Founded in 1869

Jul to Sep 2010

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Last updated 17 December 2015

Press Releases for July, August & September 2010

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July 2010 August 2010 September 2010
  28/07/10     25/08/10     29/09/10  
21/07/10     18/08/10     22/09/10  
14/07/10     11/08/10     15/09/10
7/07/10     4/08/10     8/09/10
            1/09/10

29/09/10

Scott Overall produced another remarkable days running last Sunday as, for the second year in succession, he won the Windsor Half Marathon in the morning before travelling to Aldershot to help the Blackheath & Bromley senior mens team qualify for the National Road Relays next month.

He won the Windsor event comfortably enough in 68.14, picking up a tidy prize fund in the process. On to Aldershot and he was the Club’s fastest leg of the day at the Southern Six Stage Road Relay, moving the team up from 17th to 12th on the last leg with a time of 18.02, the 5th equal fastest time of the day. This ensured the Club were one of the top 20 automatic qualifiers for the National event which takes place at Sutton Coldfield on the 16th of October.

It was a promising team effort showing the Club has a useful pool of middle distance runners who, if they are all in the same place at the same time, can challenge for honours at Area and National events.

Second quickest of the day was Alex Bruce Littlewood who was 12th on the traditionally tough opening stage. He clocked 18.41 and Ben Harding (19.17) kept the team in 12th on leg two. Youngster Phil Sesemann (19.27) edged up to 11th before James Poole (19.41) went back to 12th. Ian Frith timed 20.32 before Scott brought the sextet back into the top dozen.

While this was a good team performance from the men, the women did even better in their four stage relay the previous day as they closed in 10th. Bryony Proctor gave them a fine start as she came in 5th in 13.22 on the opening stage. Elaine Murty was even quicker moving up to 3rd on leg two with 13.10. Jane Bradshaw (14.51) and Clare Parkin (15.21) completed the quartet.

Like the men there is potential in the squad to achieve some team success this Winter. Youngsters Michelle Fewster (15.59) and Melody Kane (15.57) both had solid runs in the B team along with joint team manager Jennie Butler (15.06), on the comeback trail from injury.

Highlight for the mens B team was seeing Richard Daniel running again after serious illness. Dan Ryan (21.50) and Stephen Cavey (20.53) were also in action.

The Club did not field teams in all the younger age groups but, where they did, the athletes gave a good account of themselves.

The under 17 men cut through the field to end up 13th after Will Mercer had run the fastest leg for the Club on the opening stage with a time of 12.58. He closed in 28th before Rob Yates moved up three places with a time of 13.06. Christopher Miles showed he is going to be a great asset to the squad moving up to 18th with 13.26 before Greg Proctor anchored the team home in 13.02.

Kate Curran was prominent up the front of the under 15 girls 3 leg race as she came home 6th on the opening stage with a time of 11.03. Lucy Sidey slipped to 15th with 12.29 and Saffron Salih stayed in the same place on the third leg with 11.52. Samantha Leighton and Isobel Jackson ran 12.30 and 13.20 for the B team.

The boys team of Will Fuller (11.07), Adekane Lipede (12.50), Thomas Westborough (12.19) and Will Ruiz (11.11) finished in 41st place.

The under 13 girls equalled the position of the under 17 men also finishing in 13th place. A good run from Niamh Bridson Hubbard saw her come home 9th on the first leg. Jessica Keene ran 9.11 to finish 13th and Charlotte Rhule (9.24) held this on the anchor leg. Shannon Riskey (9.05) and Leah Everson made up an incomplete B team that was 32nd after two stages.

At Norman Park there was a massive turn out for the Annual Jim Day Memorial pole vault competition. Scott Huggins was the highest jumper clearing 4.81 to finish in second place. Mark Longhurst set a new best of 4.61 to finish in third. Event organiser Allan Williams cleared an impressive 3.71 in his pool, an outdoor best this Summer.

For the women Rachel Arnheim cleared 3.51 to win with Christina Moore second with 3.31. Like her coach Allan Williams this was an outdoor best for Christina for the Summer.

Emphasising Blackheath & Bromley is much more than just a running Club five members have just completed a cross channel relay swim. Clayton Aves, Nick Kinsey, Jim Phelan, Deniz Mehmed, and John McConville. Leaving Dover just after 9 in the morning they reached the sand dunes between Le Chatelet and Wissant at around 10.45 in the evening. They calculate they swam a total of 34.34 miles in 13 hours and 37 minutes. Further details can be found here...

Also on the continent three of the Clubs second claim members have been in action in the European Police Track and Field Championships at Donetsk in the Ukraine.

Best placed of these was Peter Tucker who picked up the bronze medal in the 5000 metres with a time of 15.36.43.

Both of the other competitors came close. Mensah Elliott was 4th in the 110 hurdles in 15.48 after an injury plagued Summer. Sam Bobb was 4th in the triple jump with a leap of 14.25 and impressive leap for a veteran athlete. He was also 8th in the long jump with a leap of 6.24.

Back on the coast in Britain Tony Crowder was 8th in the Folkestone Rotary Half Marathon in 80.13. Dan Snow made a return to competition as he finished second in the latest Bromley park run at Norman Park. He timed 17.48. Rob Brown was 19th with Dick Griffin 27th and Iain Swatton 111th.

Forthcoming events:
Sat 2nd Oct. Club Five Mile Championships, Hayes
Sat 9th Oct. Kent League, Sparrows Den (all ages)
16th Oct. National Road Relays, Sutton Coldfield
17th Oct. National Road Relays, Sutton Coldfield

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22/09/10

Blackheath & Bromley's Under 20 womens team finished in a fine 4th place in the European Champions Club Cup for Juniors at Bydgoszcz in Poland. This was the "A" final, pitted against the very best teams in Europe. So the Club are not only the UK Champions they are fourth best in the whole continent, a great achievement.

Highlight of the day came at the end of the meeting with a new Club record in the 4x400. The quartet of Savannah Echel Thompson, Frederica Foster, Krystal Galley and Katrina Cosby timed an impressive 3.46.39 taking over four seconds off their previous record.

Further relay joy came as the 4x100 metre team of Megan Southwart, Amara Lalemi Jacobs, Rachel Dickens and Grace Sheppard won in 48.09. The Club also had two individual champions with Savannah Echel Thompson winning the 400 metres in 55.96 and Sarah Abrams the high jump with a leap of 1.72. Sarah was also 4th in the triple jump with 11.47.

Despite being a first year under 17, Rachel Dickens finished second in the 100 metres, and she would have been quicker than 12.56 had she not been running into a strong headwind. British number one at the 400 hurdles Katrina Cosby also came second in her event timing 61.63.

Frederica Foster recovered from the illness that kept her out of last weeks Junior League Final to finish third in the 200 metres in 25.70 while Krystal Galley was also third in the 800, just outside her best, with 2.16.84.

More important points were scored by Megan Southwart and Amber Reed who were 5th in the 100 hurdles and 3000 metres; and from Danielle Critchley and Jessica Jones who were sixth in the 1500 and 3000 steeplechase. Jessica’s time of 3.17.08 was a big improvement on her previous best.

