Bexley Athletic Club

COACH WILL DEPART FROM AVENUE ROAD AT 9.15 am (£5 per seat)

Kent Young Athletics League – Sunday 3rd July – Canterbury High School- Knight Avenue, (SORRY < THIS IS A CHANGE OF VENUE FROM PREVIOUSLY GIVEN)
All of a sudden we are down to the last two matches of the season. The girl’s are chasing promotion to Div 1, the boy’s job is to stay up. So WE NEED YOU. Well done for everyone having a crack at everything
Please in conjunction with your coach let us know your availability and what you wish to compete in (we will do our best, but we can’t promise exactly)
Do remember to bring a packed lunch & suitable clothing & also you need proper kit that’s orange club top & black shorts (can be purchased at the club counter).
Times – the meeting starts at 11.30 (you must arrive 45 mins before the event), the last race the 4×400 relay is at 5.05
Address is
Canterbury High School Track
Knight Avenue
CANTERBURY
CT2 8QA

Remaining fixtures are
Last Kent League – Sutton Valence 31st July
Under 13 champs at Erith on Saturday & Sunday 17th & 18th September
Team managers are
Kevin Winch 01322-446822 – 07816-616755 – Girls
Alan Caiels 0784-6044531 – Boys
KCAA (the county web site has all your KYAL and Cross country results) NYAL (National Young athletics league)
UKA (UK athletics main web site), Bexleyac (our own site) Power of ten (has the history of most of your results)

Half term/time report (take your pick…)

Well, what a start to the season…As I write this now, on a damp Monday morning in Waltham Forest, we sit, undefeated, 2^nd in Division 1 on the Southern Mens League, with Portsmouth the only other team to remain unbeaten and scoring more events points. We meet them on July 30^th at Bedford, so if you are reading this, you are old enough to compete for us and you are fit, myself, my VC, Mr T Clench and Signore JG may be coming round to recruit you…Make yourself available!

So far, we have blooded a number of young athletes (so far, Billy S, Nick Armstrong, Luke Francis, Joe Gunton and Jake Hill), with the old guard standing (or in Phil Hawkin’s case, just about…) firm and always improving, the return of the Welsh Wonder, Graham Holder, strengthening the already mighty throws division and our West End star, Chris Stanton, maintaining his high levels of performance, while still discovering new events to try. Already, PB’s have been smashed, SB’s are tumbling all the time (yours truly has hit 3 in 3 matches) and the overall spirit within the team is a feeling that we are the best in the league at this moment in time. We also seem to have a great deal of strength in depth, which is something we have lacked over the years. It is a credit to the coaches bringing through this young talent that they are part of a successful team, while also hitting personal targets in tough competition.

I’ve said this before, but our team spirit is second to none in the league, with this point being made at Abingdon during our victory lap with the new team mascot, Harvey! Other highlights include JG and Junior Smith becoming weights for Jack Miller’s starting blocks at Newham; the welcome return to the track of Luke Brown; the return of Sir James (Jim) Clench to track officiating (with clipboard nearly being thrown); a 5k race which saw 3 athletes join halfway through and a leaky steeplechase at Abingdon and the most banter filled journey home from said match, along with a song which Luis Crane will be singing solo if all goes well!

Next match is July 9^th at Twickenham St Mary’s, gives us chance to rest, train and compete in some open meetings to stay sharp. There is one at Dartford on the 15^th of this month.

I am always proud to be the Captain of the team, but this season has been the best I have ever had while in this lofty position. It makes a grumpy thrower happy to lead such a committed and dedicated group of lads (for example, Tom for putting his body on the line at Newham last match after his own fault of listening to Luke ‘Always Injured’ Brown for trainer advice! and Martin doing the 400mH at the same meeting with about 5 minutes warning) into matches and be rewarded with the performances I have seen so far. The performances match our spirit and camaraderie, which has become, I believe, a driving force behind our team. Only halfway through though chaps, let’s keep this momentum going.

I will finish with this… Gentlemen, we stand on the verge of greatness. Stay fit, stay focused and there is no reason at all why we can’t make the promotion match…I’m not going to tempt fate by being overly optimistic, but we have the chance to create history within the club. Let’s grab this chance and make it happen!

In JG and Bexley we trust!

Shaun Medlen (El Capitan)

Kent league again -Top star performances plus through only a demonstration a fantastic performance in pole vault

Please see below reports for both the Boy’s & Girls from Blackheath & Bromley’s Norman Park

It was a bit de ja vue, from the first match at Ashford, numbers still short apart from the under 15’s girls. We are going through a transitional faze with many new youngsters putting on the orange vest for the first time and doing us proud, & promisingly next year most will still available in the same age groups. But the minus side is you need full teams hence the Boy’s finished 5^th simply down to not enough of them, the Girl’s first despite only two under 13’s.

If only – yes if only the pole vault was not just a demonstration in this league, Ailis McGovern cleared a height which her coach Gordon Lillis believes is one of the best this year in under 15 . Gordon now has a problem to source a longer vaulting pole to keep up with her superb performance

Girls

Under 13 Girls  Kerri Johnson & Maraine Bullen were our only entrants in this age group. Done remarkably well. Kerri won the Walk, 2^nd in the High & long jump. Marianne 1^st B string Long jump & 3^rd in 1000m & 70m hurdles.  We hope a bigger team for the remaining two fixtures to give them a bit company & get promotion back to where we belong.

Under 15 girls with almost every area covered & again with even two relay teams we won this part of the Div 2 match by a long way. With a full team it was hard to give everyone what they wanted but great team sprit as they tried everything. Notable performances are

Wins in the A string for

Kattie Butterworth (Grade 3) Long Jump also won the walk, Joanne Okusanya (Grade 4) Shot Putt – a double here with Reniquie Joseph also getting a grade 4. Victoria Blincoe (Grade 40 Discus – victoria also picked up a grade 4 in Javelin), Olivia Bailey 1500.   

In the B string

Apart from as mentioned above further wins for Marie Eremionhale in the walk, Eleanor Winch in the 800m & 300m, Abi Olagbaiye in the 200m with a Grade 4 & Joanne Okusanya in the 100m.

Allis McGovern, Monica Faulkner, & Temiloa Tewogbade finished at least 2^nd in their events to finish a fine performance  

It was a real pleasure to be associated with this team; everyone had a go at everything, never a complaint. With our depleted Boy’s teams the final league result does not reflect the very high standard many of our athletes set. The Girl’s done very well winning the match – but only two under 13’s ? There is only one message for you youngsters who didn’t make it – YOUR TEAM NEEDS YOU.

For full results check out the Kent county web site at

www.kcaa.org.uk

My thanks on the day to John Askew, Dave Winfield, Gordon Lillis, Carol Caiels for their support as officials & the parents who dived in and helped.

A Full Boy’s report will follow very shortly from Alan & Carol Caiels

Remaining fixtures for under 13,s & 15; s are

National Young Athletics League – Lewes (Sussex) June 5th

National Young athletics League – Erith June 19th

Kent League – Canterbury 3^rd July

Kent League – Sutton Valence 31^st July

Under 13 champs at Erith on Saturday & Sunday 17^th & 18^th September

Kent Young athletes team mangers

Kevin Winch   01322-446822    -  07816-616755   – KYAL Girls

Allan Caiels   0784-6044531     -  Boys