Last updated
26 September 2018
Press Releases for
July, August & September 2018
26/09/18
Southern Road Relays and John Turner 24 Hour Run
On Sunday at Crystal Palace in pouring rain, over 50 club athletes took
to the roads and the track within the park for the annual Southern Road
Relays.
The senior mens team finished a credible 11th pace and
qualified for the national road relays later in the season with Will Fuller
running the fastest leg with a split of 17.57.
11th 01:50:59.850 457 Blackheath & Bromley Harriers
'A'
00:18:18.60 (19) Josh Schofield
00:18:23.40 (11) Ross Braden
00:17:57.45 (10) William Fuller
00:18:17.50 (9) Charlie Davis
00:18:46.65 (10) Alex Bruce-Littlewood
00:19:16.25 (11) Ben Cockburn
The mens B team finished 40th, the C team 68th and the
D team 77th. In the ladies race the club finished 20th with Jo Hickman-Dunne
leading the way with a fine 17.45 first leg followed by Lucy Elms 18.18,
Liah Everson 20.17 and Millie Smith 19.47.
The under 17 men finished 25th while the under 17
ladies finished a mighty 6th with Morgan Squibb running 11.08 for the third
fastest leg of the day, supported by Ellie Osmond 12.07 and Bethany Panton
12.08. The under 15 teams were even better with the boys 6th with legs by
Sam Reardon 10.36, Tom Brash 10.39, George Shaw 11.12 and Freddie Georgiou
10.48 and the girls 8th with Olivia Berry 11.50, Hannah Clark 120.09 and
Ellie Dolby 12.09. The under 13 girls ran well for 22nd and we were unable
to complete an under 13 boys team.
Elsewhere this past weekend experienced multi -day
ultra-runner John E Turner took part in what might be considered a sprint
event for him - the Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 24-hour Track Race
at Tooting Bec. The rain gave the runners no breaks for the duration of the
race, which saw 46 starters running laps of the 400m track from 12 noon on
Saturday 22nd September to noon on Sunday 23rd. Under, at times, atrocious
conditions, that almost called for the event to be re-categorised as a
Duathlon, John managed a very creditable 89 miles. His fortitude under such
conditions should be widely applauded. Not many 68 year olds would have the
singlemindedness, to continue against such a relentless assault from the
weather gods. Indeed, many of the younger competitors retreated to the
changing rooms before the finish of the race. Although, almost certainly
less mileage than he aspired to, his 89 miles where enough to secure him
first place in the Male 60-70 category and to place him 26th overall against
a quality field.
At the Jim Day Memorial Pole Vault competition
at Carshalton there were pbs for Finn Kitteridge with 2.01m, Benjamin Platt
2.91m and Barnaby Corry 3.71m, backed up by near pbs for Pedro Gleadall
4.31m, Ellie Barrett 3.31m, Zoe Austridge 2.71m, Lois Warden 3.31m and
Jenney Sheasby 2.61m. It is also noted that Lewis Huggins cleared 1.11m as
an under 9, that could be a name to watch out for !
Nick Brooks
17/09/18
Blackheath & Bromley represent Great Britain again
in European Clubs Final
Very wet but warm conditions welcomed BBHAC to
Castellon in Spain for the annual European Junior Clubs Final. This was a
historic occasion for the club as both the men’s and the ladies team having
won the national YDL title in 2017 were representing Great Britain as they
will do again in 2019, it is rare for both teams to be from the same club.
Winning events was a big request with the cream of
European junior athletics on display, but three wins and a host of
medallists enabled the men’s team to take 4th place with 93 points and only
one point third place, while the ladies also achieved 4th place with 93.5
points.
Ethan Brown won the men’s 400m with a well-timed last
150m to steal gold by a very narrow margin and Funminiyi Oladije won the
ladies long jump by a huge margin. The final event of the day brought home
another gold as BBHAC won the 4 x 400m with Oscar Heaney Brufal, Ricky
Lutakome, Ollie Briars running a fantastic leg taking the lead and leaving
Ethan Brown with the honour of bringing the team home first with room to
spare.
