There were some excellent performances at the Bedfordshire AAA & Hertfordshire AAA 1500m Championships in Stevenage on 1st May.  There was a win for Imogen  Chesterton in the Under 20 Women's event, and medals for Harry Scott (Under 15 Boys), Eleanor Smith (Under 15 Girls), and Lily Farr (Under 17 Women).  Well done to all those who took part.

Thalia Mason won the Boston Pentathlon with a score of 2794 points in her first outing as an U17. She set a PB of 7.84m in the shot and cleared 1.56m in the high jump only 2 cm shy of the lifetime  best. Her long jump of 5.21m was also a standout performance. Meanwhile on the other side of the country, Stephen Simmons was winning the Somerset Senior Decathlon – his first foray into the senior ranks. Using it as preparation for the England Championships at the end of May he scored 6317 points, his highlights being  a PB of 50.90sec in the 400m, an equal PB of 1.80 in the high Jump and a vault of 4.10m only 10 cm shy of his recent personal best.

Congratulations to Lyla Danobrega, who broke her own club Under 17 and Senior Women's 1500m Steeplechase record on Saturday 29th April at the West Suffolk Steeplechase Festival with a time of 5:21.00.

Well done to Craig Emmerson on a victory in the Turing 10k at Milton Keynes yesterday - Craig's time was 32.13.

Lyla Danobrega (U17) and Euan Supple (U20) both turned in excellent performances at the Steeplechase Festival at Bury at Edmunds on Saturday 29th April, with both athletes well inside the English schools qualifying times.  Lyla broke her PB for the 1500m Steeplechase with a time of 5:21.0.  This is provisionally a new club U17 and overall record for the event.  Euan front ran his 2000m steeplechase from gun to tape to win by over 4 seconds in a time of 6:14.7  Lyla and Euan's excellent early season form puts them both in the top 5 in the uk rankings for their age groups.

Despite the distance travelled to Norwich and the appalling rain that lasted practically all day the girls’ team started the track and field season amazingly well.  We fielded an almost full team with 12 debutant athletes and 9 returning athletes who set new personal bests. The U13s and U15s finished 4th and the U17s finished 3rd.  There were A string wins in U15s for Mia in discus and Chloe in pole vault, and in the U17s for Lily in 800m and Lyla in 1500m.  B string wins came in the U13s from Bronwyn in 200m, and in the  U17s Ariarne in 100m, Jessica in 1500m and Case-Mae in triple jump.
A big thank you goes out to all the parents that helped Martyn with the club’s officiating duties.
Tina Blackwell
Girls’ Team Manager