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Zak Seddon at the Youth Olympic Games, Singapore - August 14th to 26th, 2010
Zak Seddon will be competing in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. The games will take place from 14-26 August 2010 in Singapore, involving all the 26 sports contained in the summer Olympic programme. There with 3,600 competitors, aged 14-18, from over 200 nations taking part. The athletics part of the Youth Olympics will run from the 17th to 23rd August.
Zak qualified for the games by winning the 2,000m steeplechase at the European Trials in Moscow in May and becoming one of only three European runners to qualify for the Youth Olympics.
The BBC will broadcast rolling highlights of the Youth Olympic Games from Singapore on the BBC Red Button, updated twice daily at 0800 and 1500. These highlights will also be available on BBC iPlayer. In addition the BBC News Channel and BBC Sport website will be covering all of the big stories from the Games. In addition Helen Skelton from Blue Peter and Ore Oduba from Newsround will be in Singapore reporting on Team GB and the Youth Olympic Games experience.
More information can be found at the following websites
Southern Mens League, Eltham - July 31st, 2010
On Saturday, the senior male side of Bracknell AC travelled to Sutcliffe Park in Eltham, for their final match in Division Three South, of the Mens Southern League. Winning nineteen of the Thirty Six events, including three double victories, where they took both.
“A“ and “B“ string honours and with a further eleven second places, Bracknell were convincing winners. With a fifteen point margin of victory Bracknell scored 111, Horsham came second with 96 points and London AC were third with 83 points. Kingston Poly ................
Young Athletes League, Boys - July 18th, 2010
On Sunday, the Bracknell combined boys and girls team, travelled to Ealing, for their fourth and final match of the season in the Young Athletes League. Competing in the Southern One North West Division, with three wins under their belt, Bracknell before the fixture, were top of the League
Wycombe Phoneix, also competing at Ealing in another match, lying second in the League, were realistically the only team with any chance of catching Bracknell. But even they, had to make up a 180 point deficit. On paper to end as Champions, Bracknell did not need to win, only to score a maximum of 420 points.
However, such is the spirit in the Bracknell team, that despite their numbers being depleted................
Young Athletes League, Girls - July 18th, 2010
On Sunday 18th July a lively Bracknell AC team made the short journey up the A40 to Perivale, Ealing to compete in the fourth and final Young Athletes League meeting of the 2010 athletic season. Having won the previous three meetings Bracknell were top of their league, and only needed a good performance to win the league and gain promotion to the Southern Premier Division next year for the first time. However the athletes all rose to the occasion and performed exceptionally in the sunny but windy conditions to dominate the meeting and win by almost 200 points.
The Under 13 girls all competed well with 7 wins and 2 runner up places from 9 events. Kennedy Bays won the 75m and 150m sprints in grade one times, equalling her personal best of 10.3s for the 75m and smashing her 150m personal best with 19.8s. Amy Bowers opened the meeting with a win................
English Schools Athletic Championships, Birmingham - July 9th/10th, 2010
Bracknell Boys had their best success at the ESSA for many a year. Two Gold medals and Two Silvers.
In the Inter Boys 1500m Steeple Chase on Friday, Zak Seddon taking gold broke the Championship record, with a time of 4.13.66. His younger Brother Matt Seddon, on Saturday, won the Junior Boys 1500m in a time of 4.13.1.
Silver Medals were won by Junior Boys. On Friday, Aaron Scardifield with a leap of 12.93m in the Triple Jump, then on Saturday, Alex Walker with a time of 11.51 in the 80M Hurdles.
In the Senior Boys, Mitchell White came fourth in the 800m, with a time of 1.53.79. Having in the heats, recorded a new PB of 1.53.67.
Southern Mens League - July 10th, 2010
On Saturday, the senior male side of Bracknell AC, ventured to Bromley to contest their penultimate match in Division Three South, of the Mens Southern League. In beautiful sunshine, indeed so hot, they had to lay on a water station for the 5K runners, the team won thirteen of the Thirty Six events, including three double victories, where they took both
“A“ and “B“ string honours. Winning the match by eight and a half points Bracknell scored 101, Medway & Maidstone came second scoring 90 5 points, Epsom & Ewell were third with 83 points and home team Paddock Wood came fourth with 72.5 points.
