This indoor season has been a great success for our BAC athletes with top class performances at home and abroad. Evidence of these outstanding performances dominate the GB rankings with top spots for both men and woman with track events from 60m to 400m and field events including long jump, triple jump, high jump, shot putt and discus.
It’s clear that the standard of athletics continues to improve and it’s a pleasure to see some of our younger athletes go from strength to strength. Let’s continue to raise the bar!
The 2023 Indoor Season welcomed a re-furbished track at Windsor (Thames Valley Athletics Centre) and Lee Valley as well as the return of the Welsh Indoor Open Series. This meant that more Indoor competitions were staged than before Covid/2020.
The most notable competitions where BAC athletes excelled:
Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow Indoor Open Graded Series – 8th Jan/ 5th Feb
London Indoor Games (Lee Valley) – 21st/22st Jan
Welsh Championships (Cardiff) – 28th/29th Jan
South of England Championships (Lee Valley) – 4th/5th Feb
British Championships (Birmingham) – 18th/19th Feb
UK Winter Long Throws Championships – 19th Feb
Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow Indoor Open Graded Series:
Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Athletic Club are hosts to three indoor open meetings this season for both juniors and seniors. The final meeting is set to take place on 5 March.
Athletes were able to compete on the newly refurbished track, returning for the first time since 2019 due to Covid and an unfortunate lack of officials to stage the opens. It was undoubtedly the largest turnout at an Indoor Competition by Bournemouth and even more remarkably a host of numerous PBs.
Sprint Coach, Tim Hughes travelled to the event with the majority of his group to witness evidence of their hard work this winter – it certainly paid off with many PBs and SBs.
This was an exciting and likely nerve racking meeting for a few of our athletes as they were competing for the first time over the 60m at an indoor competition. Kia Slade made her debut for the season with an outstanding 60m PB to join the 7. sec Club.
Results from BAC athletes (highlighted best races):
60m
Round Perf Name SB PB
1 7.08 Rob Woolgar PB SEN M
1 7.54 Timi Rotimi-Toviho SEN M
Results from BAC athletes (highlighted best races):
60m
Round Perf Name SB PB
1 7.08 Rob Woolgar PB SEN M
1 7.54 Timi Rotimi-Toviho SEN M
1 7.83 Adam Nicholass SB SEN M Timothy Hughes
1 7.57 Amir Ismail U20 M Timothy Hughes
1 7.65 Dante Thompson PB U17 M
1 7.73 Arief McKenna U20 M
1 8.02 Kia Slade PB U23 W Dwayne Stoddart
1 8.31 Tim Beaglehole SB V60 M Timothy Hughes
2 7.05 Rob Woolgar PB SEN M
2 7.46 Timi Rotimi-Toviho SEN M
2 7.63 Amir Ismail U20 M Timothy Hughes
2 7.73 Dante Thompson U17 M
2 7.71 Arief McKenna PB U20 M
2 7.82 Adam Nicholass SB SEN M Timothy Hughes
2 7.95 Kia Slade PB U23 W Dwayne Stoddart
2 8.35 Tim Beaglehole SB V60 M Timothy Hughes
1 7.83 Adam Nicholass SB SEN M Timothy Hughes
1 7.57 Amir Ismail U20 M Timothy Hughes
1 7.65 Dante Thompson PB U17 M
1 7.73 Arief McKenna U20 M
1 8.02 Kia Slade PB U23 W Dwayne Stoddart
1 8.31 Tim Beaglehole SB V60 M Timothy Hughes
2 7.05 Rob Woolgar PB SEN M
2 7.46 Timi Rotimi-Toviho SEN M
2 7.63 Amir Ismail U20 M Timothy Hughes
2 7.73 Dante Thompson U17 M
2 7.71 Arief McKenna PB U20 M
2 7.82 Adam Nicholass SB SEN M Timothy Hughes
2 7.95 Kia Slade PB U23 W Dwayne Stoddart
2 8.35 Tim Beaglehole SB V60 M Timothy Hughes
Closing date for 5th March meeting is 26th Feb 2023.
London Indoor Games U20/Senior:
The London Indoor Games were held at Lee Valley across two days, 21-22 January. This is always an excellent open meeting, providing some excellent competition with a large number of entries. This year was no exception with almost 1000 competitors, including international athletes looking to better their previous performances.
Lee Valley, being a brand new track, prompted the new track rules which controversially banned the popular pyramid spikes and athletes had to find Christmas tree spikes to wear instead. However, most suppliers were out of stock so those with sharp pyramid spikes faced the track officials, who came armed with giant files, to file them down! Not the best warm up for the athletes but they were being cautious about their newly laid track. Needless to say, it didn’t faze our BAC competitors.
