This weekend saw two of BAC‘s athletes competing in international fixtures, and one of our coaches at a third.

Congratulations to Patrick Sylla, who qualified to compete in the IAAF World U20 Championships, an amazing achievement in itself.  The Championships are being held in Bydgoszcz (Jacek,how is this pronounced?!), Poland, and are continuing as this is being written.  Patrick jumped on Friday 15 July, the first day of the Championships, but, despite jumping 7.36, his second ever best jump, Patrick didn’t qualify for the final.  However, that takes nothing away from Patrick‘s achievement, of whom we are extremely proud, and, for Patrick, competing in Championships at such a high level – don’t forget, these are WORLD Championships – gives him massive experience in jumping against the best jumpers in the world in his age group.  It’s also nice to know that at least some of the local media are taking an interest in what is going on – an item concerning Patrick was shown on BBC South Today (believed to have been broadcast on Monday 18 July), which was filmed during a training session at Kings Park (and featuring our Coach Tim Ward),and furthermore, Patrick was interviewed at Kings Park last week by a journalist from BBC Radio Solent, and the interview was broadcast on the morning of 19 July.  Well done, Patrick!

Another athlete of whom we are extremely proud is Danielle Broom, who was also competing in an international event over the weekend.  For Danielle, it was SIAB (Schools International Athletic Board) British Schools International at the Julie Rose Stadium , Ashford, on 16 July.  Danielle was throwing the Discus for England, in a competition involving England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.  Danielle helped England to a comprehensive win by her throw of 40.93, which was a win in the Discus Throw competition.  It is a measure of how well Danielle performed that, although this throw was the last of her six throws, her second throw of 39.97 would have won the competition!  Danielle has had an exceptional season, with many wins and club records broken, so we wonder what else is to come!

Meanwhile, Zac Kerin was at the European Youth (U18) Championships at Tbilisi, Georgia, as the coach for the GB Horizontal Jumps team.  Zac has been recognised as an international coach for a number of years now, which demonstrates just how lucky we are to have Zac coaching here at BAC.  This was a highly successful Championships for Great Britain, who, at the conclusion of the event on 17 July, led the medals table, and were second in the placings table.  Zac is pictured with three of his athletes, Jude (TJ 15.39m), Eleanour (LJ 6.26m) and Holly (HJ 6.29m).

The final fixture of the Youth Development League (Lower Age Group) took place at Woking on Saturday 16 July.  In this League BAC competes as a composite team with New Forest Juniors in Division South West 2.  At the conclusion of the match, the composite team finished 4th of 6 teams, and, as this was the team’s position in the League before the match, it is likely this will be the finishing position for the season (the League standings following the final match aren’t yet available).  As BAC‘s results show, there were some excellent performances, the problem with obtaining a higher standing in the League is the fact that, with not enough athletes actually competing, it is impossible to fill all the ‘slots’ with the result that many points go begging.  But many congratulations to the athletes who have competed (at Woking many athletes took part in a number of events, and then went on to compete in the WYAL the next day on the Isle of Wight), and many thanks also to the team managers for all their hard work (no team managers – no team!), and also to the BAC officials who have assisted with the running of the fixtures.  The following BAC athletes competed at Woking: U15B: Harry Grubb (100m B String 2nd 13.1; 200m A 1st 26.0; 300m A 3rd; 42.8; 4x100m BAC/NFJ 3rd); Johannes Elie (200m B 1st 26.1; HJ A 3rd 1.55; 4x100m BAC/NFJ 3rd; 4x300m BAC/NFJ 3rd);Tom Farwell (1500m B 1st 5.07.1; 4x300m BAC/NFJ 3rd); Fraser Spall (DT A 4th 23.94; HT A 4th 15.62; JT B 1st 31.49); Jim Dence (LJ B 2nd 4.01; HJ B 3rd 1.35); Joe Hayward (100m A 3rd 13.00; 4x100m BAC/NFJ 3rd); Olly Johnson (80mH A 2nd 16.1; 4×100 BAC/NFJ 3rd; 4×300 BAC/NFJ 3rd): U13B: Samuel Rappoport (100m B 4th 14.7; 200m A 4th 31.8; LJ B 3rd 3.62; 4×100 BAC/NFJ 3rd); Chandler Rees (JT B 2nd 16.64; 75mH A 3rd 16.7; 4×100 BAC/NFJ 3rd): U15G: Rebecca Hannibal (200m A 3rd 27.6; JT B 2nd 18.87); Yasmin Bridet (75mH A 1st 12.0; SP A 1 8.87; LJ A 3rd 4.46); Louise Galloway (75mH B 1st 13.5; JT A 3rd 22.94; SP B 1st 17.50): U13G: Abigail Philips (75mH A 5th 11.3; 150m A 6th 22.9; LJ A 3rd 3.46); Ruby Bowden (800m A 5th 2.52.3; 4x100m BAC/NFJ 4th).