In the field Samantha Milner claimed third in the discus with 39.17 and was 5th in the shot with 11.09. Christina Moore was 4th in the pole vault with 3.10 and Ellie Duffy Penny and Georgina Cousins were 6th in the javelin and hammer. Unfortunately Lauren Stevens had one of those days to forget as she did not record a distance in the long jump. She will no doubt bounce back.

While this was a great team performance in the competition arena there was an equally impressive effort off it from management, coaches, Club and its supporters. Competing in such event involves a huge amount of time and money and the Club is hugely indebted to those who donated monies from fund raising events and who made personal contributions to the cost of the event.

Such a good result made all this work and expense worthwhile. Having retained their status as the top womens team in the country the Club now need to begin to plan for next years event although the venue has yet to be confirmed. Full results and pictures from the event can be found here...

Montell Douglas is just one of the Club’s Senior athletes who has worked her way up through the Junior ranks. She continued her preparations for the Commonwealth Games by competing in the BUPA Great North Games which took place in the build up to the Great North Run. She finished 4th in the 150 metres in 17.65.

Closer to home the Club hosted the Annual Will Bolton Memorial relays at Sparrows Den, West Wickham. Highlight was victory for the womens team of Jane Bradshaw, Andrea Pickup, Rebecca Syrocki and Katie Murray. The mens team of Alex Bruce Littlewood, Phil Sesemann, Jack Swallow and Ben Harding finished second. Alex was the third fastest individual of the day with 12.57 with Phil Sesemann 6th and Jack Swallow 8th. Four of the Club’s women made the top ten with Katie Murray 4th, Jane Bradshaw 6th, Andrea Pickup 7th and young Saffron Salih 10th The race featured the first of the Bennett Handicap races, a series of nine events which take place over the Winter months. Early leader is Katie Murray, followed by Neil Roberts and Adrian Stocks but with eight events left there is still everything to play for.

It was a busy weekend at Erith Stadium which hosted the County Masters Championships; the Kent Multi Events Championships and the Kent Under 13 Championships. The Club’s athletes were prominent in all three.

In his first full decathlon for three years Alex Pope won the County title with a points score of 5829. Among his performances was a new Shot putt best of 13.27. He also set seasons bests in the high jump (1.84); long jump (6.28), pole vault (3.30), 100 (11.84) and 110 hurdles (18.47). Aine Hurlock, Oshuwa Ogbeta and Shannon Cordell finished 7th, 8th and 9th in the under 15 girls pentathlon.

Highlight of the under 13s Championships were the performances of Gabriel Ibitoye. He set a new Championship Best Performance in the shot. He threw 11.41 which is also a new club record. Not only this, he also won the 100, 200 and discus competitions with 12.54, 26.40 and 22.85 respectively.

Georgina Taylor and Charlotte Rhule won gold and silver in the girls 1200 metres with times of 4.02.75 and 4.03.21. Georgina also won bronze in the 800 with 2.37.43. Isobel Reeves won the high jump by six centimetres with a leap of 1.41. Bailey Stickings won three bronze medals in the boys 1500, 75 metre hurdles and long jump. Brook Hollett missed out on a medal with 4th in the shot but she did set a new best of 7.87.

The Masters enjoyed a highly successful weekend led by Barbara Terry who won four gold medals in the over 60s age group in the shot, discus, javelin and hammer. More throws success came in the over 70s age group where Colin Brand gained a hat trick of golds in the shot, discus and javelin.

Ken Daniel was a class apart in the over 60s 1500 winning by over 23 seconds from Clubmate Peter Hamilton. His time of 5.01.20 was a new Championship Best Performance. Peter also won silver in the 800. Rob Brown won the 400 in 63.6 to add to his silver in the 100 metres while in the field Mike Martineau won the long jump with a leap of 3.70.

Allan Williams won the pole vault in the over 50s age group by over a metre as he cleared 3.65. Maureen Miller took two golds in the over 40s age group with wins in the 100 and 200 and Shirley Rowbotham won silver in both these events.

In the latest 5km parkrun at Norman Park Dick Griffin finished in 16th with Milo Bargeron 47th.

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15/09/10

Blackheath & Bromley's under 20s men and womens team are Champions of Britain. This followed an exciting six and a half hour National Junior League Final at Derby where the team won the match with 459 points just six ahead of last years champions Shaftesbury Barnet. To add to the celebrations, when the mens and womens points were scored separately, the Club had the best womens team on the day and will now represent the United Kingdom in the European Champions Clubs Cup for Juniors in 2011 at a venue to be confirmed. Team manager Tim Soutar described it as 'A great team performance from the boys and, especially, the girls, who richly deserve the right, once again, to represent GB in Europe next year”. The womens squad travel to Bydgoszcz in Poland this weekend as a result of being the best team in last years final.

In addition to the team success, Katrina Cosby received the womens track Athlete Of The Match Award for her win in the 400 hurdles in 60.41. She also won the B string 400 and 100 hurdles and along with Krystal Galley, Megan Southwart and Savannah Echel-Thompson was part of the winning 4x400 metre team.

There were plenty of other winners too. As well as being in the winning relay squad, Savannah also won the individual 400 metres in 55.9. Megan Southwart also won the B string 100 hurdles and pole vault contests. Also in the field, Joe Lawrence set a new personal best of 7.19 to win the long jump and followed this with victory in a triple jump contest which could not have been tighter. Both he and Windsor’s Johnny Sawyers leapt 14.91 but Joe won the contest as his second best jump was further.

More B string wins came from Sam Milner in the shot and Lauren Stevens in the triple jump. This was, however, a fine overall team performance with every athlete in every event contributing to the Club’s success along with the efforts of team managers Tim Soutar, Alison Brand and Jonathan Stockdale, all the coaches of the athletes, supporters, and sponsors Biggin Hill Airport.

At the Kent Relays at Gillingham there was some great success for the Club in the younger age groups. In the under 15 girls the Clubs A team of Aine Hurlock, Shannon Hylton, Cheriece Hylton and Dian Asher Smith and B team of Vivien Olatunji, Oshuwa, Ogbeta, Amber Bryan Issaacs and Sharai Williams came first and second in the 4x100 metres with times of 50.6 and 51.5. Both teams returned for the 4 x 200 and finished in first and third with the A team breaking the Club Record twice over the course of the afternoon. They ran 1.47.6 in their heat and then trumped this in the final with 1.46.5 The 3x800 team of Kate Curran, Holly Fletcher and Saffron Salih made it a clean sweep of gold medals winning by 25 seconds.

Both the Clubs under 13 3x800 metre teams came away with silver medals. The girls team of Shannon Riskey, Niamh Bridson Hubbard and Georgina Taylor finished three and a half seconds down on Tonbridge with a time of 7.55.1. The margin in the boys race was somewhat greater with the Tonbridge trio well clear. The B&B team of Christopher Smith, Thomas Powell and Bailey Stickings timed 8.05.6.

Robert Yates was the winner of the latest Bromley 5km parkrun at Norman Park. He under 17 ran 18.29 for the distance with Brendan McShane 5th, Ian Taylor 13th, Barry Wetherilt 24th and Iain Swatton 117th.