Other highlights included Yasmin Austridge running a
magnificent 2000m steeplechase finishing second behind a very good athlete
but more importantly improving her pb by 27 seconds and smashing the club
under 20 and senior record with a time of 6.51.82. In the men’s 400m hurdles Alex
O’Callaghan Brown judged his final 100m to perfection to pass numerous
athletes to grab second with a massive new pb of 55.07, while Angus
Harrington did all he could to win the 800m in a slow tactical race coming
up just short in second, the same for Ricky Lutakome in the 1500m just being
outsprinted, and there were bronze medals for Camron Lyttle in the 100m,
Kelechi Aguocha in the high jump having earlier leapt to a 13.01m pb n the
triple jump, while Ben Hawkes gained 4th on the men’s hammer despite
throwing 64 metres, behind Portugal’s English ringer who threw a massive 73
plus metres. Elsewhere Pedro Gleadall jumped 4.40m in the pole vault for a
new pb and now within 1 cm of the club junior record for 5th place.
In the ladies’ events Annie Davies continue her fine
form with a 13.85 clocking in the 100m hurdles after leading for the first 8
flights, Jade Oni took a comfortable 2nd in the triple jump as did Bekah
Walton in the javelin just missing out on the magic 50m barrier. Louise
Evans not only ran in both relays but also took a well-deserved silver in
the 400m, and Megan Walsh also ran both relays and took 4th in the 200m. a
scratch team took silver on the 4 x 100m with last minute changes and almost
snatched victory, and Rebecca Hawkins took silver in the high jump in very
wet weather conditions.
It was a great weekend for all the athletes, with most
competing on an international stage for the very first time, each and every
one was a great credit to themselves, their club and their country and with
many still eligible for next year’s final the club is looking to build on
this weekend’s performances, the competition for places starts now.
Back at home at Sparrows Den in West Wickham, BBHAC
hosted the annual Will Bolton Relays which is 4 legs of around 2.5 miles in
the woods and on parkland. Blackheath men’s A team finished 4th with Ross
Braden, Dan Kennedy, Ben Cockburn and Alex Gibbins and the B team was 5th
with Alex Bruce-Littlewood, Chris Tuck, Richard Webb and Gareth Evans. A
lady’s team of under 17 and 20 athletes finished 27th but 2nd ladies team
with Morgan Squibb, Bethany Panton, Millie Smith and Gracie Horton.
With over 50 club athletes competing the Bennett Cup
handicap is underway and the early 1-2-3 is Dan Kennedy, James Unwin and
Chris Tuck, but still a long way to go.
Nick Brooks
29/08/18
28 Top 10 Finishes for Blackheath at the England
Athletics Champs
The England National under 15 and under 17 champs took
place in poor conditions at Bedford and the club fielded a huge number of
athletes across the age groups and came away with 16 medals.
In the under 17 men’s events there were gold medals
for Oscar Heaney Brufal in the 400m hurdles and Pedro Gleadall (joint 1st)
in the pole vault, and showing a what a good all-rounder he is Pedro also
finished third in the javelin and 10th in the high jump, while Harrison
Thorne took 2nd with a 2.02m pb. Ollie Briars earned a well-deserved silver
in the 400m and Kyle Reynolds Warmington took the bronze In the 100m. Myles
Xavier took 6th in the long jump, Ollie Bright finished 6th in the 1500m and
Henry Fisher ran strongly for 7th in the 1500m steeplechase with Cameron
Swatton also running well for 9th.
In the under 17 ladies’ events Morgan Squibb continued
her fine form over the barriers wining the 1500m steeplechase in a new
championship best time under 5 minutes with Ellie Osmond 4th, higher claim
athlete Funiminiyi Olajide won the long jump while Holly Mpassy took silver
in the 300m and Zakia Mossi took the bronze in the 800m despite still being
classified as under 15 girl. Ava White ran solidly for a bronze in the
1500m, Hannah MacAulay took 4th in the discus and Lauren Farley finished 9th
in the javelin.
In the under 15 men’s events there were two great
performances from Dillon Claydon who won the shot putt and took silver in
the discus, while Jacob Byfield earned bronze in the triple jump and Barnaby
Corry leapt to 3.61m for 3rd in the pole vault. Sam Reardon ran well for 5th
in the 800m.
In the under 15 ladies’ events Abigail Smith finished
2nd in the combined 3km walk but first under 15 girl, Naomi Toft and Ellie
Dolby were 5th and 7th in the 1500m and Shakanya Osahon took 6th in the
300m.
