jump debut.”  He goes on to say “Everyone that travelled to Yeovil was a team player and put the needs of the team over and above their own personal goals.  That’s the type of team we are and that’s how we continue to grow and succeed.  I so look forward now to the next match at Nuneaton <for Rugby>  and bringing together an even stronger squad.  I just can’t thank the athletes enough!”.

<Photos: Thanks to Lisa Shepherd>