BAC athletes turned in some excellent performances at Bedford last weekend on 1st & 2nd of June. Bedford was again the stage this year for the South of England Athletic Association’s Senior & Under 20 Championships.
Winning a Gold Medal, Sophie Merritt came first in Senior Women’s Shot with a putt of 14.13 meters.
Phoebe Dowson continued her trend for 2019 by winning a silver medal by coming second in Senior Women’s Discus with a throw of 50.14 meters. Phoebe continues to be ranked second in the UK for Women’s Discus. Sophie Merritt came 4th in the same event with a throw of 42.16 meters.
A Silver medal was also won in the Senior Men’s 3000 m Steeplechase by Jamie Grose in a time of 9 min 30.17 seconds.
A surprise Bronze Medal was won by Jasmin Cooke in U 20 Women’s High Jump with a height of 1.63 meters. It was Jasmin’s second taste of competition at this sort of level with all it’s added pressure. She also competed at Lee valley EESA in U17’s last year and received a bronze medal
Jack Messenger came 6th in the Sunday morning’s Final of the Senior Men’s 400 m Hurdles in a time of 55.45 seconds. Jack had battled through in the 10 AM Saturday morning’s heats with a qualifying time of 54.75 seconds to reach the final.
The Senior Men’s 5000 m was thankfully for all competitors a straight Final. Former local Craig Palmer returned to Bedford and along with Josh King were up near the front in the first half of the race. The fast pace eventually told on Josh who couldn’t hang onto the leaders and finished 11th in a credible time of 15 min 39.58 seconds. Craig paced his race exceedingly well, finishing 7th in a PB of 15 min 21.41 seconds.
Rob Woolgar on the Saturday finished 6th in Senior Men’s Long Jump with a jump of 6.77 m. Rob unfortunately didn’t finish the Senior Men’s 110 m Hurdles Heats held the next day. Despite Rob’s height, elevating one’s self successfully over the high hurdles is not an easy task.
Chloe Burrows ran the Heats of Senior Women’s 100 m in 12.30 seconds, in the Semi Final she came 7th in 12.51 seconds.
Joel Harvey and Kevin Richardson ran in the Senior Men’s 400 m Heats. Joel qualified for the Semi Finals in a time of 50.77 seconds, Kelvin did likewise in a time of 50.97 seconds. They both ran in the same Semi Final, Kevin coming 5th in 50.05 seconds and Joel 6th in 50.08 seconds.
Madeleine Smith was disappointied coming 10th in Senior Women’s Triple Jump with 11.46 m due to registering a number of no jumps. She struggled with the warm still conditions, normally contending with cold windy conditions.
Although not a Higher Claim BAC member, David Clarke is a BAC uni student member. David ran in the Senior Men’s 1500 m under High Wycombe club colours . David regularly trains at KP and is always cheerful. He was just even more cheerful on Saturday as it was a straight Final, coming 12th in a time of 4 min 11.22 secs.
Hopefully I have not overlooked any BAC competitors. Special mention must be made of Hazel and Jemma Bates who went all the way to Bedford to officiate on Sunday and to Mike Phillips who did likewise on Saturday. Without such sacrifices competitions at any level would not take place. I overheard the officials being told at 9 AM on Sunday they would be granted £4 for food and drink instead of a packed lunch for their toils lasting till gone 5 PM.
Report by William Kearsey