Excellent performances marked a positive start to the indoor season. Brooke Ironside returned to the track after a successful previous season. She showed her improving form and opened with a SB in the 60m and 200m and also won the long jump with an impressive 5.84, an indoor PB.
Brooke Long Jump
Adam Nicholass continued his massive 60m indoor tour, with a 7.90 in the 60m. Adam’s had an excellent season running his fastest time in 5 years at 7.82 and his last indoor race will be on Sunday the 5 March at Windsor and Eton. He’s intends to go one better and break into the 7.7 range –go on Adam!
Maddie Smith made a happy return to competition after injury with 11.21m in the triple jump and notably impressive performances with PBs across the board for BAC’s hurdlers, Kia Slade and Rob Woolgar.
Performances:
Event Perf Name SB/PB Coach
60m 7.60 Brooke Ironside SB U23 W Zac Kerin
60m 7.90 Adam Nicholass SEN M Timothy Hughes
60m 7.19 Rob Woolgar SEN M
200m 24.57 Brooke Ironside SB U23 W Zac Kerin
60mH 8.80 Kia Slade PB U23 W Dwayne Stoddart
60mH 8.23 Rob Woolgar PB SEN M
LJ 5.84 Brooke Ironside SB U23 W Zac Kerin
TJ 11.21 Madeleine Smith SB SEN W
Welsh Championships:
The 2023 Welsh U13/U17 & U20 Indoor Championships took place over the first weekend in February at the National Athletics Centre in Cardiff. This event included the Senior & U15 Indoor Championships.
This event saw an increase of 52% in entries, and 32% in U13 participation. Over 400 athletes were set to compete across 95 events and it was great to see a few of our BAC athletes making the journey to Cardiff.
Joe Haywood and Sophie Bareham did not disappoint with Indoor PBs in the long jump. Sophie jumped 5.05m.
Sophie Bareham long jump
Joe ran 60m in 7.56, narrowly missing out on a medal with a 4th place finish, a great achievement amongst a tough field. However, Joe was a little disappointed with his indoor season, and felt it was “nothing spectacular but good to get competing after a disrupted outdoor season last year.” He’s now turning his focus to the outdoor season. He wants to do well at the Welsh Championships, and to PB in 100m and long jump whilst getting a good first season pole vaulting finally done! “My next event is actually finishing off my indoor season at Windsor in early March as I had to pull out their last open ill!”
Performances:
60m 7.56 Ben Butcher U20 M
LJ 6.33 Joseph Haywood SB U23 M Timothy Hughes
LJ 5.05 Sophie Bareham SB SEN W Brian Camp
Other Notable Performances during the Indoor Season:
Joseph Haywood showed great form with a 60m PB – 7.36 at the Loughborough Open on 15th January.
Danielle Broom (coached by Paul Rees) took to the circle at UK Winter Long Throws Championships on 19th Feb and threw an excellent PB of 48.98m in discus. Soon we’ll be seeing Dani break that illusive 50m as she continues to improve and develop her skills and strength.
Tim Beaglehole had a busy indoor season, starting the year at the Lee Valley New Year’s Open on 2n January, running 60m in 8.36 and 200m in 29.10. He went on improving with 8.31, 60m at the Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow Winter Indoor Series on 8th January. He also competed at Newham & Essex Beagles Indoor Sprint Series on 18th January where he topped the podium with an impressive win in the 60m in 8.25. He went on to improve yet again at the same series on 1st Feb with an SB of 8.20.d
Kevin Hodgson was back in action in the 200m at the Manchester Indoor Open meeting on 29th January with a winning time of 22.47. He went on to improve on that, less than a week after on 4th February at Run Jump Throw & Master GP in Sheffield with 22.42 where he also ran sub 50 for 400m.
Over in the USA:
After many years suffering injury, it was great to see Patrick Sylla back in action and competing so well. Patrick made his return at the Arkansas Invitational in Fayetteville AR, USA on 13th January with a 7.35m long jump. The following week he jumped a much improved 7.07m at the TTU Red Raider Open, Lubbock on 20th January. He focussed on the triple jump at the New Mexico Collegiate Classic in Albuquerque NM, USA on 4th February and the Jarvis Scott Open in Lubbock TX, USA on 11th February and jumped 14.97m and 15.23m respectively.
