Medals for Bedford athletes at Southern Championships with reward of England team call-up

Bedford & County AC’s athletes were in action on Saturday in the South of England Cross Country Championships, which were held at Beckenham Place Park, South London, writes Tony Forrest.

With a somewhat reduced squad, the Senior Men’s team were realistically looking at a top 10 finish rather than the usual podium position. The club’s Junior (U20) Mens Team were also understrength so a podium position for them also looked unlikely. But with Ben Alcock and Harry Brodie both in really good form, hopes were high that they could both challenge for individual medals in the Senior and U20 races respectively.

After 3k of the Junior race, it was apparent that not only was a medal looking almost a certainty for Harry, but that the medal could be gold. Running in a group of 4 or 5, Harry was looking extremely comfortable, and so it proved as in the second half of the 8km race he gradually applied the pressure and broke clear to stride to a comfortable 12secs victory with a time of 25:39. He was followed home by Alex Alston in 26th place just ahead of Jamie Webster 27th. With Tristan Cook finishing as 4th scorer in 47th, the Team placed 5th just 20 points off the medals. Harry West and James Vinnecombe were 60th and 74th respectively.

As the 15k Senior Men’s race got underway, Ben Alcock wasted no time in getting in to the front of the field of over 700. As the race wore on a group of around 10 athletes pulled away and was gradually worn down to a group of 4 with 2 miles to go. Ben battled hard over the closing miles, and a strong finish enabled him to snatch the 2nd place silver medal in the last 100m. With an injured Dan Jarvis pulling out after a couple of miles whilst in 15th place, Bedford had only the minimum 6 runners required to finish a scoring team. But with Will Mackay 63rd, Craig Emmerson 88th, Andrew Headley 129th , Richard Henderson 189th and Steve Herring 249th, the team still managed to achieve the hoped for 10th place.

The truly superb performances by Harry Brodie and Ben Alcock reflected the hard work they have both put in under the excellent guidance of coaches Simon and Mark Goodwin.

Ben Alcock has been rewarded with selection to run for England in Diest, Belgium on Sunday 13th February.

The highlight from the club’s female distance runners was provided by the Under 15 girls, who came eighth as a team, with Milly Dunger finishing the 4500m in 15:22 to take fifth place, and Lyla Danobrega not far behind in ninth (15:28).

A week earlier, on 23rd January, it had been Bedford and County’s multi-event athletes who had starred in the British Masters Indoor Championships in Sheffield. Leanne Buxton won the W40 Pentathlon, and Penny Butcher took the bronze medal in the W60 event. Also on 23rd January at Beachley, Jack Goodwin continued his recent run of good form with a 29:32 clocking to finish fifth in a high quality 10K.

The focus now moves to the National Cross Country Championships in 4 weeks time, where with the expected much strengthened squads, both Senior & Junior Men’s teams will be looking for podium positions.