In the Throws, Team Captain Jan Drzewiecki, got the match off to a winning start, by taking the “B” string Shot Putt. In the Hammer, Robert Mungham and Jan took maximum points, winning both strings. This partnership continued in the last event of the day, the Discus. With Jan taking second place in the “A” string and Robert winning the “B”.
In a Javelin contest which seemed to take for ever and delayed the match by over half an hour, Matthew Why, no doubt suffering in the heat, had a rare off day, finishing third in the “A” string. Doing enough however, to allow his partner Elliott Heighes, who was making his seasons debut, to win the junior competition, with a new personal best throw.
In the High Jump Gary Newson was making his seasons debut. But sadly having equalled his best height from last season, had to retire, in order to protect an expensive knee operation. His partner youth Scott Hill, another making a seasons debut, took second place in the junior competition.
Bruce Fletcher who had earlier taken second place in the Pole Vault, recorded season best distances in the both the Long and Triple Jump. His partner in the Triple, Chris Larsen, yet another making a seasons debut, added forty five centimetres to his previous best effort.
This was just one of three PB’s Chris was to record on the day. Taking second “B” string place in both races, Chris knocked nearly two seconds from his previous best time in the 800m and a second from his best 400m time. Youth Ross Millar recovering from a back injury, also recorded a new PB taking second place in the senior one lap sprint. Not to be outdone, Henry Mitchell reduced his previous best time by nearly half a second, to take second place in the “A” string two lap race.
Later Henry was to record another second place, with a fine performance in the senior 1500m. Which allowed his partner Jamie Ashton, to win the “B” string metric mile. Jamie’s win being even more noteworthy, when taking into account, that just over an hour earlier, he had won a gruelling 5000m, in which he beat not only his rivals, but also all the contestants from the Division Two match, which was running concurrently. Jamie shared the 5K winners rostrum, with team mate Alex Mouradian, who won the “B” string race.
Jamie and Alex’s victory was the third double success of the day. The first coming in the Hammer and the second in the 100m. Where in a race with combined “A” and “B” contestants Stuart Phillips and Fraser Duncan showed the rest of the field the way home, finishing in first and second places consecutively. In the senior 200m, Stuart, sadly had to settle for second place. His “B” string partner Alex Carr, returning to club athletics, due to injury, after over two years out, stormed to victory, recording a time, less than half a second away from his best.
Bruce Fletcher was Bracknell only entry in the Hurdles races. Recording a new season‘s best time, Bruce was an easy winner of the 110m High Hurdles. Earlier in the 400m Hurdles, in his first outing at the event since 2005, Bruce was leading going over the penultimate hurdle but eventually had to settle for second place, being beaten in the last thirty yards.
Bracknell’s last track success of the day, came in the 4 x 100m relay. Where the squad of Phillips, Carr, Millar and Duncan, recorded the Club’s fastest time since 2005. Equalling the time set in July of that year.
English Schools Track & Field Championship 2010
Congratulations to the following Bracknell AC athletes who have been selected to compete for Berkshire Schools at the English Schools Track & Field Championships in July.
- Inter Boys (U17) - Shaun Wyllie (800m), Zak Seddon (1500m steeplechase)
- Senior Boys (U19) - Mitch White (800m)
- Junior Girls (U15) - Ellie Cooper (Javelin)
- Inter Girls (U17) - Rebecca Turton (800m)
- Senior Girls (U19) - Rachel McClay (800m) (for Hampshire Schools)
Young Athletes League, Girls - June 20th, 2010
On Sunday 20th June a strong Bracknell team of Young athletes travelled to Kingston for the third league meeting of the season. Bracknell went into the meeting Top of Division 1 South NW, winning this meeting would mean they would be in a good position to gain promotion to the Southern Premier Division after the fourth and final meeting in July. Bracknell were against strong opposition with Wycombe Phoenix (currently 2nd place in the league) and the home team – Kingston. With excellent team spirit, personal bests and fantastic performances Bracknell won the meeting with 612.5 points, Kingston 2nd with 456 points and Wycombe third with 441.5 points.
The U13 girls recorded 5 wins out of their 9 events, and 4 runners up. Amy Bowers started the meeting by winning the first event 70m hurdles with a personal best time. In the 800m Siannah Rayment & Amy Bowers dominated the race gaining maximum points with a win & second place respectively.........
