On Saturday 15th July, the early morning coach departed Kings Park; loaded with enthusiastic athletes, keen to get stuck in and compete at the NAL in Yeovil. Others made their own way to the stadium at Pickett Lane.  Some athletes were nervous, others excited and some mindful of a niggle or recovering from injury. All of them contributed to making it a successful event and creating a great match day atmosphere.

Participating clubs for Round 2 of the National Athletics League Championship (Fixture B) included Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC, Belgrave Harriers, Bournemouth AC, Bristol & West AC, City of Liverpool, Herne Hill Harriers, Southampton AC and Yeovil Olympiads.

BAC finished 5th of 8 which is a superb result with the limited number of athletes we had on the day.  A massive thanks from Tim and Suzi to everyone that was there and pushed hard, enthusiastically in order to seek out those valuable points.

BAC Women

The women’s Team Captain, Suzi Shepherd extends a huge thank you to the six ladies that turned out despite the very iffy weather forecast – rain and winds!

Janet Dickinson was readily mistaken for superwoman as she flew in the Pole Vault (she already holds the age group record) as well as scoring in the Long Jump, Hammer, Shot Putt and Discus with her usual style and vigour.

Chloe Burrows was a brilliant addition to the team and it was great to have her competing, despite injury. She is recovering from a leg injury but still scored for the team in the Discus, Shot Putt, Javelin and both relays. Chloe’s rehab. is going well and although she still can’t run, she can jog pain free. That’s exactly what she did in the relays helping to secure valuable extra points.  Chloe said the team spirit was amazing, everyone was there to enjoy it despite the rain! One of the highlights was definitely Cam stepping in for 110m hurdles with a couple of lunges to warm up. Impressive!

Nikki Sandall was down for her usual event, the Pole Vault but her desire to win for the team took over and she did 800m, steeplechase and relay. What a legend!

Poppea Bramwell Reeks was simply fantastic covering all middle distant events, the 800m, 1500m, 3000m and all relays. Her class performance shone through as she won the 1500m and the 3k with a brilliant 800m PB to top it off and secure a 3rd place spot. An excellent result!

Helena Darragh did fabulously well in the 200m and 400m plus both relays. Such a great asset to the team.

Suzi grabbed more points by officiating for the hammer throws and wait for it…
                                   …yes she stepped up to complete in the 100m relay team – well done Suzi. She thinks this is a one off but we’ll see.

“Thank you to everyone. Tim was brilliant and so were all the officials as they really helped gain the needed points” Suzi


BAC Men

A last minute change which was made at the beginning of the day saw Andy Brown quickly stepping in to cover the B string Pole Vault to replace an athlete who hadn’t arrived. That secured a valuable 2nd place in the B string. Stewart Cotterill had a solid performance in the A string.

There were great performances from Joe Haywood in the men’s 100m and 200m. Kev Hodgson also featured in both sprints having suffered cramp in his 400m race. A solid run form Ben Arnold in the B-string 400m following him standing in to fill the B string 800m earlier in the day.

Josh Smith scored a respectable 4th place in the A string 800m before standing in to make sure the 1500m was covered.

Rob McTaggart ran well for 4th place in the men’s 5000m with Ollie James 2nd in the B string having convincingly won the men’s 3000m Steeplechase. Ben Collins was second in the B string chase, in what ended up being BAC’s highest scoring men’s event.

Cameron Hale scored well in the Shot (3rd in the A string) and Discus events alongside his favoured Javelin event.  Andy Brown also earned valuable points in the Javelin as well as coming second in the B String Hammer.  Simon Armstrong continued to support the club with a great 4th place in the Men’s Hammer and 3rd in the B string Shot.

A debut for recent signing to BAC, Aime Blaise Atchoukeu Mbithe came 3rd in the B string Discus throw.  Aime has previously represented Cameroon in the World Paralympic Championships and is a great new asset to the team. We welcome you!

Bradley Pickup made a welcome return to the team, just a week or so after he had run a marathon!  Bradley competed in the Long and Triple Jumps, winning the B string of the latter.  Ben Butcher was 3rd in the A string Triple Jump (13.61) and Joe Haywood 3rd in the B string Long Jump.

Results

Following Rounds 1 and 2 we are currently in 11th place in the table of 16 teams, having finished 7th and 5th (of 8) in the first two matches. Things are however, now extremely tight with four teams being on equal league points with us in positions 11-14 and the one in 15th with only one league point less. We cannot be complacent, nor we can be relegated out of the league (bottom two teams). We must have a superb, strong team out there for our home match on 5th August and ensure that we finish the season well and secure.

For full results click here

ThankS

A huge thank you to all the athletes, coaches, officials and supporters as your contribution makes BAC the fantastic club it is and shows the potential to achieve so much more.

A massive thanks to the team captains, Suzi Shepherd and Tim Hughes for their hard work and dedication in getting the teams out and as many events covered as possible. Thanks both Tim and Suzi for your contribution to this report!

The next NAL is a home match at Kings Park on Saturday 5th August.
Contact Tim or Suzi to express an interest in any event. There’s an opportunity for everyone to compete in track and field, even if it’s non-scoring event. Come and compete, try something new or simply support your team!