Adam Phillips also had a busy calendar over in the US and produced an indoor PB in Shot putt SP7.26K, 16.64m to claim 1st place spot at the Nebraska Graduate Classic in Lincoln NE on 16th January. At the same meeting he threw a huge 19.43m in WT15.88K.
South of England Championships:
BAC athletes returned to Lee Valley, this time for the SEAA Indoor U20/Senior Championships on 4-5th February 2023.
In contrast to most other championships, there are no public start lists released before the athletes arrive. Therefore, the athletes do not see who they are competing against until the warm up area, which can be interesting and for some a little nerve racking. Having a strong mind-set in this sport is paramount and each athlete needs to run their own race – obviously at the same time as everyone else is racing.
Rob Woolgar Long Jump
Here’s a summary highlighting some fantastic performances by BAC during the weekend.
60m
Brooke Ironside continued her season in improving form with 7.54secs in the semi-final and a 5th place finish in the 60m final in 7.58secs. This is Brooke’s first season as a senior and she was the youngest in the final, showing there’s definitely more to come!
Brooke commented “This indoors has been exciting as I have taken on the challenge of doing 60m, 200m and long jump at championships. As it’s my first year being an U23 it’s meant that at all competitions I compete as a senior which has been a good step up in the right direction.”
Brooke Ironside Lee Valley
Rob Woolgar Bournemouth’s class hurdler, tested his flat speed in the 60m and did well to make the semi-finals as he ran a swift 7.10.
200m
Brooke faced an early wake up on Day 2 as she returned for 3 rounds of 200m. She executed a smart race plan which took her through the rounds and into the final where she sealed an impressive 3rd place finish in a time of 24.51 – just outside the Senior SEAA indoor champs record of 24.25.
400m
Helena Darragh opened her season with an indoor PB in the 400m heats in 62.10secs.
60mH
Kia Slade showed great form, running another PB this season in a highly competitive women’s 60m hurdles line up. She ran 8.72 in the heats before improving on that with an excellent 8.71PB to take 5th place against multiple athletes who have competed for GB/internationally.
Kia has been pleased with her performance so far and competed at the British champs which will be covered in the next track report. Kia stated “I’m really happy with this indoor season, I’ve made some good advancements in a lot of aspects on the track and in the gym. Getting invited to British champs was a great highlight for me and was the one thing I’ve wanted to achieve in athletics. “Kia went on to explain “My season is done now and I’m just going to go back into some heavier training for the outdoor season. My main goal for the summer will be to qualify for the outdoor British champs.” She expressed her gratitude for her coach, stating “I’d like to add that Ben Arnold has been a great coach and has kept me going in the winter and pushed me to my PBs”
In the men’s hurdles, although 14 athletes were entered, only 7 arrived on the day, so it was straight to the final. Rob has been improving all season, with PB’s in both of his races at London Indoor Games the weekend before. However, based on PB’s, Rob was ranked 4th out of all the competitors in the race. His form showed, as he pulled out another great performance to win the 60mH in another PB of 8.14secs, knocking 0.21secs off his PB last season.
Rob Woolgar in action over 60mH
High Jump
James Glynn decided to test his winter training, by competing in the high jump. He jumped an excellent 1.90m to secure 3rd place. This was only 7cm short of his SB last season which a great start to 2023, showing there’s more to come.
Long Jump
Brooke had to balance the long jump with her 200m heat and narrowly missed the podium with 5.77m for 4th place. Still a great performance in her 3rd event of the champs!
Brooke at the ready on the 200m start line
Brooke went on to say ”so far I’m happy with how my season has gone but I am not done yet… I would like to thank my coach Zac for all his time, passion and knowledgeable coaching ability and Tim for all his time and support.” There’s more to come from Brooke and she also competed at the British Champs so watch this space.
Rob returned after his win in the 60mH to show his broad talent in the long jump. He only narrowly missed the cut for 3 extra jumps in 6.56m.
It was great to hear Rob explain that “the indoors was my most successful season to date! I switched events to Hurdles as my main event in 2019. This was a big move with no coach, and Covid/ the track relaying delaying progress.. But I’ve already achieved a lot more than I did as a Long Jumper, and I’m excited to keep bridging the gap. Thanks to my tripod, and always over analysing hurdles/ training videos, it has already got me this far!”
Rob on the podium
At the indoors to date, there have been some incredible performances all round by BAC athletes. This really provides a testimony into how hard they’ve worked all this winter, especially when there’s no indoor facility near Bournemouth!
Part two of the Indoors will be posted following the completion of the last few competitions with a spotlight on the British Championships!