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8/09/10

Blackheath & Bromley narrowly missed out on a hat trick of important team victories last weekend. The youngsters won the National Auxiliary Final in Manchester; the women won their Southern League match at Norman Park and so saved themselves from relegation; and the Masters finished in second place in the Southern Area Final.

Following the disappointment of missing out on a place in the National Final after the results of the Southern Premier were revised, the youngsters were emphatic winners of the Auxiliary event in Manchester. They won the match by over 100 points and no results scrutiny could possible deny them victory. The quality of the performances showed they would have been very competitive in the Main Final, which they had won four times and finished runners up twice in the previous six years.

Three youngsters received “Athlete of The Match” award in their respective age groups; Dina Asher Smith for her 24.63 in the under 15 girls 200 metres; Rhiannon Jones for her 11.99 in the under 17 womens 80 metre hurdles; and Gabriel Ibitoye for his 10.63 in the shot.

All these were National Grade One performances as were those of Amara Lalemi Jacobs (U17W 100); Ike Amumba (U15B long jump); Louis Mascarentas (U15B discus); Shannon Hylton (U15G 100 and 200); Dina Asher Smith (U15G 100); Yemisi Sofolarin (U15G DT); Gabriel Ibitoye (U13B shot); Joshua Dalsan (U13B 200); Dotum Ayodele (U13B 100); Kyle Wicking (U13B high jump) and last but not least Maya Bruney in the under 13 girls 75 metres, 150 metres and long jump.

In addition to these athletes others achieving A string wins were Jonathan Pettet (U17M 400), Anton Daly (U17M 100 and 200); and Lauren Stevens (U17W long and triple jumps). The Club will now look forward to qualifying for next years Main Final

While the youngsters triumphed a spirited effort from the Masters team at Ashford was not enough to overcome a strong Herne Hill team and the Club had to settle for second place. Late season is never safe from injuries and holidays, and the Club had these, and other no-shows in abundance. Sam Bobb turned 35 a few days before the Final and jumped a huge 14.36m in the triple jump. It was way beyond the 13.79m that won gold for a Spanish jumper at the European Masters in Hungary this year.

Clearly inspired by Sam, Clem Leon promptly followed up by breaking is own Club M50 triple jump record twice! He finished with 11.21m, to obliterate the previous record of 10.79m. This was on top of doing six other events that afternoon, as a prelude to tackling his first decathlon in a week's time. Three outright wins in the javelin competitions, for Mike van den Dobbelsteen, Steve Langdon and Colin Brand loaded good points on to the day. It was also good to have Michael Champion, Nigel Keogh and Simon Tolson back from injury etc competing again.

Second place was no disgrace as the SCVAC Final is regarded as probably THE top Masters inter-Club competition in the country.

The Club's Senior women finished their 2010 Summer season with a win in the final Southern Womens League match of the season at Norman Park. Among a number of impressive winning performances was the return to competition of Rachel Blackie in her first hammer competition for a year. Despite not having trained she won the A string competition with a throw of 49.38 over 16 metres further than the runner up. Shaunagh Brown's margin of victory was even greater in the B string as she won by over 24 metres with a new personal best of 48.19.

Shaunagh also won the discus with a throw of 47.86 and the shot with a 14.46. Samantha Milner was back over 40 metres in the B string discus as she won with 40.67 and it was maximum points also in the pole vault with wins for Liz Hughes with a clearance of 3.50 and from Megan Southwart with 2.60. On the track A string wins came from Amy Godsell (100); Krystal Galley (800) and Katie Murray in the 3000 despite having earlier finished second in the 400 hurdles. B string wins came from Grace Sheppard (100); Katrina Cosby (200 and 100 hurdles); Danielle Critchley (800); Ella Fisher (3000) and Chelsea Crouser (400 hurdles).

The big points score meant the team moved up to 12th in the 16 team division, which meant the Club avoided filling one of the four relegation places.

63 club members have taken part in the summer series of 5k handicap road races competing for the Parris Memorial Shield that concluded on Wednesday. The series consists of 6 Wednesday evening races over the summer months on a yacht handicap basis whereby the slowest runner goes first and fastest goes last with the rest of the field in between. The theory is that all runners finish at approximately the same time. Points are awarded in the order that runners finish and are added together of the period of the races to arrive at the overall winner. The trophy is in honour of Roy Parris, a former member who died of cancer in 1998.

This year, 9 members competed in all 6 races that form the series namely, Tim Ayres, Bernie Bater, Luke Brett, Dave Carton, Anne Cilia, Melody Kane, Adrian Stocks, Iain Swatton and Glen Turner. This year's winner was Luke Brett whose victory was thoroughly deserved for the consistent way that his running times improved over the summer months. Luke was 12 points clear of Dave Leal in second place closely followed by Clare Parkin who finished third.

Thanks to Tom Phillips and Rob Brown in the writing of this report

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1/09/10

With no League matches last weekend, athletes from Blackheath & Bromley were in action in various meetings across the country and abroad.

Dwayne Grant continued his comeback from injury to time 10.47 for the 100 metres in Antwerp. His performance was aided by a + 4.1 metre per second wind which is above the legal limit. He did, however, clock a 10.58 time which was legal.

At the McCain’s Challenge Final in Cardiff two athletes won their events. England Athletics Champion Tremayne Gilling won the 100 metres in 10.71 into the teeth of a strong headwind. Lorraine Ugen won the long jump with a leap of 6.14.

Third places came from Savannah Echel Thompson (400 55.28) and Serita Solomon (100 hurdles 14.70). A lot of the Club’s athletes gained fourth places including Anike Shand Whittingham (100); Elaine Murty (1500); Bryony Proctor (5000); Katrina Cosby (400 hurdles) and Shaunagh Brown (Shot). Shaunagh was also 5th in the discus as was Joe Lawrence in the triple jump, with a new personal best of 15.11; and Shavaun Henry in the 3000 steeplechase. Ed Harrison was 6th in the 110 hurdles.

The Under 20s and Under 15s Inter County event at Hendon saw wins in the under 20 s age group from Samantha Milner in the discus and from Sarah Abrams in the triple jump. Dina Asher Smith won the 200 metres in the Under 15s age group in 25.06.

Back in the under 20s Rachel Dickens and Kieran Daly were both third in their respective 200 metre races.

The Vets AC Championships at Battersea Park saw Gordon Hickey win all four throws in the over 75s age group. Shirley Rowbotham and Maureen Miller each won the 100, 200 and 400 in the over 40s and over 45s age group. There was a win also for Peter Hannell in the over 65s 3000 walk.

Under 20 Oliver Robinson was 2nd in the Modern Pentathlon Championships at Solihull with a score of 5384 points just 60 points behind the gold medallist. He was first in the cross country run.

David Beadle was the first Club member to finish in the latest Bromley 5km Parkrun at Norman Park. He finished in 9th place in 18.47 with Rob Brown 24th and David Carton 25th. First woman from the Club was Sarah Belaon. Steve Pairman ventured further afield to the Greenwich event and finished in second place.

This weekend sees the climax of the Young Athletes and Masters league season. The youngsters travel to Manchester to compete in the National Auxiliary Final on Saturday having missed out on a place in the main final after the Southern Final results were rescored.

