Race Report - Midland Athletics League - 03/08/2025

What a great day at Yate on Sunday!

The combined Bristol & West with Team Bath outfit dominated the penultimate Midland league match at the home of our local rivals, Yate and district.

It has been tough convincing our athletes to travel the 3 hour round trip on the previous matches, but they definitely came out in force this weekend.

Although holidays and the UK trials still robbed us of some of our top athletes, we were still graced with English schools medalists, US college scholars, a Bermudan international and numerous county level athletes. More importantly the partnership with Team Bath seems like a match made in heaven as the club based at Bath Uni are producing athletes in all the areas B&W are weak in, namely - Hurdles, High Jump, the throws and Steeplechase. In this match they also added  valuable depth in the sprints and the middle distance events, which means we were able to be competitive even though a few dedicated members could not make it.

The result was emphatic. Coming into this match we were 6th out of 6 teams and destined for a quick return to division 2 with our local rivals, but following the near 90 points win, the overnight results had us moved up to fourth place ahead of Gloucester, who were pipped for second on the day by league leaders BRAT, and Rugby & Northampton. If we can beat these two teams in the final match, we will remain in the top division and be able to start thinking about National league status, again (maybe).

The great thing about the Midland league is that in addition to A),B) and C) strings, there are unlimited opportunities for guest runners. New for 2025 there is also a D) string for para athletes. We took full advantage of the opportunity by fielding 75 athletes including 20 guests and 2 para athletes. This was three times the number that turned up for the first two matches and  made for a fantastic family atmosphere in warm but blustery conditions.

It would take me an age to write a comprehensive report including everybody that competed, and frankly I’m too knackered . However I’m still beaming with pride at the support the athletes, officials (including those from Yate) , friends and family gave for this match. You have all made me feel like it’s all worth it after all.

I would like to give a special mention to some athletes though. Those that secured bonus points for exceptional performances and winners.

First year university student Destiny Sadiku hasn’t had the best season so far. After  joining a new training group in Manchester , he has struggled to repeat the great form he produced last season, but after just two weeks back with his main coach, Paul Weston, everything seems to have clicked again. He triple jumped a personal best of 14.57 and a windy 14.73 which must have restored the  faith in his own abilities.

Sam Barrett, another jumper from the same group also produced the goods with a 11.32 effort which was very close to the personal best she set earlier in the season.

It is very convenient that B&W and Team Bath share a throws coach, in Ken Holmes. He contacted me in the week to say that he was trying to convince a former Bath junior Javelin star, Tom Dollery, to come out of retirement. To my amazement Tom turned up and chucked the spear a whopping 53.75m to win the A) event. Such is the strength of Ken’s Bath team, Sam Walker who won the B) string, also got over the 50m mark.

Performance of the day was delivered by U17  Bath athlete Olivia Paul who ran the 2000m chase for the first time ever, and clocked a fantastic 7:02. This was the first of a few clean sweeps on the day, with Poppy Feasy and Emma Clarke winning the B) and C) string respectively.

Other winners were as follows : 

 Khiaama Kofi who came down from London to  tussle with a strong sprint team from Notts. She won the 100m by 1 tenth of a second (12.19) to revenge her defeat in the 200m, earlier in the day.

Jade Kinsey went under 58 seconds for the first time (57.92) on her way to winning the 400m. Under 17 Gertie Blewitt was just a second behind (58.99) to win the B) race, her first ever race at that distance.

It was a clean sweep in all the 800m races. Dage  Minors looked as if he was having a stroll in the park on the way to winning the men’s A) race in 1:58 , Ollie  Robertson Kurd ran his third 2:03 in approx 7 days to win the B) race. It was the second time Catherine Brookes (2:16 ) and Mairi Carver Brown ( 2:19) had raced during the week but they proved B&W ‘s dominance in the event. I’m not entirely sure how Maria Jones convinced the officials to let her run as a guest in the A) race but it paid off, as she got her first personal best  in around 5 years (2:17).

Other winners on the day included Nils Rehm in the D) string LJ , Barney  Colclough in the B) string 1500m, Archie Blee in the B) string 100m, Lee Gawler deputising for Alex Stewart in the men’s 2000m chase and Multi eventer Mayalee Osola who won the B) string long jump and high jump.

The strong team meant that for the first time this season we were competitive in the relays. The ladies won both their races in impressive style and the Men were pipped in the home straight by Gloucester in the shorter event and BRAT in the longer relay.

The final match is on Sunday 31st August in Leamington. It would be a real shame if we slipped back to division 2 given the progress we have made. 

Let me know if you are up for giving it one last push !

Regards, Jon Jackson 

Team Manager