Nick Brooks
21/08/18
Plenty of action at Diamond League, Southern League
and International Matches
In the Diamond League at Birmingham at the weekend our
two European gold medallists were in action with Dina Asher Smith running
well for 2nd in 22.31 in the 200m bending Shaunae Miller Uibo enabling her
to contest both the 100m and 200m at the finals, while Adam Gemili stepped
down to the 100m and ran 10.31 in the qualifying rounds.
The final Southern League Division 1 match took place
at Eton and a great team effort from the mens and ladies teams saw the club
win the match by 1 point from host club Windsor Slough & Eton to secure a
great second place in the final league standings behind Chelmsford, just
missing out by a point. Scoring two more points at Colchester in match 4
would have won the league.
Niamh Bridson Hubbard won the A string 800m, 1500m,
3000m treble and was untroubled in each race and James Whiteaker now free
from injury threw an incredible 75.27m in the javelin not only for a
seasons’ best but also the furthest by a UK athlete this year which was over
30m further than the second placed athlete. Kelechi Aguocha for yet another
2.05m high jump win and Alex Pope who kept himself busy all afternoon in the
field and in the hurdles picking up a load of points.
The standard of the women’s sprints was very high
where Rachel Dickens, Louise Evans, Holly Mpassy and Krystal Galley were
mixing it with some of the best in the country and there were wins for Ellie
Barrett and Lois Warden in the pole vault. The blanket finish in the men’s 4
x 100 where we clocked 42.76 for our fastest time in the SAL this year and
finally an outstanding piece of front running from Morgan Squibb in the
women’s 2000m steeplechase where she finished in a time of 7:02.17. This
puts her top of the 2018 U17 rankings by 35 seconds, 9th in the all-time U17
rankings, would rank her top 5 in the U20 rankings and top 20 in the UK this
year and also broke the club under 17, under 20 and senior club records.
At the Manchester International at Sportscity during
the week (15/8) the club had many athletes representing different teams with
many great performances being logged. In the mens events Jonathan Ilori took
2nd in the triple jump and Scott Huggins finished second in the pole vault
and teenager Ethan Brown 3rd in the 400m. In the ladies events Bekah Walton
took 2nd in the javelin with a new pb of 49.23m, Rebecca Hawkins finished
2nd in the high jump, Rachel Dickens and Zara Asante took 3rd in the 400m
and triple jump respectively, and Annie Davies finished 6th in the 100m
hurdles.
At the Gothenburg Grand Prix Shannon Hylton ran 11.78
in the womens 100m for 4th and Alex Botterill finished 7th in the 800m in
1.49.96.
This coming weekend is the England Athletics Champs at
Bedford for the under 15s and under 17s with many club athletes taking part.
Nick Brooks
14/08/18
More Euro Medals from Berlin for Dina and Adam and
The Junior South of England Champs.
Dina Asher Smith having won the 100m earlier in the
week with an equal world leading time of 10.85 for a new British and club
record, ran arguably even better in the 200m beating Dafne Schippers into
second place smashing her own British and club record and dipping under 22
seconds for the first time with 21.89. This is also the world fastest this
year by a female athlete. To add to this Dina ran the anchor leg for the
British team in the 4 x 100M relay taking over the baton in 4th place before
cruising by three other athletes to easily bring the team home first and by
some margin to earn her third gold medal of the championships. This was the
first time that Dina has run an anchor leg.
Moments later the men’s 4 x 100m relay teams were on
the track and with club man Adam Gemili running the third leg, Great Britain
also won the gold medal from Turkey. So not a bad weeks work for BBHAC
athletes with another 4 gold medals in the collection.
Elsewhere for the under 13s, 15s and 17s their
Southern area champs took place at Lee Valley and BBHAC had many athletes in
action looking for silverware.
In the under 17 men’s events Ollie Briars who is still
only 15 years old ran an amazing new pb of 48.85 to win the 400m, and
Harrison Thorne took the boys high jump and Pedro Gleadall won the pole
vault equalling his pb of 4.30m, while also competing in the javelin and
long jump. Kyle Reynolds Warmington won two silver medals in the 100m and
200m while in the under 15 boys events Barnaby Corry won the pole vault with
a 3.50M pb and Dillon Claydon won the discus on countback, with Sam Reardon
winning silver in the 800m, Jacob Byfield took silver in the triple jump and
also leapt to a new pb of 5.98m in the long jump for 4th place.