Young Athletes League, Boys - June 20th, 2010
Kingston was the venue on Sunday, for the third fixture this season, in the Young Athletes League. Before the match, with two wins under their belt, Bracknell’s combined boys and girls team, were in first place, in the Southern One West Division. A mere ten points ahead of Wycombe Phoneix, who they were due to meet at Kingston.
The League has been completely restructured this season, with only three teams now attending a match, instead of four. The “A” and “B” string system has been dropped and now six athletes, two per club, contest each event, on a first past the post policy. The scoring based on six points for the overall win, five points for second place, down to one point for the runner up. The other big change this year, is the dropping of League points (three for winning, two for second place etc) in favour of accumulative match points. The highest total of match points scored over the season to decide the League winners..........
Southern Mens League - June 5th, 2010
Last Saturday, Bracknell AC Mens’ Southern League teams, were combined Hosts at the John Nike Stadium, for their third round matches. The "A" side competing in Division Three South and the “B” side in Division Four West.
In beautiful sunshine, the senior side won nineteen of the Thirty Six events, including seven double victories, where they took both......
South of England Track & Field Championships
On a rainy at times and very windy weekend 11 Bracknell athletes from U15 and U17 age groups travelled to Ashford in Kent for the South of England Track & Field championships. Despite the unfavourable weather there were many excellent performances and personal bests.
U15 Boys
Matthew Seddon ran a tactical heat on Saturday to qualify easily into the final on Sunday where he won gold in the 1500m, running the fastest time in the UK this year 4.15.50 he now tops the UK rankings.
Alex Walker started as favourite in the 80m hurdles as he is already top of the UK rankings. Despite a strong headwind Alex raced well to win his heat comfortably and ran excellently to win gold in the final in 11.91.
Aaron Scardifield competed in the Triple Jump. Currently ranked 6th in UK Aaron jumped a massive personal best of 12.55m to win gold.
Scott Halstead qualified on Saturday for the final of the 800m. On Sunday he ran a solid race in windy conditions to finish 7th, with a time just outside his personal best of 2:08.67
Ben Russell improved his personal best by 4cm in the high jump to jump 1.70m for the bronze medal.
U15 Girls
Two Bracknell athletes competed in the U15 girls competition. Ellie Cooper, currently ranked 6th in UK threw the javelin 30.92m in very windy conditions to finish a fantastic 2nd for the silver medal.
Vicki Birch competed for the 1st time in a competition of this standard, gaining excellent experience, she finished a creditable 5th in her heat, just outside her pb with 2.29.78
U17 Men
Matthew House collected the only medal for Bracknell U17 men, as he finished 3rd in the javelin, throwing 40.46.
Zak Seddon, a week after being crowned European Youth Olympic Champion in the 2000m steeplechase ran in the 1500m flat race, where he is currently ranked 10th in UK. He ran a tactical heat to qualify easily on Saturday, returning on Sunday for the final where he ran well in exceptional windy conditions to finish 4th in 4:01.12
Shaun Wyllie won his heat on Saturday in the 800m, qualifying well for the semi-final later in the day. Despite finishing 3rd and running a personal best of 2:00.12 this was not quite enough for the final on Sunday. However the windy conditions suggest that he will run under 2 minutes very soon.
U17 Women
Becky Turton ran an excellent race to win her heat in the 800m on Saturday. On Sunday she timed her run well to finish with a silver medal in a personal best time of 2:14.79, which places her in the top 20 in the UK.
Becky Berger-North ran well in her 1500m heat on Saturday to finish 5th, just outside her best time with 4:50.92. In the final on Sunday she finished 12th.
Alder Valley Boys League - May 30th, 2010
Information and the meeting time table are now available.
If you wish to attend, please could you let me know as soon as possible so I can organise the team. Also I need help with field events so if any parents are available to help us out with the events listed below then please let me know.
European Youth Olympic Trials - May 23rd, 2010
Zak Seddon won the 2000m Steeplechase final in Moscow in a time of 5:57.50mins (a PB). Zak was participating in the European Trials to select a team to participate in the Youth Olympic Games that will take place in Singapore between 14th and 26th August. By winning the 2000m Steeplechase in Moscow Zak has booked his place in the team.
