Weekly Update - 28th May 2025

London Schools Combined Events Championships, Lee Valley (Wed. 21st May)

Cambridge Harriers had two athletes compete at the London Schools Combined Events Championships at Lee Valley, reports James Floyd. Sophie Floyd came 2nd 🥈in the junior girls pentathlon. Sophie scored 2,292 points and was only ten points behind 1st place. Her performance included new PBs in the long jump (4.35m) and high jump (1.30m). Elizabeth McKen came 3rd 🥉 with 2,238 points, new PBs in shot (7.18m), high jump (1.35m), and an awe-inspiring debut 800m performance (2:52.13s). Both girls progress to the regional rounds to represent London in June.

BMC Bury Grand Prix, Bury, Manchester (Sat. 24th May)

Holly Dixon recorded a personal best of 4:13.97s over 1500m, finishing second in the women's A race at the BMC Grand Prix in Bury.

British Masters Throws Pentathlon, Horspath, Oxford (Sat. 24th May)

At the BMAF Throw Pentathlon on Saturday in Oxford, Warwick Dixon won the M90 age group, amassing 2981 points, (SP 6.87m, DT 19.66m, HT 20.14m, JT 15.28m & WT 9.32m). All his performances (with the exception of the weight throw) are inaugural M90 club records.

Natalie Mann took bronze in the W40 age group with 2110 points, (SP 8.20m, DT 24.06m, HT32.00m, JT 20.41m & WT 8.58m).

UK Youth Development League - Upper, Eltham (Sun. 25th May)

The YDL Upper age group is a huge undertaking for any club, reports Mick Bond. There are 144 spaces on the declaration sheet for team managers to fill and for instance you need eight steeplechasers and six pole vaulters to get a full house! We did get close however with 63 of our Under 20’s and Under 17’s signing up to compete and 135 spaces out of 144 getting filled (including five steeplechasers!).

Daniel Whitehouse & Aniket Iyengar

The day wasn’t just about quantity however there was lots of quality too, including two club records being broken.

Although we got relegated from the Premier Division last year this match was as tough as anything we faced then. In the first match in April, we finished second to Woodford Green, and with home advantage and a fuller team we were optimistic about turning the tables on them. In the end however it was not to be with Woodford filling just about every space and having six pole vaulters to our none, resulting in a final score of 743 to our 708. Highlights as follows:-

Under 20 Men: The highlight of the day came at the end of the meeting when the 4x100 team of Rahaan Beckford-Collier, Michael Somade, Reuben Perry-Smith and Dayne Douglas broke the club’s 4x100m record winning with 42.19s. Tomisin Awolowo had a busy day winning the 400 hurdles, high jump and B-string 110 hurdles as well as picking up 2nd place in the shot. Pelumi Akande had a welcome return to the squad with valuable second places in the javelin, discus and triple jump.

Under 17 Men: Elijah Olaleye broke his own 400 hurdles club record at the Bruce Longden Hurdle Fest on the Saturday at Chelmsford (54.04s) and then went even quicker on Sunday setting another club record of 53.74s which broke the league record as well! Hans Nmaju had his first go at 400 hurdles and won the B-string along with his speciality the A-string 100 hurdles. Michael Bridge returned from rugby duties with Saracens to win the shot (15.84m), discus (43.62m) and take second in the javelin (38.71m). Daniel Obike (pictured) was a comfortable winner of the high jump clearing 1.90m for the third time this season.

Under 20 Women: Amelia Lawrence and Emer Tynan teamed up to take both strings of the 3000m with Amelia returning later in the afternoon to second in the 800m. There were also wins for Hannah Bridge (Shot 11.18m), Lily Gayle (100H  15.4s) and Keziah Olaleye (400H 64.66s).

Under 17 Women: Emily Cadman (pictured) actually ran with and beat the Under 20’s in the 200m recording a time of 24.66s. The Under 17 women cleaned up in the hurdles events with Tess Hepple and Nia Thomas taking A and B-string wins in the 80 and 300 hurdles whilst Meredith Cummins and Isabel Brand added A and B wins in the steeplechase. Emily also ran an incredible final leg of the 4x300m to overhaul the Woodford athlete in the last 10m.

Edinburgh Marathon (Sun. 25th May)

Sally Carr and Michael Taylor had to contend with horrendous wind, torrential rain and some beautiful sunshine during the Edinburgh marathon on Sunday. The race was Sally's debut at the marathon recording a time of 3:46:57. Michael crossed the line in 3:06:11.

Folkestone Coastal 10k (Sun. 25th May)

In Folkestone U17's Delilah Lester and Jude Maslin made their 10k debuts recording times of 47:16 and 53:36 respectively. Delilah's dad, Jon Wilson clocked a time of 47:53.