In the under 17 ladies’ events Morgan Squibb broke the
magic 5 minute barrier in 4.59.18 to win the 1500m steeplechase by a
handsome margin, Ellie Barrett won the pole vault with a 3.40m pb with Lois
Warden third, and Lauren Farley won the javelin with a 44.63m pb. There were
silver medals for Holy Mpassy in the 300m and also for Ellie Dolby in the
under 15 girls 800m and Shakanya Osahon in the 300m, while Zakia Mossi
continued her fine form in winning the 1500m by over 10 seconds in a new pb
of 4.37.45.
The penultimate BBHAC Open Meeting took place on
Monday evening at Norman Park after two visits from ITV News and numerous
journalists, with almost 300 athletes in action in the sprints, long, jump,
shot, 800m and the mile events.
This coming weekend sees the men’s and women’s team in
action at the final Southern League Division 1 match at Eton where the team
is currently in 2nd position out of 16 teams. The Sydney Wooderson 800m is
at Sutcliffe Park this mid-week and the final open meeting is on Monday at
Norman Park where the hurdles are the key focus.
Nick Brooks
8/08/18
Women’s team in Premier League action, Men’s
promotion gained and Under 17 decathlon champ Pedro Gleadall, plus Dina
Asher Smith 100m champion in new UK record of 10.85.
Dina Asher-Smith smashed her own UK record with 10.85
and became the joint fastest women in the world this year when she won the
European 100m title in Berlin on Tuesday night. This is the first time a
British woman has won this event since 1962. With her specialist 200m event
to come and the sprint relay, BBHAC are hoping for even more medals.
The ladies senior team went to Southampton with a
somewhat depleted team and competed brilliantly to gain third place in the
final league match and finish third overall which is the clubs highest ever
league finish and the entire team are to be commended. Rachel Dickens and
Krystal Galley won both the 400m races and Louise Evans win the B string
200m in a new pb of 24.64. The sprint relay team of Vivian Olatunji, Annie
Davies, Immanuela Aliu and Louise Evans won by almost a second and Shaunagh
Brown competed in three field events to win the Hannah Cordell Memorial
trophy for most points scored in a season.
The men’s team were in action in Liverpool in the
final league match of Division 1 and a solid performance would see them gain
promotion to the Premiership which they duly achieved with a solid second
place finish with the scores among the top 4 teams being very close. Wins
for Jonathan Ilori in the triple jump, Kelechi Aguocha with a new 2.07m pb
in the high jump, a Phil Sesemann win in the 1500 and a Will Fuller win in
the 5,000m just 10 minutes after winning the B string 1500m set the team on
its way to the top flight. A great team effort and team spirit and manager
Pat Calnan avoided being doused in the steeplechase water jump pit
afterwards. Alex Pope won the Graham Botley Memorial trophy for most points
scored during the season with 112 points, with Phil Sesemann 2nd on 87. All
together 50 athletes contributed to the success of the club with everybody
making a great contribution.
Pedro Gleadall smashed the 30 year old club decathlon
record at Sportscity for under 17s set by Jamie Quarry when he won the
England Athletics Combined Events with his score of 6600 points, eclipsing
the record by almost 600 points and winning the event by a massive 556
points. This puts Pedro at 6th spot on the UK all time list.
He recorded pbs in the 400m, 1500m, high jump and
discus throw and won the javelin by over 10 metres. Higher claim athlete
Theo Adesina who had a great first day faded a little but finished a
credible 6th with a pb of 5562 points. Sam Reardon who had led the overnight
tables on day one finished 4th with a pb of 3582 points in the under 15 boys
octathlon.
Nick Brooks
31/07/18
YDL Final League Match action and Inter
Counties/English Champs
CAU Inter Counties
The club had 11 athletes in action over the weekend at Sportscity in the
CAU Inter Counties and English Champs with everybody making a top 8 finish.
Higher claim athletes Jacob Brown and Andrew Smith took first and second in
the mile and Jonathan Ilori became English champion by winning the triple
jump. There were three other fantastic medals as Rachel Dickens took bronze
in the ladies 400m, Graham Rush bronze in the mens 5000m and Zara Asante
bronze in the ladies triple jump.