Young Athletes League, Boys - May 16th, 2010
On Sunday, the combined boys and girls Bracknell team, competing at Home, In their second round match, in the Southern One West division of the Young Athletes League, had their second win of the season. Finishing over two hundred points clear, of their nearest rival.
Bracknell’s score was 588 points, with Thames Valley Harriers and Ealing sharing second place, tied on 377 points each. Of Bracknell’s overall total of 588, the Boys scored 298 points...............
Young Athletes League, Girls - May 16th, 2010
On Sunday 16th May Bracknell AC hosted the second round of the National Young Athletes League, after a comfortable win in the first round a confident team lined up in the second round hoping to do the same again. Again they didn't disappoint and Bracknell won the meeting by almost two hundred points ! Many athletes achieved personal best performances.........
Southern Men's League - May 15th, 2010
On Saturday, the senior male side of Bracknell AC, travelled to Lewes for their second match in Division Three South, of the Mens Southern League. Despite winning thirteen of the thirty six events contested, sadly Bracknell suffered defeat. Eastbourne won the match scoring 96 points, home team Lewes were second with 83 points, South London came third with 82 points and Bracknell were fourth with 77 points.........
Young Athletes League, Boys - May 2nd, 2010
On Sunday, the combined boys and girls team from Bracknell AC travelled the short distance to Eton, for their first outing this year in the Southern One West division of the Young Athletes League.
Since last season the League has been completely restructured. Firstly, instead of four, now only three teams compete in a match. Secondly, the structured “A” and “B” string system has been dropped and a first past the post policy has been adopted. In previous years the marking was based on two different competitions per event, with four points for first place, down to one point for last. Now with a maximum of only six athletes competing each event all athletes compete together. With the scoring based on six points for the overall win, five points for second place, down to one point for the runner up. Therefore making it possible, for a team to score eleven points per event instead of the previous eight.............
Please note the home YAL match is @ Bracknell on 16 May starting @ 11.30hrs
Young Athletes League, Girls - May 2nd, 2010
Bracknell AC Young Athletes travelled to Windsor on Sunday 2nd May to compete in the opening match of the National Young Athletes League. Even though the day was cold, wet and windy the athletes competed well against Chiltern and Camberley to easily win their match by 95 points!.............
Please note the home YAL match is @ Bracknell on 16 May starting @ 11.30hrs
Southern Men's League - May 1st, 2010
On Saturday, the senior male side from Bracknell AC ventured to Sutcliffe Park, Eltham to contest their first match in Division Three South, of the Men’s Southern League. Fortunately they did not suffer the humiliating defeat of the previous year, taking a well-deserved second place to a strong home side. Cambridge Harriers won the match scoring 119 points, Bracknell were second with 78 points, Tunbridge Wells came third with 75 points and East Grinstead were fourth with 58 points.
Unfortunately for Bracknell, Cambridge Harriers also have a British League team. With the British League season, not yet under way, athletes who normally compete in the Higher League, are allowed to contest the Southern League. This made for a large disparity particularly in the throws, where with the exception of the Javelin, not one of the throwing events was won by a normal Southern League contestant.
The Javelin being the exception to the rule was thankfully won by Bracknell, where Matthew Why took the honours. His “B” string partner Jeremy Sanders ably assisted Matthew. Jeremy making his debut for the side threw a personal best to win the junior event.
For the remaining three throws, Jeremy was partnered with Team Captain Jan Drzewiecki. Their best result coming in the Discus where they both took second places, Jan taking the senior honours.
In the short sprints, Fraser Duncan took third place in the 100m and his partner Doug Gray, making his club debut, took second place in the “B” string race. The partnership of Lyle Duncan and youth Ross Millar who was making his senior debut, both took second places in the 200m. Lyle had earlier taking another second place in the 400m Hurdles.
Mitchell White won both the 400m and 800m races, Mitchell recording a new personal best time in the two-lap race. In the 400m Doug Gray, who came second in the “B” string, partnered Mitch. In the junior 800m race Chris Higgins, took the winners rostrum. Chris later went on to win the senior 1500m, with Sam London taking second place in the junior race.
The 5K saw the usual finishing positions reversed. With Alex Mouradian taking rare “A” string honours, finishing second in the senior race. Allowing his Partner Jamie Ashton to win the “B” string 5000m.
