B&B in action at National Relays
7:37am Monday 24th October 2011 in Athletics By Pat Calnan
Blackheath & Bromley’s finished in 39th place in the womens National 4 stage Road Relays at Sutton Park. With a mixture of youth and experience they were the first team from Kent to finish.
Joint team manager Jane Bradshaw brought the Club home in 58th on the traditionally tough opening stage with a time 16.40. She was the quickest for the team on the day but as the first leg is always loaded the Club moved up on each leg.
Clare Parkin edged up a place on leg 2 (17.40) and Mel Kane (17.32) moved up another 8 on the penultimate stage. The other Joint Manager Jennie Butler anchored the quartet home with 16.50.
In the mens 6 stage event the Club finished in 50th place. Highlight of the day was the return to action of Scott Overall after his exploits in the Berlin Marathon where he ran an Olympic qualifying time. Understandably he still had the marathon in his legs but he, nevertheless, timed a respectable 17.19 on the second stage moving the team up 31 places after Andy Rayner closed in 56th on the opening stage with 18.49.
Jamie Darling (19.48), Jack Swallow (19.41), Ben Harding (20.11) and Glen Turner (20.33) had solid runs to secure the top 50 spot.
The National Young Athletes relays took place the following day at the same venue. Amber Reed was 29th on the opening leg of the under 17 womens race with 15.39 but sadly the Club had no more runners and the challenge ended there. Similarly Will Ruiz closed in 56th in the mens race with no one to pass on to.
It was better news in the under 15s age group where the girls achieved the Clubs highest placing of the weekend as they finished 19th. Lucy Sidey ran 15.25 on the first stage to close 23rd. Leah Everson slipped to 29th on the second leg with 16.17 before Niamh Bridson Hubbard moved through to 19th on the final stage with 15.21.
The boys team were 36th thanks to the efforts of Josh Dowling (14.44), Thomas Desborough (15.09) and Will Fuller (14.26) Had he not been at University in America, Alex Bruce Littlewood would no doubt have been in action at Sutton Park Instead he finished in 6th place at the Crimson Classic 5 mile cross country race at Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He timed 25.13.
Also on the International scene Colin Norris ran 2.46.01 in the Amsterdam Marathon. He finished in 173rd place.
The Keilder Marathon received heavy media coverage last week because a runner cheated by catching a bus for part of the race and crossing the line as if he had run the whole race. The real news as far as the Club was concerned was that Glenn Turner finished in 4th place in 2.58.45 a very useful time as this was a cross country marathon.
Steve Pairman was the Club’s first finisher at the Petts Wood 10km. He came 28th in 41.27 with Graham Coates 39th (42.28) and Amber Reed 61st (44.14) Graham was in action again at the Croydon 10km where he was 61st in 41.38. First finisher for the Club, however, was Fintan Parkinson who was 33rd in 39.13. Jack Kew was 67th. First woman for the Club was Rosie Ferguson in 87th with Helen Godsell 194th and Tina Harradine 335th.
The Club’s walkers continued their prolific race programme at the Surrey Walking Club Gazette Cup 4 miles race at Selsdon. Peter Hannell finished in 10th place in 40.57 while Shaun Lightman was 15th in 44.21, both are over 65s.
One very important end of season competition has been missed in recent reports, the Jim Day Memorial pole vault competition. Almost 200 athletes and supporters attended the event at Sutton Arena to remember Club Past President and to take part in a celebration of pole vaulting.
All the hard work of organiser Allan Williams was rewarded with 96 lifetime bests being achieved by 46 athletes.
Of course a number of the Club’s athletes took part. Rachel Arnheim won the womens under 23 event with a clearance of 3.63 and second claimer Sam Brown won the mens event with 4.43. Mark Longhurst was runner up in the under 20 mens event with 4.23. Emilie Blackwell was runner up in the under 17 womens event with 3.43. Murray Hilborne cleared 2.93 and Under 15 Helena Coleman cleared 2.33 At the recent SECTA Weights Pentathlon Colin Brand dominated the over 75s contest winning with 3591 points. Gordon Hickey was second with 2770. Barbara Terry was runner up in the womens over 65s contest with 3205 points.
Blackheath & Bromley caters for all ages, abilities and disciplines. For further information on your particular interest please e-mail enquiries@bandbhac.org.uk Alternatively leave details on the Club answer phone service on 020 8462 3115.
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