Irish ace Bergin blasts his way to Bedford club record in 5K

Irish international Matt Bergin posted a blistering club record time for the 5K distance as athletes from Bedford and District County AC mixed it with the best over the weekend.

Bergin powered to an excellent sixth place in the Armagh International, clocking 13 minutes and 47 seconds, which was on a par with the record he himself set in Ipswich last year.

Coached by brothers Simon and Mark Goodwin, he was the first of the Irish team home in the race, which also saw Bedford clubmates Paul Mizon finish 102nd in 14.43 and Jake Barraclough finish 168th in 15.12.

Josh Lunn, who is also coached by the Goodwin brothers, made his international debut in the Granollers Half-Marathon near Barcelona in Spain. Representing England for the first time, Lunn was 11th home in 67.12.

Bedford athletes also brought home a rich haul of medals from the East of England Indoor Championships at Lee Valley.

Gracie Wall, the reigning English Schools champion, took gold in the U15s’ high jump with a perfect record of clearances, failing only at 1.67m, just a centimetre below her lifetime best. Her performance propelled her to the top of the UK 2020 rankings.

Gold was also grabbed by Etienne Maughan whose indoor hurdling debut resulted in a terrific victory in a tightly-contested U17s’ final. Her semi-final time of 8.77 seconds placed her equal second in the UK rankings for her age group.

The English Schools’ octathlon champion, Stephen Simmons, won gold in the U20s’ long jump with his only valid leap of the competition, 6.34m, and also took silver in the pole vault, where he is still very much a novice but is showing lots of promise.

At the other end of the age range, in the masters category, Jemma Eastwood soared over 3.20m for a silver in the ladies’ senior pole vault, whuile Simon Eastwood and Mark Burgman claimed silver and bronze respectively in the men’s senior pole vault.

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