Bedfordshire Track & Field County Championships

Sunday 9th May saw the Bedfordshire Athletics Championships take place at the Bedford stadium and the senior sof LBAC once again used the ladies 3K and men's 5K as the club championships.

First up, was the ladies 3K, in which Gail Duckworth, Jill Richardson and Amy Inchley all competed and set their own personal targets for the race. In chilly conditions with a stiff breeze blowing down the home straight, Gail was first over the finish line in 11.15 before Jill Richardson beat her time of last year, with 12.45 and Amy Inchley was 50 seconds quicker than last year in a time of 13.21.

Four junior members made the trip up to the stadium with Becky Davies, Joe McGarry, Jordan Clay and Natalie Kimble all enjoying their day out competing with the rest of the county's clubs. In the U15 100m Becky ran an excellent race to take the bronze medal in 14.15 seconds before improving on that performance by winning a silver in the 75m hurdles with 13.5. Becky completed a busy day in Bedford by competing in the long jump where her efforts of 4.35m saw her finish in fouth, but only 40cm behind the winner.

Joe McGarry decided to compete in two events on the day and put in good performances in both as he is a year young and so will be in the same age group next year. In the 200m his run of 28.55 saw him finish 5th, and that position was matched in a high quality 800m where he ran 2.38. Natalie Kimble was LBAC's only representative in the throwing events, but her efforts of 7.70 in the shot and 21.52 in the discus saw her gain 2nd and 3rd place respectively and gives her good targets for the rest of the season.

Jordan Clay had arrived early in the day with Nick, but his race was one of the last ones on the schedule so did a great job of supporting all the other athletes. However, with a small contingent returning the favour of shouting him around the bend he put in the finish of the day to overtake two other U15 boys in the last 50m of the 1500m to take the bronze medal a year young and get under 5 minutes for the first time.

In the senior men's 5K, which was near the end of the day, when the sun had come out saw five LBAC athletes taking to the track. Simon Coombes surprsied no-one to be first home first home, and second in the race in a time of 16.15 before Andy Inchley, Joby Hobbs and Nick Clay continued their current ongoing battle. On this occasion, Andy came out on top in 17.40 with Joby (18.10) and Nick finshing close behind. Finally, Fred Watt became the V60 county champion with sterling effort to complete the 12.5 laps in 20.45.