On Sunday the Mens’ Masters compete in the Southern Counties Vets Final at Ashford. With a talented squad they are hoping to be very competitive.

Closer to home the final Southern Womens League match of the season takes place at Norman Park.

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25/08/10

Montell Douglas has been selected to represent England at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India from the 3rd to the 14th of October. The Blackheath & Bromley athlete, who is British record holder for the 100 metres has been picked for the 100 metres and the 4x100 relay. She will be hoping for a late season peak having missed most of the first half of the season through injury.

The Club's Senior Mens team went into their last match of the British League season at Liverpool knowing that they had an outside chance of promotion and that they were safe from relegation. It was just as well they were safe as, with a weaker team than previous matches, and some disasters on the day, they finished last in the match, just six points behind the 6th and 7th placed teams.

On the plus side, Dwayne Grant returned to action after injury to place second in the 100 metres, the Club’s highest individual performance of the day. Also returning to racing was Scott Overall who was third in the 3000 metres. Unfortunately B string Andy Rayner, himself a long term injury victim, had to drop out with a calf injury with 600 metres to go.

Alex Bruce Littlewood was the Club’s Athlete Of The Match for his third place in the 3000 steeplechase; his consistently high level of performance at all four fixtures; and the fact that, given the choice, he would probably have preferred to compete in a different event. Other top three places came from Ed Harrison in the 400 hurdles; Lewis Ely in the high jump and Ned Quiney in the pole vault. Andy Rayner’s injury was not the only misfortune to befall the team as Duayne Bovell false started in the 200 and was disqualified; Alex Pope did not register a throw in the Hammer (in part because he was doing the pole vault at the same time); and Ed Harrison got cramp in his calf after 100 metres of the 4x400 and had the struggle round in agony for the next 300 metres.

This was a shame as all have made a great contribution to the team both in this and previous years. However, the main underlying reason for the last place was the Club’s lack of strength in the throws events. The result meant the Club finished in 6th place for the season after being promoted to the division last year. So the squad survived in a very competitive division which must count as an achievement.

The Club are now preparing for the 2011 season. To continue to improve and to challenge for a place in the Premier Division they will need more depth in the squad but, with news of possible new members, things are moving in the right direction. Anyone wishing to join as a first claim or higher competition member should contact Pat Calnan on 07779 052286.

Star performance at the England Athletics Championships came from Dina Asher Smith in the under 15 girls age group. She won the 100 metres in a new personal best and Club Record of 12.00. Her time takes her to number one in the country this year. The John Blackie coached athlete also won the 200 metres in 24.77, just shy of her personal best, despite being tired from two days of heats and finals. Amara Lalemi Jacobs finished in 6th place in the 300 metres in 41.45. Rhiannon Jones was 5th in her heat of the 300 hurdles; and Jonathan Pettet was 6th in his heat of the 400. In the field, Lauren Stevens jumped 10.95 in the triple jump and Ellie Duffy Penny threw 30.81 in the discus. In the under 15 girls group Yemisi Sofolarin threw 26.41 in the discus.

Dan Marks was the first Club member to finish in the latest parkrun 5km at Norman Park. He finished in 4th place in 18.49 followed by Rob Brown (14th), Iain Swatton (27th), Sarah Belon (30th) and Luke Brett (35th)

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18/08/10

Three athletes from Blackheath & Bromley were in action at the Aviva Grand Prix Meeting at Crystal Palace on Friday and Saturday competing against some of the best athletes in the world. Tremayne Gilling's reward for an outstanding season, which has seem him progress from a promising junior to Senior England National and Southern Area champion, was a place in the 100 metres where, among others, he lined up against Britain's silver medallist from the European Championships, Mark Lewis Francis. Tremayne was outside his seasons best finishing in 8th with 10.56, but competing against such a field was an invaluable experience.

Montell Douglas, the British record holder for the 100 metres also finished 8th in her heat in 11.46, while there was disappointment for Serita Solomon who was called up at short notice for the 100 hurdles. Having been injured, she had not raced over the hurdles for nearly two months and she pulled up at the first hurdle.

All three were back in action at the Bedford International Games on the Sunday. Tremayne was third in his heat of the 100 metres in 10.46, Montell ran 11.49 in the 100 and Serita clocked 14.15 in the hurdles. In addition, Amy Godsell ran 12.05 in the 100 metres and Ed Harrison 52.90 in the 400 hurdles.

Fellow sprinters James Alaka and Anike Shand Whittingham were in action a few days earlier in Sweden at Gothenburg. James ran 21.18 for the 200 metres to finish third while Anike had two races over the 100 metres running 12.22 and 12.45. In the field second claimer Sophie Hitchon, World Junior Champion, threw 64.34 to finish 4th in the Hammer.

In the last London Inter Club meeting at Parliament Hill, Alloy Wilson won the 400 metres in 48.94 In the sprints Jermaine Alexander ran 11.05 and 22.23 for the 100 and 200 while Craig Baker recorded 11.71 and 24.0 as well as 15.76 in the 110 hurdles. Siobhan Budd, who is back in the country from France for a short while ran 5.10.52 in the 1500.

Three days earlier Siobhan ran in the Brighton open meeting where she timed 5.00.13 while over 60 Ken Daniel timed 4.50.16.

Over at Watford Stephen Cavey and Ian Frith were both in action in the 1500 metres recording 4.09.49 and 4.16.56, the latter a personal best.

Bill Foster ran in the 10,000 metres at the British Milers Club and recorded 34.36.18, a very useful time by an athlete over 50.

At the Southern Senior Inter Counties match at Ashford a number of the Club’s athletes enjoyed wins. Rachel Arnheim and Liz Hughes won both strings of the pole vault with clearances of 3.65 and 3.50. It was maximum points also for Shavaun Henry and Jessica Jones in the 3000 steeplechase while Katrina Cosby won the 400 hurdles in 61.40. Savannah Echel Thompson was first and Frederica Foster second in the 400 metres. Bomene Barikor took third in the mens 400 while Grace Sheppard (100), Mel Kane (1500) and Jane Bradshaw (3000) scored more important points for the Kent team.

Brendan McShane was the first Club member to finish in the latest 5km Parkrun at Norman Park. He was 4th in 19.17 with Graham Coates 8th and Rob Brown 12th.

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11/08/10

Anna Huggins gained her first International vest last weekend. Following her performance at the National Championships last month the Blackheath & Bromley athlete was selected to represent Scotland at the Celtic Games in Athlone. She didn’t disappoint clearing 3 metres again and narrowly missing out on a personal best of 3.10.

A week is a long time in Athletics. Just seven days ago Blackheath & Bromley were celebrating their Young Athletes team qualifying for the National Final in Manchester at the start of September. With just over a month until the event, hotels and travel all needed to be booked, a major exercise.

It was, therefore, extremely disappointing to discover that the Southern Area Final, the qualifying event for the National Final, had been rescored and that they had finished third rather than second. What this means is they have now qualified for the Auxiliary Final which takes place the day before the Main Final, so all hotel and coaches had to be cancelled and rebooked.

