BAC athletes shine at opening EYAL meeting
BAC’s junior athletes produced some fine performances, including at least one club record and well over 20 PBs, as members of the composite Bedfordshire Lions team which took part in one of this season’s opening Eastern Young Athletes League (EYAL) meetings at Thurrock Athletics Stadium in Essex on Sunday April 14.
Last year, in the comparable fixture at the same location, BAC provided 11 athletes across 24 events for the Bedfordshire Lions team and achieved two 1st place finishes. This year, it was 19 athletes in 31 events, including two relays, and six 1sts – a great club effort taking into account the considerable travelling involved for competitors, supporters and event officials.
The six BAC athletes to win an event were:
● Fenya Treece with a new PB and BAC club record in the U-15 Girls long jump with a jump of 4.90m.
● Sidney Hammond in the U-15 Boys 800m, his first ever win in any competitive running race and a new PB of 2.14.4.
● Ross Bone in the U-13 Boys javelin with a PB of 24.29m.
● Bradley Cant in the U-15 Boys discus with a PB (1.25kg) of 23.26m.
● Orlagh Brunning in the U-17 Women high jump with a clearance of 1.50m.
● Sureyya Akay in the U-15 Girls B 200m with a PB of 27.7.
There were also PBs for Oliver Weddell, U-15 Boys 1500m (4.53.2, his first time under 5 mins); Austin Milner, U-13 Boys, 1500m (5.16.6); Theo Milner, U-13 Boys 1500m (5.38.8); Koye Sule, U-17 Men 100m (11.9); Henry Knox, U-17 Men 400m (56.5); Sidney Hammond, U-15 Boys 300m (42.6); Ross Bone, U-13 Boys 800m (2.57.7); Oran Blake, U-17 Men shot put (7.63m); Lauren Bone, U-15 Girls 1500m (5.24.7); Amelia Rodgers, U-17 Women 100m (15.7); Sureyya Akay, U-15 Girls 100m (13.3) and shot put (7.22m); Nathania Lewis, U-13 Girls 100m (14.6); Ayla Akay, U-13 Girls 100m (15.5), 200m (34.7) and 800m (3.12.1); Fenya Treece, U-15 Girls 200m (28.6); Isabella Pykerman, U-15 Girls long jump (4.29m); Esa Blake, U-15 Girls shot put (5.98m) and javelin (16.21m); and Orlagh Brunning, U-17 Women Discus (29.00m).
Other notable BAC performances included those of the several club members who each competed in three individual events to help boost team representation and points − Nathania Lewis, Sureyya Akay, Oran Blake, Esa Blake and Orlagh Brunning − and athletes including Sidney Hammond and Oliver Weddell who helped make up Bedfordshire Lions teams for the U-15 and U-13 mixed 4x100m relays despite not being sprinters. In fact, the U-13 squad finished second of the five teams in their race, while the U-15s finished only 0.4 secs off third place.
“It was great to see so many BAC athletes travel the considerable distance to the meeting and then perform so well – and thanks go to their families and other supporters for making that possible. I would also like to thank all the field officials and Carol Brunning for their efforts,” commented BAC chair, Mandie Trudgill.
BAC members of the Bedfordshire Lions team:
U-13 Girls: Nathania Lewis, Ayla Akay.
U-13 Boys: Ross Bone, Austin Milner, Theo Milner.
U-15 Girls: Sureyya Akay, Isabella Pykerman, Lauren Bone, Fenya Treece, Esa Blake.
U-15 Boys: Sidney Hammond, Oliver Weddell, Bradley Cant.
U-17 Women: Orlagh Brunning, Amelia Rogers.
U-17 Men: Koye Sule, Noah Buckley, Henry Knox, Oran Blake.
PHOTOS: Chelmsford AC, one of the other teams at the EYAL Thurrock meeting, has posted hundreds of high-quality photos of its athletes in action at that meeting. Many photos of the track events also include BAC athletes. To see those images, use this link and scroll down. https://lightroom.adobe.com/shares/901e15a0d5b14de7b1662e248caa6aef
Individual Results: Power of 10: https://thepowerof10.info/results/results.aspx?meetingid=595297
Team Results: http://eyal.org.uk/results/
Author: Phillip Hastings