Please note the SML home match is @ Bracknell on 5 June starting @ 1300hrs
Southern Women's League, Watford - 24th April, 2010
Results for this event are now available by clicking here. Bracknell AC came second overall with a points total of 81. Watford (the host club) camme first with 90 points.
Summer 2010 Fixture List
The summer track and field fixture list is now available. Copies will be available in the clubhouse by the end of the month.
A win and strong showing at the National Cross Country Championships - Leeds, 27th February 2010
Last weekend saw 20 Bracknell AC athletes with coaches, friends and family travel north to Leeds to compete in the National Cross Country Championships on 27th February. After a frosty start the rain stayed away leaving overcast skies and a very muddy parkland course, with the main feature being Hill 60 - getting its name from the 60 degree angle of the slope!
The highlight of the day for Bracknell AC was at around 12.30pm in the Under 13 girls race. The course was 3km and with over 400 finishers aged 11,12 and 13 it was one of the biggest young athlete races of the day. Congratulations to Hope Goddard, 11, who won and was crowned National Champion, her twin sister, Grace Goddard finished only a few seconds behind in 4th place and with Siannah Rayment finishing 58th and Vicki Birch 65th. The Bracknell under 13 girls also won gold medals in the team competition, out of 51 teams. All the athletes are coached by Bev Kitching from Bracknell AC and have trained really hard for this race - well done. It is the first time for Bracknell AC that an individual has won a National cross country title and the team have won gold!
Another good performance by "Bev's girls" was in the Under 15 girls race over 4km, with the team finished an impressive 7th, as a result of good performances by Becky Berger-North 29th (who had just returned from holiday), Fern Brereton 32nd, Philly Bowden 100th and Becky Turton 117th. Grace Collins finished well in 206th place. In the Under 17 womens race over 5km all the Bracknell girls ran well - Ella Row 71st, Dani Seddon 86th and Lauren Rayment 146th but unfortunately with only three runners did not have a team.
After excellent performances in the Southern Cross Country championships the Under 15 boys and Under 17 men were looking forward to racing the rest of the country. The under 15 boys were off first, their course was 4.5km. Due to injury and illness Bracknell only had two runners in this race - Adam Wimbledon and Matt Seddon. Adam finished a creditable 33rd with Matt 4 seconds behind in 40th place out of almost 400 runners.
The Under 17 men had to run up Hill 60 twice during their 6km course, which by now had become a mud bath! Even so Bracknell's Zak Seddon and Mitch White attacked the course, resulting in impressive performances - Zak finishing 10th and Mitch 16th. Sam London, recovering from a cold, ran a solid race to finish 225th.
The final race of the day, took place in a sea of mud, it was the Senior Men's race over 12k, and runners had to run up Hill 60 3 times! Only 3 Bracknell athletes had travelled north for this race and with around 1500 finishers Alex Mouradian ran well to finish 327th, whilst Charlie Hazelrigg finished around the top third in 544th place. Unfortunately Jamie Ashton failed to finish due to illness and injury.
Well done to all the Bracknell athletes who competed, and thank you to the coaches who prepared the athletes so well for the day, and friends and family who travelled to support.
Berkshire County Indoor Meeting @ Eton Indoor Arena (TVAC)
Seven athletes from Bracknell tested their fitness half way through winter training by competing in the second winter indoor meetings at Eton Indoor Arena (TVAC) over 60m, 60m Hurdles, Triple Jump, and Long Jump incorporating the first part of the Berkshire Indoor Championships (60m, Long Jump and Triple Jump).
Sophie Papps ran an impressive 60m in a PB of 8.02s winning the County U17 Women's event and Stuart Phillips ran a fast 7.36s in the Senior Men event.
In the U15 60m Hurdles, Alex Walker ran a very quick PB of 9.16s, Ben Russell also ran well for a PB of 10.48s and Reece William running his first race as an U15 ran well to record a time of 11.76s. Sara Henderson in the U20 Womens ran a solid 11.14s.
Aaron Scarified jumped an impressively 11.51m winning the Triple Jump with a new PB and Ben Russell finishing 2nd jumping a PB in every round of the competition finishing with 9.99m. In the U20 Womens event Sara Henderson jumped 8.49m.
In the Long Jump, Aaron Scardifield and Alex Walker both jumped PBs. Aaron winning with a good jump of 5.22m and Alex jumping 5.00m.
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