Press Releases

Last updated 05 March 2019

Current Press Releases

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January 2019 February 2019 March 2019

8/01/19 27/02/19 5/03/19 LATEST

5/03/19

Blackheath News Round Up

Blackheath & Bromley were unable to end their losing running streak in the mob match versus Ranelagh at Hayes and were comprehensively beaten scoring 12 a side. BBHAC only fielded 15 runners compared to Ranelagh’s 34 so no wonder the score was 90-310.

Luca Ercolani was first home in 6^th place, with Paul Sharpe and Fintan Parkinson next home in 12^th and 13^th respectively. There no lady runners in this event. In the Bennett Cup handicap the standings are as follows after 8 events.

Bennett Cup Leaders after 8 events

points

1

ERCOLANI Luca

393

2

HOUGH Steve

378

3

PAIRMAN Steve

352

4

EVENDEN Steve

347

5

KEREKGYARTO Paul

344

At the European Indoor Champs in Glasgow Jahisha Thomas represented Great Britain but did not reach the long jump final but ended up being ranked 14^th with a leap of 6.34m as only the top 8 qualified.

Nick Brooks

27/02/19

National Cross Country Championships 2019, Harewood House, Leeds and the England Athletics indoor champs for U15-U20, and Veterans round up.

The 2019 National Cross Country Championship was held in the magnificent grounds of Harewood House, Leeds, West Yorkshire. “The National” is the highlight of the winter season and this year entries were in the region of 9000 athletes. The well marked out course ensured proper cross country running over undulations, up steep hills, down sharp descents and all run over the ‘Capability Brown’ landscaped grounds below the imposing Harewood House. The club fielded 43 men and 24 women so a good total of 67 representing the club.

First race of the day was the U17 girls running 5k and Sophie Hoare rose to the challenge producing another fine run placing high up in 13^th. Amy Miller had a strong run finishing 56^th, with Jess Neal working hard in 74^th and Zoe White completing the four to score squad in 179^th. The next race saw the U15 boys race over a 4k course. Tom Brash continued his fine season, posting another top 20 National finish, crossing the line in an impressive16^th,. Freddy Georgiou had his best run of the winter to finish high up in 38^th, and great to see Sam Reardon back running injury free again and finishing well in 74^th along with a strong run from Matt Smith in 92^nd completing the scoring team, placing a fantastic 4^th out of 35^th complete teams.

The U13 girls had a tough 3k to contend with and they were led home by another great run from Carys Firth in 87^th, Gabriella Martin look good in 114^th closely followed by Emily Deveney in 116^th having her best run of the winter, The team was 17^th in a field of 41 teams.

BBHAC’s biggest squad of the day was the U17 boys and they combined well to finish 7^th team overall. Ollie Bright committed from the start and went with a breakaway pack full of quality athletes and ran superbly to finish a high 12^th. Joel Rooney had a very strong run finishing an impressive 70^th and Joe Georgiadis showed great form placing well in 83 earning him “performance of the day”. Matthew Francis’ presence was a welcome sight as he returns from injury and should be satisfied with a top 100 finish placing 98^th.

Only three U13 boys toed the line for their 3k run out, but with four to score weren’t able to record a team position. However, Ryen Rennie in a double debut, looked good finishing 264^th in not only his first National but also his first race for Blackheath and Bromley. Oles Chaban in his second National crossed the line in 350^th

Our under 15 girls had a big squad and this ultimately proved decisive as they won team gold ahead of 38 other clubs. Annie Thomas ran superbly placing an impressive 19^th with Lara Mannes just behind having an equally impressive run in 21^st. Hannah Clark continued her fine season placing 57^th and ever present Ellie Dolby completed the scoring four in 65^th making it Ellie’s third Team National gold medal. Two laps of the circuits making up 6k was the task ahead for the U20 women. All National fields are packed with quality and this one was no exception as the junior women powered over the course and first home for the club was Yasmin Austridge finishing well in 26^th, followed by University team mate Jess Keene in 34^th. Millie smith had a great run placing 69^th and good to have Amy Leach back in the team finishing a high 79^th. Collectively these team results were good enough to secure fourth only a few points off collecting bronze.

Last race up for the young athletes was the U20 men’s 10k race and BBHAC were well represented with six athletes on the start line. Charlie Davis showed his class last year placing a very high 11^th at the Parliament Hill National but matching that would call for another very special performance, Charlie committed early and went with a pack of twelve on the small first lap but with a long lap to complete anything could happen. Coming out of the woods with about 1k to go Charlie emerged in a fantastic 6^th place and with one final up and down hill Charlie was able to cement this position and claim his and the clubs highest National finish of the day. Marco Arcuri was next home in 89^th, Callum Myatt ran well making the top 100 placing 98^th, with Angus Harrington 122^nd.

England Athletics Indoor Age Group Champs
Many young athletes on duty at the weekend across all the events, with many fine performances including gold medals for Zakia Mossi in the under 17 ladies 800m, Holly Mpassy in the under 17 ladies 300m and Naomi Toft in the under 17 ladies 1500m, and a bronze for Ethan Brown over 200m in the under 20 mens event.