There was no contact from the League about the rescored match and the first Track Secretary Mark Purser knew about the revised score was when a representative from Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow, who finished second in the rescored match, contacted him to see if they could take the Club's hotel booking. It a shame that the post match developments can serve to draw attention away from some outstanding performances in the Southern Final itself.

Among these were some new Club Records demonstrating the ability of athletes to raise their standards when they gain better competition. Dina Asher Smith is no stranger to breaking records and her 12.07 in the 100 metres took three hundredths off her existing record. Gabriel Ibitoye broke the Under 13 boys shot putt record with a throw of 10.71.

In addition the Under 17 womens 4x300 metre team of Rachel Robinson, Rachel Dickens, Victoria Munt and Rhiannon Jones ran what is believed to be a new record of 2.53.01 Rhiannon had earlier enjoyed A string wins in both the 300 hurdles and 80 hurdles.

As well as her Club record in the 100, Dina Asher Smith also won the 200 metres in 25.03 Maya Bruney had two A string wins in the Under 13s age group. She won the 150 metres by one hundredth of a second in 19.31 and the long jump with a leap of 4.50 metres. She was also second in the 75 metres in 9.83.

A number of other athletes achieved National grade one performances including Rachel Dickens (U17W 100 and 200), Anton Daly (U17M 100)

Shannon Hylton (U15G 100 and 200) and Joshua Dalsan (U13B 100 and 200). Despite all these good performances the squad will not now be able to defend their National title in Manchester and will instead concentrate on winning the Auxiliary event.

The Club’s youngsters have been going from strength to strength in the Kent Young Athletes League this year and the fourth and final match of the season saw them finish first in both the boys and girls overall events.

The Under 15 girls and under 13 boys both won their age groups; the under 15 boys tied in first place with Tonbridge and the under 13 girls were third.

Three athletes produced impressive grade one performances. Gabriel Ibitoye and Joshua Dalsan won both strings of the Under 13 boys 200 metres in 26.1 and 26.6, and they also achieved grade ones in other events as Gabriel won the shot in 10.27 and Joshua the 100 in 12.9. Gabriel also won the discus despite never having done the event before.

The other grade one came from Dina Asher Smith who won the under 15 girls 300 metres in 39.4 the fastest in the country this year. Shannon Hylton won the B string and it was maximum points also in the pole vault with victories for Helena Coleman and Fern Korro. The day finished well for the under 15 girls with the quartet of Vivien Olatunji, Sharai Williams, Amber Bryan-Isaacs and Shannon Hylton winning the 4x100.

For the boys Levi Chima won the 100 and in the 200 Ike Anumba and Ayo Ajiboye won both strings. Ike also won the long jump.

In the under 13s Reece McCarthy won both the B string shot and discus events and he would have won the A string events had Gabriel Ibitoye not also been in action. Jed Botham took victory in the A string long jump.

Best event for the Under 13 girls was the high jump where Isabelle Reeves and Toykin Orelaja enjoyed a double victory both clearing 1.35. Rianna Courtney won the B string shot.

There was some disappointing news at the Southern Womens League match at Bedford where the team finished in fourth place. Best performer was Amy Godsell who won the 100 and 200 races in 12.1 and 25.2. With one match remaining the team need a good result in their final match at Norman Park to avoid relegation.

Wind prevented the sprinters from producing fast times at the Club’s open meeting at Norman Park but it didn’t prevent Ken Daniel from smashing the Club’s over 60s Club Record for the 3000 metres. He timed 10.30.16 which slashed over 20 seconds off the previous record held by Peter Hamilton. The race was won by Andy Rayner in 8.39.48.

Stephen Cavey won the Club 800 metre championships in 1.57.43 with David McKinlay second and Dan Ryan third. There was a clean sweep of the top places in the womens 100 metres with Dina Asher Smith winning in 12.48 followed by Serita Solomon and Katrina Cosby. Others to win there races were Ed Harrison and Jermaine Alexander in the 100 and Bruno Myszja-Reder in the 400.

There were plenty of good performances in the field events full results of which will appear on the website shortly.

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4/08/10

Montell Douglas has not had much of a Summer season as she spent a number of weeks during the Winter on crutches after a knee operation. The Blackheath & Bromley athlete did, however, gain selection for the Great Britain team for the 4x100 metres at the European Championships in Barcelona. However, hopes of salvaging something from the season disappeared with some faulty baton changes. The quartet did not finish in a qualifying place and were not one of the fastest losers either.

Being in Barcelona, Montell was not available to compete in the last UK Womens League Premier Division match of the season at Eton. Highlight here was a new personal best and Club Junior Record for Katrina Cosby in the 400 hurdles as she finished in second place in the A string event. Her time of 59.71 is the fastest by an under 20 athlete in the country this year. She also ran a personal best of 25.42 in the B string 200 metres. It was no surprise that she was the Club’s Athlete Of The Match

Bryony Proctor finished second place in the 3000 metres with a new personal best of 9.47.1 and Savannah Echel Thompson was third in the A string 400 metres in 55.86. The final top three placing went to the 4x100 metre relay team of Megan Southwart, Serita Solomon, Emily Martin and Vickie Cole.

Despite these good performances the team was too depleted to compete with the top teams in the country and they finished last on the day and last for the season in the Premier Division. This is the first major disappointment for the womens side since they gained entry to the UK Womens League and given the talent in the squad they should feature prominently in Division One next season.

The men were in action in their British League Division One home fixture at Norman Park. They performed well with the highlight being at the end of the meeting, a new Club Record of 3.11.59 for the 4x400 quartet of Bomene Barikor, Ed Harrison, Alloy Wilson and Dan Putnam.

Other highlights included a near clean sweep in the sprints with James Alaka and Tremayne Gilling sharing wins in the A and B string 100 and 200 metres. Alloy Wilson won the B string 400, and although Bomene Barikor did not win the A string event he was rewarded with a new best of 48.22 in finishing 4th in a race in which every runner was under 49 seconds.

His was one of a number of personal bests headed by Alex Bruce Littlewood who took eight seconds off his previous best in finishing third in the 3000 steeplechase with 9.10.82. Others came from Phil Sesemann (5000 metres), Jake Haylock (Hammer), Dale Willis (long jump), Mark Longhurst (pole vault), Alex Pope (shot) and Mike van den Dobblesteen
(javelin).

This gave them fourth place in the match and leaves them fourth in the table with just one match remaining in Liverpool in three weeks time.

Hosting the British League match meant the team that travelled to Cambridge for the final Southern Mens League match of the season was very depleted. It was no surprise that the squad finished last of the five teams on the day. The result meant that they finished the season in 19th place in the table out of 25 teams. This should mean they have just avoided being relegated.

Best event for the Club was the 1500 metres in which Ian Frith and Stephen Cavey finished second in both the A and B strings. Sufiyan Sultan and Bruno Myszka-Reder scored valuable points in the sprints and Richard Hall, Chris Daniel and Ross Braden performed heroics competing in many different events.

The best news from the weekend came from the Club’s Young Athletes team. They were second in the Southern Area Final at Copthall and have qualified for the National Final in Manchester in September. Unfortunately the full results are not yet available.