The next day, Sunday 17 July, the final fixture of the Wessex Young Athletes League and QuadKids competition took place at Sandown on the Isle of Wight.  Many of the athletes who had competed the day before at Woking were on the coach at Kings Park at 6.30 am for the journey to the island.  Of the five teams competing, BAC were 5th on the day in both the League and QuadKids.  There were some great performances, but, as in the YDL, the difficulty throughout the season has been in too few athletes competing to fill all the ‘slots’ with the inevitable loss of points.  Overall for the season, BAC finished 21= of 23 teams, although some of the age group final results are a little more promising, particularly for the U17W and U15G.  They are (all of 23 teams): U17M 21st, U17W 12th= (well done!), U15B 18th=, U15G 9th= (well done!), U13B 20th=, U13G 16th=, U11B 19th and U11G 20th. In the QuadKids competition at Sandown BAC was well clear at the bottom, which is hardly surprising as we had only one boy and one girl competing.  So hats off, and congratulations, to Olivia Abel and Oscar Matthews,  BAC‘s QuadKids, and let’s hope we can find them some company next season!  In the final QuadKids table, BAC were 20th of 22 teams.  There are some strange entries in the results which need explaining before listing the BAC results.  In the U13B 75mH a BAC athlete appears to have finished 3rd in the A String in 16.00, but is named as “N/A”.  Similarly the U13B BAC team who completed the 4x100m, 2nd in 57.10 is specified “N/A”.  The U13G HJ A String athlete who was 5th with a jump of 1.15, although BAC, is “N/A”.  Also, the 4th athlete of the BAC U15G team which completed the 4x100m isn’t named.  If you are one of these athletes, apologies for not mentioning your name.  We do know, however, that the following BAC athletes competed: U13B: Keon Dzuda (100m A String 2nd 13.90; LJ B 2nd 3.65); Finley Hallett (100m B 2nd 13.60; 200m B 2nd 28.9); Samuel Rappoport (200m A 4th 32.00; LJ A 2nd 4.07); Harry Stocks (800m A 4th 2.46.6); William Batchellier (SP A 4th 4.69; DT A 4th 11.04; JT A 2nd 22.12); Louis Baldry (SP B 3rd 4.17; DT B 3rd 10.49): U15B: Fraser Spall (SP A 2nd 7.65; DT A 2nd 22.96; JT A 1st 33.14): U13G: Amelia Verney (100m A 1st 13.60; 200m B 1st 27.90); Tamika Douch (100m B 2nd 14.40; LJ A 2nd 4.49); Ruby Bowden (200m A 5th 32.20; 800m A 4th 2.59.9): U15G: Rebecca Hannibal (100m A 2nd 13.40; 200m B 2nd 27.60; 4x100m BAC 2nd); Elle Ward (200m A 2nd 27.30; 4x100m BAC 2nd; LJ A  3rd 34.28; SP B 1st 6.57); Louise Galloway (75mH A 3rd 13.30; 4x100m BAC 2nd; SP A 1st 7.43; JT A 2nd 21.06): U17W: Olivia Galloway (80mH A 1st 12.10; SP A 1st 9.51; JT A 1st 31.64); Amelia Dobson (80mH B 1st 15.30; LJ A 1st 4.94; JT B 1st 26.55).  As with the YDL, many thanks to the team managers, without whom there would be no competition, and also to the BAC officials who have assisted at the fixtures.

Finally, well done to Anthony Clark who was second in the Dorset Invader Marathon (actually 27.3 miles) on Sunday 17 July in a time of 3.37.25 – there were 256 finishers.  And this was after winning the Dorset Invader Half Marathon the day before in 1.27.56!  In the Half Marathon there were 414 finishers.  This is Andy Gillespie‘s type of race, and, sure enough, Andy was there in the Marathon!  Andy finished a highly creditable 67th in 5.02.19, but it might not have been quite so creditable had he accepted the offer of vodka or cider at 22 miles!  This event is described as “hilly 95% trail”.  So, quite a challenge!