Name

Age Group

Place

Performance

Event

Zakia Mossi

Under 17 ladies

1^st

2.12.38

800m

Holly Mpassy

Under 17 ladies

1^st

38.50

300m

Naomi Toft

Under 17 ladies

1^st

4.50.29

1500m

Ethan Brown

Under 20 Mens

3^rd

21.74 (21.57Q)

200m

Zsiriah Thomas

Under 17 ladies

4th

7.79

60m

Imogen Hadley

Under 15 ladies

4^th

2.17.48

800m

Jade Oni

Under 20 ladies

5^th

12.03m

TJ

Oliver Briars

Under 17 Mens

5th

22.81 (22.75Q)

200m

Ethan Brown

Under 20 Mens

5th

7.01

60m

Jacob Byfield

Under 17 Mens

6th

12.80m

TJ

Harrison Thorne

Under 20 Mens

5^th

1.94m

HJ

Kelechi Aguocha

Under 20 Mens

7th

1.94m

HJ

Benjamin Platt

Under 15 Boys

5th

3.11m

PV

Barnaby Corry

Under 17 Mens

9th

3.65m

PV

Pedro Gleadall

Under 20 Mens

9th

4.40m

PV

Matthew Knight

Under 20 Mens

Q

22.09

200m

Veterans Athletics
In recent weeks our veteran athletes have also been busy in action and at South of England Champs at Lee Valley. Helen Godsell managed to improve her British Records again in the W65 60m 8.94 and 200m 30.21 s. The previous weekend also at Lee Valley Tom Phillips V60 was 1st in the 60m in 8.51s and 1st 200 m 28.69s, Clem Leon V60 was 4th in the 60m 8.93s and 4th 200 m 30.27s and Helen Godsell V65 was 1st 60 m 9.03s (British Record) and 1st 200 m 30.58s ( British Record) which were both subsequently improved.

Nick Brooks

8/01/19

County Cross Country Champs Weekend
On Saturday 61 club athletes took the fields around Brands Hatch motor racing circuit for the annual Kent XC Champs which was 6 more than last year even though some age groups we sparsely represented. With athletes in all 10 races the club had a brilliant day with 2 team golds, 2 team silvers, 1 team bronze, one individual gold, three individual silvers and an individual bronze, and 21 top ten finishes.

First race away was the under 13 girls where the team took a solid bronze team medal with Carys Firth 5th, Megan Slattery 9th and Tallulah Ndikanwu 16th, with the under 13 boys following next Arthur Starvis 8th, Oscar Whitcombe 12th and Jasper Brooks 35th for 6th team place.

Next up was the under 15 girls which saw Hannah Clark run strongly for a silver medal leading the team to victory with Eliie Dolby 4th (same as last year) and Daniella Harper 8th with BBHAC easily winning the team event as well. It is also great to note that 2 other girls made the top 20 with Lilly Meers 9th and Heidi Forsyth 12th. Shortly after this race the under 15 boys went off and this time we saw Tom Brash continue his fine form for 4th place with Matthew Smith 17th, George Shaw 19th and Frederick Georgiou 22nd for 2nd place team medal.

Ollie Bright maintained his fine winter form winning the under 17 mens race as he had done last year in the under 15 boys event leading the team to 4th place with Benjamin Gardiner 22nd, Justin Strover 28th and Bailey Marks Belaon 37th, while in the under 17 ladies race Morgan Squibb finished 3rd leading the team to an easy team victory with Jess Neal 6th and Ellie Osmond 7th, with Zoe White 10th.

In the under 20 ladies race again the club could only field two athletes but Yasmin Austridge ran well for 4th and Lucy Elms not far behind in 6th. In the mens under 20 race with only 3 to score, we fielded 4 runners who ran brilliantly and packed well to pick up the team silver medal with Lewis Mills first home in 2nd, Charlie Davis 3rd and Angus Harrington 17th to complete the scoring, with Callum Myatt close behind in 20th.

With only three senior ladies available to race we were able to complete a team, Niamh Bridson Hubbard ran strongly for 2nd with Jess Keene 22nd and Lorna Clowes 45th they finished 4th team, while the men had 11 runners on duty like last year of which the fist 6 combined well for 4th place but unable to complete a 12 scoring team. Will Ruiz was first home in 18th with Rob Donohue 29th and with Peter Tucker 39th, Tom Desborough 43rd, Dan Kennedy 50th, and Daniel Brewer 61st completing the scoring team.

Elsewhere at the Middlesex XC Champs at Greenford given not all of our athletes live in Kent, we had an outstanding performance from two athletes . Lara Mannes won the under 15 girls race in 15.04 and Biancamaria Polloni ran superbly for 5th in the under 13 girls race.

At the BMC Grand Prix event in Sheffield there was a good fast 800m by Alex Botterill who took second in 1.51.16.

Nick Brooks