More good news came in the latest Bromley 5km parkrun at Norman Park prior to the British League match. Eamonn Prendergast won in 17.27 with Dan Ryan 4th, Andy Tucker 5th, Brendan McShane 9th and Steve Pairman 10th. First woman home for the Club was Sarah Belaon in 37th with Justine Eastbury 41st and Molly Dent 74th.

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28/07/10

There was great news for Blackheath & Bromley at the World Junior Championships in Moncton, Canada. Second claimer Sophie Hitchon won the Hammer with her final throw of the competition with a distance of 66.01. This was a new British Junior record. Dan Putnam was part of the mens 4x400 team who won bronze in the 4x400 metres in a time of 3.06.49. He recorded a split of 46.6.

Things did not go so well for Lorraine Ugen in the long jump. After two no jumps she leapt 5.56 but this was not good enough to qualify her for the final. At the other end of the age range scale Ken Daniel came back from the European Masters Championships at Nyireghaza, Hungary with a silver medal as part of the Great Britain over 60s 4x400 team. He was also fourth in the 800 and fifth in the 1500. Further details of these Championships to follow.

More good news came from Norwich where the Club's under 20 team have qualified for the National Junior League final which takes place at Derby in September. They finished in third place on the day but this was enough to lift them into second place in the Southern Premier Division with the top two automatically going to the final. Windsor, who were second before the match, finished fifth and now face a paper match against teams from the North and Midlands to see if they go to Derby.

The Club enjoyed wins in both 400 hurdles A races. Katrina Cosby won the womens race by 0.4 of a second in 62.3 while Ben Hopkins win in the mens event was even closer, just 0.2 tenths.

Andrew Jordon and Jake Haylock enjoyed a double victory in the mens A and B string hammer as did Savannah Echel Thompson and Frederica Foster in the 400. Samantha Milner won both the A string shot and discus events while Joe Lawrence won the mens triple jump. With the match very close the trip to Derby was secured by some fine relay results. The men were first and the women second in the 4x100.

Then came the highlight of the day. At the previous meeting, Amy de Matos, Freddie Foster, Hannah Edwards and Savannah Echel-Thompson ran a Club record of 3.54.71. This time the quartet of Krystal Galley, Freddie, Katrina Cosby and Savannah ran 3.50.4 to take over four seconds off the record. With the men second in their relay a place at Derby was secured.

In contrast the BAL Cup 10 in a 100 was something of a disappointment with the Senior Men third and the women fourth. The men were just seven points off winning their match and would have qualified had they been stronger in the field events.

Late withdrawals and terrible traffic congestion caused major problems and it was left to Past President John Robinson to throw the javelin and Hammer when he was supposed to be officiating.

It was a different matter on the track with wins for Ed Harrison in the 100, Alloy Wilson in the 400 and the medley relay team of Alex Bruce Littlewood, Duayne Bovell, Bomene Barikor and Alloy Wilson. Bomene had earlier finished second in the 200 and Alex third in the 800 while James Poole was second in the 3000.

While the women were small in numbers they did have quality and the three athletes who competed had two wins and a second place between them. Rachel Arnheim won the pole vault with a clearance of 3.65 and Shavaun Henry the 800. Bryony Proctor narrowly missed out on winning the 3000 metres.

Off Road a number of the Club’s athletes competed in the latest 5km parkrun at Norman Park. First to finish was David Beadle in fourth place in a time of 18.24 with Gary Cook 7th, Gerald Sterling 9th, Niamh Bridson Hubbard 24th, Sarah Belaon 26th, Luke Brett 34th and Joshua Dowling 43rd.

Rob Brown, a regular at the Bromley event, ventured further afield to compete in the event at Banstead Woods where he finished 20th.

On Saturday the 31st of July the Club will be hosting the British Athletics League Division One fixture at Norman Park. The Senior men are currently third in the table with the top two teams at the end of the season gaining promotion to the Premiership. It won’t be easy for the squad to be promoted as they are currently four points behind second placed Cardiff and with three other Clubs, including Kent AC just two points behind.

This is an opportunity to see some of the top clubs and athletes in the country in action. The fixture starts at 12.30 and there will be a beer tent and barbecue.

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21/07/10

Tremayne Gilling produced one of the highlights of the weekend at the England Athletics Senior Outdoor Championships at the Gateshead International Stadium. The Blackheath & Bromley athlete won the 100 metres in a sensational 10.25. This is not only a personal best but is also the second quickest time by an under 23 in Europe this year. It is also the 7th fastest by a Briton this year.

Also in the medals was Shavaun Henry. She finished 3rd in the 3000 steeplechase in 11.16.96 just two seconds outside her own Club Record. Elaine Murty was 10th in the final of the 1500 metres while Ed Harrison ran 53.57 in the heats of the 400 hurdles.

There was more success at the Scottish Championships in Dunfermline which incorporated the Commonwealth Games trials. Scott Huggins, who celebrates his 21st birthday this Saturday the 24th, won the pole vault title with a clearance of 5 metres. Unfortunately the qualifying standard is 5.20 so he will miss out on selection for the Games.

Keeping things in the family, sister Anna won silver in the under 17 womens event with a clearance of 2.80.

Andy Rayner returned to action after a long injury lay off and won the latest Bromley parkrun at Norman Park. He covered the 5km course in 15.37. David Beadle was 12th with Gary Cook 18th Steve Pairman 27th, Rob Brown 36th and Iain Swatton 52nd.

The Club’s youngsters have qualified for the Southern Area Final of the National Young Athletes League after a good win in their final league match of the season at Croydon. A good result in the Area Final will mean they qualify for the National Final which takes place in Manchester at the start of September. It won’t be easy to get to the final, let alone to retain the National title they won last year, but there were results which gave some cause for hope, not least those of the under 17 women and some other breakthrough performances.

A number of results achieved the National Grade One standard. In the under 17s age group Lauren Stevens leapt 10.93 for victory in the triple jump. Liam Cater’s throw of 44.81 in the under 15 boys javelin swept him into the top 20 for his event in the country and there was more throws success as Daniel Hollett took the under 15 boys shot with a putt of 12.24. It was no surprise to see Dina Asher Smith obtain grade ones in the sprints. She did so with 12.41 in the 100 and 25.57 in the 200.

There were two grade ones for under 13 Jed Botham. He won the long jump with an impressive leap of 4.73 and the high jump with a clearance of 1.45. On the track Georgina Taylor won the 1200 metres by over ten seconds with a time of 4.00.53. The results of the under 17 women were particularly impressive as they won nearly every A string event with victories for Rachel Dickens (100 and 200); Sian Duffy (300), Jessica Jones (800); Amber Reed (1500), Rhiannon Jones (80 hurdles and 300 hurdles); Jade Lay (high jump); Letitia Noel (shot); Ellie Duffy Penny (discus); Ellouise Edwards (javelin); Georgina Cousins (Hammer) plus both the 4x100 and 4x300 relay teams. Jonathan Pettet won the mens 400 and he was also part of the Club’s 4x400 metre winning team.

