Dina Asher Smith is now the fastest ever British female 100 metre runner. The 19 year old Blackheath & Bromley athlete timed 11.02 at the IAAF World Challenge meeting at the FBK Games at Hengelo in the Netherlands to take three hundredths of a second off Clubmate Montell Douglas record that had stood since 2008.

She actually finished in second place in the race, defeated by European Champion Dafne Schippers who Dina beat over 150 metres at the Great City Games in Manchester two weeks ago. Schippers set a Dutch record of 10.94 to win the race but after leading at half way Dina still closed in just eight hundredths of a second behind. This meant she improved her previous best of 11.14 by over a tenth of a second in her first race over the distance this season.

For most athletes it takes ten years to become an overnight sensation and the same is true of Dina who started her Athletics career at the Bees Academy at Norman Park with coach John Blackie.

Since then she has been English Schools champion at 200 metres at Junior, Intermediate and Senior level.

She has been England champion at the 100 and 200 metres in the under 15, under 17 and under 20 age groups. She is the current World Junior Champion at the 100 metres and European Indoor 60 metre silver medallist and was a member of the Great Britain 4x100 metre relay team who won bronze medals at World Championships in 2013.

The Kings College undergraduate was thrilled with her time and somewhat surprised as she felt her start could have been better and also thought she tightened up at the end.

Prior to Montell Douglas performance in 2008 the British record had stood to Kathy Cook since 1981. So in the last 34 years the only athletes to have run quicker have both been from the same Club.

The result is all the more impressive as it has been recorded in May with the season only just begun. Her achievement is receiving great attention with former World 100 metre record holder Maurice Greene visiting her at her training base at Norman Park to record an interview for Eurosport.

Clubmate Adam Gemili was also in action at Hengelo competing in his first race since last August. The European 200 metre champion finished in third place in the 100 metres in a time of 10.19. This is actually his fastest ever start to a season.

Like Dina his main target for the season is the World Championships which do not take place until August and after this the 2016 Olympics.

Scott Overall also has the Olympics in his sights. After finishing first Briton at the Virgin London Marathon, he returned to racing and finished in 5th place in the BUPA London 10000 metres in a time of 29.18. Alex Bruce Littlewood was 23rd in 30.30, Phil Sesemann 29th (30.53) and Peter Tucker 79th (33.05) two places behind European womens 10,000 metre champion Jo Pavey who made a late decision to race after being ill the night before.

Peter had not been unwell but he had also been competing at the weekend in the Kent Championships at Ashford where he was 4th in the 5000 metres.

It proved to be a highly successful couple of days for the Club’s athletes as they won 30 gold medals, 25 silvers and 22 bronze and set two Championship Best Performances, both in the Hammer.

One of these was in the Senior Womens event where Shaunagh Brown threw 61.36. She also added the shot and discus titles with distances of 14.91 and 46.19, thus collecting a tenth of the Club’s gold medals.

The sprint success at Hengelo was mirrored at Ashford with Duayne Bovell winning both the Senior Mens 100 and 200 metre titles in 10.86 and 23.04; and Grace Sheppard annexing the short sprint crown which means she has won three times in the last four years.

Last year the Club’s athletes only won one gold in the Senior age group so with Danielle Critchley taking the 800 metre title in 2.18.54; Becky McLinden the 400 metres hurdles (65.28); and Christina Moore the pole vault (3.30), this was a marked improvement on 12 months ago.

Next seasons Seniors also had a good weekend with Louis Mascarenhas first in both the shot and discus with throws of 15.20 and 53.04. On the track Will Fuller took the 1500 metre title in a time of 3.55.91; Leah Everson the 400 hurdles in 66.55; and Jazz Crawford the 100 metres in 12.30.

The second Championship Best came in the womens under 17 hammer where Victoria Wiltshire threw a distance of 46.48 for victory. More throws success came with James Whiteaker first in the javelin with 66.11 and Carys Marsden heading the discus field recording a distance of 32.86.

Isabella Hilditch won both the short and long hurdles races. She timed 11.86 in the 80 metre hurdles and 45.00 in the 300 hurdles while in the even longer hurdles, the 1500 steeplechase, Joss Barber prevailed in a very useful time of 4.36.88.

Jamilya Robinson Pascal won the long jump with a leap of 5.09 and two Club members were involved in the closest event of the day, the triple jump. Both Toyin Orelaja and Anastasia Davies leapt 11.16 but Toyin took gold as she had a superior second longest leap.

Eloise Locke was a double winner in the under 15s age group taking both the shot and javelin titles with throws of 12.64 and 37.82. She was also second in the discus but her 30.87 was beaten by Eve Keith who won with a distance of 34.20.

Elsewhere in the field George Pope won the pole vault with a clearance of 2.60 and Karina Harris the long jump with a leap of 5.05.

On the track Angus Harrington took the 800 metre title in 2.07.28 and he was also second in the 1500. Millie Smith went one better for the girls winning in 4.48.73 and more sprint success came from Katie Woolcott who secured the 100 metre title with a time of 12.94.

Tom Parker would normally have contested the Kents but being at Cambridge University it was more convenient to attend the Cambridgeshire Championships. He won the hammer with a throw of 57.57.

At the Surreys at Kingsmeadow, Cameron Starr won the under 20 mens 100 in 10.79 with Charmont Webster Tape first in the under 17 womens event in 12.13. Emily Martin won the senior long jump title in 5.67 and there was double jumps success for Kerri Davidson who was first in both the under 20 womens long and triple jump contests with distances of 5.42 and 12.21. Shaye Emmett took the under 17 womens pole vault title with a clearance of 3.60.

Laura Graham won the under 17 womens javelin at the Suffolk Championships with a throw of 34.78.

Shaun Lightman did not win gold at the Middlesex Championships at Lee Valley but despite being in his 70s he did still finish in third place in the 3000 metres walk in 17.47.75.

The previous Monday the Club hosted it’s first Open Meeting of the season at Norman Park and the most notable performance of the evening came from Henry James Cowie. He front ran the 800 metres to win and equal Jonathan Murray’s under 15 Club record of 1.59.27 which has stood since 1988.

On a weekend of such success, one of the Club’s oldest members featured prominently on the BBC programme “Britain’s Greatest Generation” which highlights the courage of servicemen and women during the Second World War. Life Member Fergus Anckorn is now 96 years of age but having survived nearly four years as a Prisoner of War of the Japanese it is a wonder he lived this long.

When he was finally released he weighed only five stone and at times had had to eat dogs, cats, snakes, rats and insects to stay alive. He survived the mass killing of doctors, nurses and patients at a hospital; was bombed, shot, and covered in creosote by a Japanese guard.

Any athlete feeling some pain while training might like to consider that it could be a lot worse.