Sarah Abrams jumped well for 4th in the long jump,
while Oliver Newport took 5th in the mens event, Modupe Shokunbi ran well
for 6th in the ladies 100m, Joe Fuggle took 7th in the mens 400m hurdles and
Sophie Dowson finished 8th in the pole vault.
Irish Champs
Elsewhere Molly Scott ran 11.88 for 100m in the Irish Champs in Dublin.
YDL Upper Age Last League Match
On Sunday the under 17s and 20s junior teams were in action at Allianz Park
in Hendon in the final match of the YDL season and despite very bad weather
conditions (wet and windy) and an understrength team, the athletes performed
admirably to secure second place on the day behind Shaftesbury missing
victory by 10 points with 799 to 809, but more importantly this was more
than enough to win the Southern Premier League yet again with 23 match
points to SBH’s 21 with a points margin of over 260 points, 3296.5 to 3029.
Wins were hard to come by on the day as competition
was fierce, but great sprinting in the under 20s saw Camron Lyttle claim
second in the A string 100m and winning the B string 200m, with new under 18
European 400m silver medallist Ethan Brown winning the A string 200m and
also 2nd the B string 100m. Matthew Knight took 2nd in the 400m, while Angus
Harrington doubled up well to win the A string 1500m and took 2nd in the A
string 800m, and also competed in the javelin. Joss Barber and Lewis Mills
won both legs of the 2000m steeplechase, and Alex O’Callaghan Brown won the
400m hurdles. Kelechi Aguocha leapt to a fantastic new pb to win the high
jump with 2.06m, Ben Hawkes won the shot and the sprinters won the 4 x 100m
relay.
In the under 17 mens events both Ollie Briars and
Oscar Heaney Brufal continued where they left of at the English Schools both
winning the 400m and 400m hurdles respectively, and Harrison Thorne and
Pedro Gleadall won both A and B string high jumps, with both athletes then
winning both javelins although the strings were reversed. The team also won
the 4 x 400m relay.
In the under 20 ladies events there were wins on the
track for Megan Walsh over 400m, Jess Keene in the 3000m, Isabella Hilditch
and Annie Davies won both 100m hurdles strings, Grace Scopes won the 400m
hurdles, Charlotte Faries won the 1500m steeplechase and the ladies won both
relays. In the field Bekah Walton and Eloise Locke won both legs of the
javelin, as did Molly Walsh and Yinka Shokunbi in he hammer, and Jade Oni
won both the long jump and triple jump A stings with Karina Harris winning
the B string triple jump.
In the under 17 ladies events wins were extremely few
and far between but Holly Mpassy continued her fine form to win both the
200m and 300m A strings, Ellie Barrett won the pole vault and Lauren Farley
won the A string javelin.
This coming weekend sees the senior mens team in
action in Liverpool where a 4th place finish or better will secure promotion
to the Premiership, while the ladies team look to consolidate their 3rd
place position in the Premier League when they compete at Southampton. Alex
Pope and Shaunagh Brown are in pole position to win the Graham Botley and
Hannah Cordell Memorial trophies respectively for the highest points scorers
over the season with Phil Sesemann out to see if he change that.
Nick Brooks
23/07/18
Plenty of BBHAC Youth in action this week
Schools International
The club had 6 athletes representing England Schools at Grangemouth at
the SIAB Home Countries International. Holly Mpassy continued her fine form
and won the 300m in 38.93, and Ollie Briars took 3rd in the boys 400m in
49.99 while Oscar Heaney-Brufal won the 400m hurdles in 54.99.
Isabelle Bridge walked her way to a pb in the 3000m
for 3rd in 16.20.04, Harrison Thorne took silver in the high jump with a
leap of 1.99m and higher claim athletes Theo Adesina won the boys long jump
with a new pb of 7.05m and Funminiyi Olajide took 2nd in the girls long jump
also with a pb of 6.07m. A great start to their international careers for
all of these athletes.
YDL Young Age Group League Match
The YDL final league match took place at Hornchurch and despite being beaten
by Reading 542.5 points to 542 points, the team combined this fine second
place with the two wins it had earlier in the season and another second
place to secure the YDL South Premier 1 title with 22 points from Reading AC
with 19 points setting them up with a September visit to the finals.