In addition to the success in the boys throws in the under 15s Louis Hopgood won the pole vault. For the girls there was a double A string win for Yemisi Sofolarin in the discus and javelin; from Saffron Salih (800); Samantha Leighton (1500) and the 4x100 metre team. Further wins came in the under 13s from Shannon Riskey (800); Isabella Jones (long jump); Toyin Orelaja (high jump); and Bradley Sticking (800).

The under 15 boys have not always had the best of times this season in the Kent Young Athletes League but at the recent match at Ashford there was a reversal of fortune with the squad producing a narrow victory. This was in no small part down to the excellence in the throws where Daniel Hollett (shot), Lewis Mascanrehas (discus) and Liam Cater (javelin) enjoyed a clean sweep of A string victories. With Daniel winning the B discus and coming second in the B javelin; and Lewis winning the B shot; the trio scored an impressive 58 out of 60 points for the team.

Just ten points separated the top four teams on the day so the contribution of every athlete was important. Two, in particular competed in an eclectic mixture of events. Louis Hopgood ran a very useful 2.12.in the 800 for second place and he was also runner up in the pole vault and third in the 80 metre hurdles. Likewise, Richard Webb saw action in the 80 hurdles, the 1200 walk and the high jump.

For the girls Cheriece Hylton won the A string 100 in 13.4 with Sharai Williams making it maximum points in the B string. Not surprisingly, this dominance extended to the relays and when the duo teamed up with Vivien Olatunji and Amber Bryan Isaacs, 3rd and 1st in the 200, the quartet enjoyed victory in the 4x100.

Cheriece’s twin sister Shannon had earlier won the B string 200, a time that would have won the A race. She was also third in the 75 hurdles. Other National grade performances came from Evie Syron Ross and Shannon Cordell in the long jump giving them second and first in their respective strings.

In the under 13s age group Joshua Dalsan had a memorable afternoon winning the 100 and 200 metres plus the discus. Jed Botham won the long jump by over 80 centimetres with a leap of 4.59 and Andrew Narracoot’s leap of 3.82 to win the B string would, had Jed not been competing, won the A string. Jed also leapt a useful 1.30 in the high jump while Thomas Powell ran a handy 2.33.6 in the 800, both national grade 4 performances.

For the girls best placed A string competitor was Shannon Riskey who was second in the 600 metres. She also won the B string high jump as well as scoring important points in the javelin. Jessica Kenne won the B string 1000 metres.

On Saturday the 31st of July the Club will be hosting the British Athletics League Division One fixture at Norman Park. The Senior men are currently third in the table with the top two teams at the end of the season gaining promotion to the Premiership. It won’t be easy for the squad to be promoted as they are currently four points behind second placed Cardiff and with three other Clubs just two points behind.

This is an opportunity to see some of the top clubs and athletes in the country in action. The fixture starts at 12.30 and there will be a beer tent and barbecue.

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14/07/10

Youngsters from Blackheath & Bromley enjoyed some outstanding performances at the Aviva English Schools Championships in Birmingham with five of them returning with gold medals. Dan Putnam is shortly to travel to Canada for the World Junior Championships and he warmed up for this by winning the Senior Boys 400 metres in 48.04. Andrew Jordon won the Hammer with a throw of 66.77 and Ned Quiney the pole vault with five metres.

Sabine Efiannayi won the Senior Girls shot with a putt of 12.88. Perhaps the outstanding performance of the weekend was, however, that of Dina Asher Smith in the Junior Girls 200 metres. Her winning time of 24.50 was a new personal best, a Club Record and the fastest by an under 15 in the country this year.

There were plenty more good performances. In the Senior age group Megan Southwart ran a new best of 61.46 to claim silver in the 400 hurdles. It was silver too for Matthew Walcott in the 110 hurdles in 14.40 and three more second claimers were close to medals with Frederica Foster (400), Sarah Abrams (triple jump) and Joe Lawrence (triple jump) each finishing in fourth place.

Samantha Milner was 5th in the discus as was Jonathan Ilori in the triple jump, and others to place in finals were Hannah Edwards (6th 800); Phil Sesemann (7th 1500), Ben Hopkins (8th 400 hurdles); Mark Longhurst (8th pole vault); Sam Brown (14th pole vault). Kieron Daly ran 11.3 in the heats of the 100 metres and Krystal Galley set a new best of 57.31 in the 400.

In the Intermediates age group Rachel Dickens won bronze in the 300 metres in 39.42. Ellie Duffy Penny set a new best of 34.18 in coming 6th in the discus. Jonathan Pettet ran 50.61 in the heats of the 400 but was knocked out in the semis. Anton Daly made the semis of the 100 running 11.32. Amara Lalemi Jacobs also made the girls semis having timed 12.51 in the heat. Lauren Stevens and Frances Read jumped 10.62 and 10.54 in the heats of the triple jump.

In the Junior age group there was bronze in the same age group for Yemisi Sofolarin in the discus with a throw of 33.07. Daniel Hollett was 20th in the shot.

Other athletes form the Club have been in action across the country and Europe in the last few days. Tremayne Gilling was invited to compete at the Aviva British Grand Prix at Gateshead. He ran 10.58 in the heats of the 100 metres

Ned Quiney was quickly back in action after his English schools victory as he travelled to the Loughborough Invite Pole Vault meeting. He finished in 7th place with 4.90. Training partner Scott Huggins cleared 5.05 to finish in 5th place.

The British Milers Club meeting at Solihull saw Alex Bruce Littlewood set a new best of 3.51.21 in the 1500 metres. James Poole timed 3.55.95 and Bryony Proctor 4.31.77.

Anike Shand Whittingham has been blazing a path across Europe in the last week. At the Meeting Arcobaleno at Celle Ligare, Italy, she ran 24.96 to finish 5th in the 200 metres. She was 5th again at Donnas, again in Italy, this time in the 100 metres where she ran 11.82. From there she travelled to France where she ran 12.10 to finish 4th in the 100 metres at Albertville.

There was much celebrating at Norman Park for the last round of the Kent Veterans League. Not only did the men confirm their place in the Regional Final in September, they also qualified as Kent League champions. The women celebrated too as it was announced that they also had made the Final. However, they were to be cruelly denied as when the results were checked the next day it showed there had been an error in the results and they had, in fact, just missed out on qualification. Full results of this match are not yet available.

The Senior men finished in fourth place in the latest round of the Southern Mens League at Norman Park. While they were very strong in some events they were particularly weak in the throws scoring nine out of a maximum 40 points. This did include a new best in the hammer for Richard Holt and this, combined with his best time in the 400 hurdles for five years and his efforts in the sprint hurdles and javelin, secured him the Club’s “Athlete Of The Match” award.

Derek Paisley won the A string 400 hurdles in a seasons best of 56.1 with further wins for Alloy Wilson in the 400; Daniel Haque in the 200; and David McKinlay in the 1500. It was victory to for the 4x400 quartet of David McKinlay, Oliver Robinson, Daniel Haque and Alloy Wilson, who timed 48.2 on the anchor leg.

In the jumps the pole vault was a very high standard and Nick Moore’s 3.90 which saw him finish third would normally have won the event. Coach Allan Williams won the B string with a clearance of 3.40 while Rachel Arnheim competed as a guest and cleared a seasons best of 3.70.

The latest of the Bromley parkrun 5km races to place at Norman Park and first to finish was David Beadle in 9th place in 18.56. Steve Pairman was 11th in 19.15.

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7/07/10

It has been another busy week for Blackheath & Bromley with four athletes gaining International Championship selection; both the Senior Mens and Womens teams in action in the National Leagues; the Masters returning from the National Championships with a stack of medals; plus a mass of activity at local level. This is set to continue for the next few weeks as the Summer season reaches its peak.

Three athletes from the Club have been selected to represent Great Britain at the World Junior Championships in Monkton, Canada from the 19th to the 25th of July. Lorraine Ugen has secured her selection as she easily exceeded the qualifying distance in the long jump at the Mannheim International over the weekend. She jumped 6.35.

She joins second claimer Sophie Hitchon who has already made the team in the hammer and who won her competition with a throw of 65.91, just seven centimetres off her own British Record.

Jermaine Olasan was third in the mens long jump with a leap of 7.41 but has missed out on selection. The third person to make the team is Dan Putnam who is chosen for the 4x400 metres after a series of impressive individual and relay performances this Summer.

At the Resisprint International at La Chaux-de-fonds in Switzerland, Montell Douglas showed she is getting back to form after injury as she timed 11.40 in the 100 metres. On the back of this, she has now been selected for the 4x100 at the European Championships which take place in Barcelona from the 27th of July to the 1st of August.

Blackheath & Bromley's Senior women had another tough time in the second round of the UK Womens League Premier Division at Manchester. Up against the top teams in the country, they finished in last place for the second time and with just one match remaining their stay in the top flight looks short lived.

Highest placers of the day were in the middle distance. Shavaun Henry set a new Club Record of 7.14.64 in the 2000 metres steeplechase winning the Club’s athlete of the match award in the process. Bryony Proctor was second in the 3000 metres in 9.49.98.

There were a number of third places. Shaunagh Brown achieved this twice in the shot and discus with throws of 14.60 and 45.18. Amy Godsell was third in the 100 with 11.97 as was Savannah Echel Thompson in the 400 (55.59).

Elaine Murty improved her best in the 800 to 2.09.64 and veteran Jane Bradshaw had a busy afternoon in the 800 and 1500. In the field Sarah McGuire threw a seasons best of 37.15 in the javelin and Lauren Blackie, Hayley Nouch and Rachel Arnheim scored important points in the jumps.

Four athletes got injured on the day and this gave an opportunity for Shaunagh Brown to run a leg of the 4x100 metre relay. Maureen Miller came in to the team at short notice and ran a seasons best in the 400; Liz Hughes competed in pole vault and discus despite an injured calf; Chelsea Crouser moved up to the A string 400 hurdles at short notice and then ran the 200 as well.

The men fared better in their British Athletics League Division One match at Sheffield as they finished in third place. This puts them in third place in the table and with a home match at Norman Park on the 31st of July, there is still a chance of gaining promotion to the Premiership. James Alaka won both the 100 and 200 metre races in impressive times of 10.53 and 21.09. with Femi Owolade first in the 100 and second in 200 B strings.

In the field Scott Huggins and Ned Quiney both cleared 5 metres in the pole vault, the first time the Club has had two athletes achieve this height at a League fixture.

With a shortage of middle distance runners, decathlete Alex Pope ran in the 3000 steeplechase as he and Craig Baker covered eleven events between them. Middle distance runners Alex Bruce Littlewood, Ben Harding and Phil Sesemann doubled up to ensure all events were covered. This was Ben’s first race in the British League and there were other debuts for Stephen Cavey in the 1500 and Ben Hopkins in the 400 hurdles.

“A” string in the 400 hurdles was Ed Harrison who looked on for a new best before succumbing the effects of the strong wind and lactic. He recovered sufficiently, however, to set a new best of 15.24 in the 110 hurdles.

In the field Andrew Jordon again took third place in the hammer but his distance of 58.90 was outside the World Junior Qualifying standard he had been hoping for. Sam Bobb achieved a fine 14.43 in the triple jump and Duayne Bovell defied a foot injury to finish third in the B string.It was fourth also for Lewis Ely in the high jump.

The Club’s Athlete of the Match award went to Bomene Barikor who set a personal best of 48.30 to win the B string 400 in swashbuckling style, starting off so hard that one spectator asked if he was the pacemaker. Despite the build up of lactic acid, he held on for victory and also recorded a split of 47.5 in the 4x400. Dan Putnam achieved the same time in the relay (having run 48.37 in the individual) and with Alloy Wilson and Femi Owolade the quartet recorded an impressive 3.13.80. Incredibly this was only good enough for 5th place with less than 8 tenths of a second separating the top five teams.

Meanwhile, at the British Masters Championships at Cardiff, the 12 Club members who competed won 7 gold, 9 silver and 4 bronze medals between them.

Five of these went to Barbara Terry in the over 60s throws. She won the javelin was second in the shot, discus and weight, and was third in the hammer.

Roger Michell won the most golds as he secured the National titles in the over 60s 3000 and 5000 walks. Peter Hannell was second in the over 65s 3000 metres event.

Gordon Hickey won a full set of medals in the over 75s age group, winning gold in the javelin, silver in the shot and bronze in the weight. In the over 70s Colin Brand won the discus and was second in both the shot and javelin.

In the over 50s Bill Foster was an impressive winner of the 5000 metres and Clem Leon won the triple jump and was second in the high jump with a new personal best. Steve Langdon took silver in the javelin and Tom Phillips bronze in the over 55s 100 metres. There was bronze too for Richard Holt in the over 35s 400 hurdles.

Most, if not all, of these athletes will be in action at Norman Park this Friday the 9th of July for the final match in the Kent Masters League where the added attraction will be to see Ken Daniel in his first competition as a 60 year old (his birthday is the 8th). In the mens competition both B&B and Ashford need to win to ensure they reach the final. Whoever wins the match will win the League outright. The women are second in their division.

In the last match at Ashford the men enjoyed a four point victory over the hosts. Despite being over 55 Allan Williams won the over 35s pole vault with a clearance of 3.60 with Alan Hardy second in the over 50s. Paul Ross Davies won the over 60s 3000 metres with Gary Bishop and Cliff Keen second in the over 35s and over 50s respectively. Keith Ewing won the B string over 35s.

For the women there were wins for Helen Godsell in the over 50s 400 and for Past President Anne Cilia in the 2000 metre walk. Anne also soared over 1.50 to win the pole vault, while Beatrice Simpson and Barbara Terry won the over 50s and over 60s hammer events. The action on Friday starts at 6.45pm.

There was a big turn out of Club members at the Orpington 10km which starts and finishes at Darrick Wood school. Ian Frith won the race in 36.24 with Junior Stephen Cavey third and Martin Airey seventh. More Juniors were well placed with Will Mercer finishing in 9th and Sam Jackson 14th. First woman was Andrea Pickup in 23rd. First male over 40 was Brendan McShane in 25th with Graham Coates first over 50 (33rd) and Rob Brown first over 60 (79th). Jane Bradshaw won the womens race at the Dulwich Midsummer 5km in a time of 18.45

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