The team on the day was strongest in the track events,
second best in the relays and a distant 5th in the field events despite some
fine individual performances. Notable efforts included Amir Sultan Edwards
again winning the under 15 boys 200m in 22.4 and by a big margin, with
Barnaby Corry winning the pole vault, Emily Kerr running 12.6 for 1st in the
under 15 girls 100m and Eve Ward winning the under 15 girls 200m. Ellie
Dolby won the under 15 girls 1500m and Shakanya Osahon won both the 300m and
75m hurdles, with England Schools 800m winner Zakia Mossi winning the B
string 300m in a new pb.The girls under 15 team won the 4 x 300m relay by a
long way and Faith Mpassy won both the under 13 girls 70m hurdles and B
string long jump.
Dublin 5000m
Last Thursday both Will Fuller and Phil Sesemann broke 14 minutes again with
pbs in the 5000m in the Morton Games in Dublin with Will clocking 13.49.14
and Phil recording 13,54.07, both all time top 10 club performances.
Diamond League Anniversary Games
Both Dina Asher Smith and Adam Gemili competed in the Diamond League
Anniversary Games in London over 200m with Adam clocking 20.30 for 5th and
Dina narrowly beaten into 4th in a season’s best of 22.25.
Elsewhere Cheriece Hylton clocked a 23.63 200m in
Mannheim in Germany and Rachel Dickens ran 54.26 400m at Eltham.
Nick Brooks
10/07/18
Senior Mens and Womens teams in action in National
Leagues – Ethan Brown euro silver
Well things are looking great for our 150th
anniversary in 2019 as the mens senior team won their BAL Division One match
at Bedford to maintain a second place league position only a point behind
Harrow, and if they can finish 4th or better will secure promotion to the
Premiership in the last match. The ladies team are already in the
Premiership of the WAL and only just missed out on third place by 1.5 points
for 4th but maintained 3rd in the league and look certain to retain their
league status barring acatastrophe at their final match.
Elsewhere teenager Ethan Brown shattered his 400m pb
with 46.87 for a silver medal in the under 18 European Champs at Gyor in
Hungary while representing Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
At Bedford the mens team all performed admirably to
record their best points score of 329 points with wins in the field for
Kelechi Aguocha in the high jump with a 2.00m pb, with Lewis Ely taking 2nd
in the B string, a second in the A string long jump for Oliver Newport and a
B string win for Tom French, and Jonathan Ilori won the triple jump with Rob
Sutherland 2nd in the B string. Alex Pope competed in the javelin, shot,
discus and hammer and retains his lead in the Graham Botley trophy
competition for the highest individual points scoring with 87 point from
Phil Sesemann.
On the track Phil won both the A strings in the 1500m
and 3000m, with Joss Barber took 2nd in the B string 1500m and Will Fuller
won the B string 3000m. New member Andrew Smith ran well for second in the A
string 800m with Angus Harrington wining the B string event, and Alex Nwenwu
took 2nd in the 110m hurdles B string.
The final match at Liverpool in August will see the
men trying to gain their long awaited promotion to the Premiership.
The ladies made the long trek and were in action in
Grangemouth with an outstanding team effort with a somewhat depleted team to
secure an excellent 4th place although individual wins were hard to come by
on the day. Modupe Shokunbi and Parris Johnson took 3rd and 2nd in the 100m,
Immanuela Aliu and Vivien Olatunji both took second in the 200m, and Rachel
Dickens ran well for 3rd in the A string 400m.Mother and daughter Clare and
Lucy Elms both doubled up in distance events as did Jess Keene for valuable
points, and as usual Izzie Hilditch broke 14 seconds for 2nd in the 100m
hurdles with Annie Davies again running brilliantly to win the B string. Our
international rugby player Shaunagh Brown covered the discus and shot and
Carys Marsden and Victoria Wiltshire also both doubled up in the throws, and
Zara Asante doubled up on the jumps with a solid 2nd in the triple jump and
also a good long jump effort.
The ladies were given 2nd in the 4 x 100m relay but
given the same time as the winner, could have made a difference to finishing
third in the match, followed by a comfortable 2nd in the 4 x 400m relay. A
nice comfortable 3rd in the league with one match remaining.
Nick Brooks
3/07/18
Dina Asher Smith and James Whiteaker win British
Champs and European Trials
Another weekend with over club 20 athletes competing
at the British Champs at Birmingham while in the YDL Upper Age Group for
under 17s and under 20s, an under strength team secured their place in the
September YDL Finals by winning the third league match at Eton by some
margin from Shaftesbury Barnet.
Pride of place for Dina Asher Smith who broke the
championship best performance at the British Champs with a clear win in the
100m in 10.97 for her third sub 11 second clocking of the season and
securing a place on the GB team for the European Champs in Berlin later in
the summer. It was also great to see James Whiteaker back in his second
competition of the season and winning the mens javelin by almost 4 metres in
71.29m. Other medals were won by Adam Gemili with a silver in the 200m in
20.26 narrowly losing out having led until the final few strides, and
Jonathan Ilori continuing his fine form for bronze in the triple jump with a
leap of 16.25m.
Shannon Hylton having equalled her pb of 22.92 in the
qualifying rounds of the 200m could not hold on to her home straight lead
and was out run by three athletes but took a great 4th place with a massive
new pb of 22.78, normally good enough to win such an event. Jahisha Thomas
back from her US college took 4th in the ladies long jump again with a
massive new pb of 6.69m, former club member Lorraine Ugen won with a world
leading jump of 7.05m.
There were some great performances in other events
none more so that Phil Sesemann who took 6th in a very slow tactical race
beating some much faster athletes along the way in the 1500m, and Issie
Hilditch took an impresssive 6th in the 100m hurdles having qualified in a
fine new 13.69 pb. Diivne Oladipo just back from the US took 4th in the
ladies shot and 7th in the discus, Rebecca Hawkins jumped well for 5th in
the high jump and Zara Asante took 4th in the triple jump and Sarah Abrams
8th in the long jump with a 6.31m pb. Other notable top 10 performances came
from Bekah Walton 7th in the javelin, Joe Ellis 9th in the mens hammer,
teenager Alex Botterill 7th in a slow tactical 800m final but rubbing
shoulders with the best and Will Fuller took a credible 10th in the 5000m.
YDL Eton
BBHAC scored 799 points with SBH second on 763.5 which was enough to
qualify for the YDL finals again. Even though many athletes were unavailable
the club still was able to compete and won comfortably with many others
stepping up and performing well.
Wins were hard to come by this weekend but in the
under 20 mens events Angus Harrington won the 800m A string in a new pb of
1.54.21, Rico Cottell won the 110m hurdles in 14.82, Lewis Mills won the
steeplechase while in the field Kelechi Aguocha won the high jump and
equalled his 1.95m pb, Ben Hawkes won the shot and threw a massive 65.98m
for second in the hammer, while Kieron Sadler won the javelin with 51.08m.
In the under 20 womens races there wins over 100m for Parris Johnson, Holly
Mpassy took the 200m and also the under 17 girls 300m and newly selected GB
junior international Katy Ann McDonald won the 400m in 56.10 for a new pb.
Yasmin Austridge won the 800m, Jess Keene took the 3000m, Annie Davies won
the 100m hurdles and in the field Mary Adeniji won the long jump and Jade
Oni won the triple jump with a new 12.57m pb and took the B string long
jump, and Carys Marsden won the hammer.
In the under 17s mens events Ollie Briars won the 400m
in 50.12 and Matthew Francis won the 1500m, Oliver Heaney Brufal won the
40om hurdles and Benjamin Gardiner won the 1500m steeplechase. Nana Okwesa
won the triple jump and the men won the 4 x 100m relay. In the ladies under
17 events Morgan Squibb won the 800m, Sabrina Mannes won the 1500m with Jess
Neal winning the B string, Ruby Bridger won the 80m hurdles, Ellie Barrett
won the pole vault with a new pb of 3.40m, and the team won the 4 x 100m
relay.
Elsewhere it is noted that Amir Sultan-Edwards ran
22.0 in the under 15 boys 200m open event at Tooting Bec. Although manually
timed and won’t count for all time records, it is the same time as the
national all time record for under 15 boys and once he runs sub 22 seconds
electronically that argument will disappear. A great performance indeed.
This coming weekend sees the men in action in the BAL
match at Bedford and the women in action at Grangemouth in the WAL. With the
men 2nd and the women currently third, if we can field strong teams we can
really push the men for promotion while the ladies can secure their top
three position.
Nick Brooks
