Good start to T&F season at Bromely 15/04/2023

Following on from the success of our hosting Blackheath & Bromley HAC at FB Fields last year, the combined JSAC and Guernsey Athletics team travelled to Bromley in mid-April for our first track & field event of they year.

Blackheath were celebrating the completion of their new clubhouse with the Norman Park International Challenge. There were 5 teams invited to the event – BBHAC, JSAC/GA, Ratoath from Ireland, Medway & Maidstone and Tonbridge AC. As per 2022, the event is aimed at Senior and U17 athletes and allows the athletes to get a taste of a team event.

The JSAC/Gsy team was small, but we put in some great performances – here are the highlights:

On the track, first athlete off was Olivia Allbut in the 400mH who produced an excellent 64.91 personal best. Later in the day she following this up with a PB in the 200m with 25.82. Olivia was obviously delighted and proclaimed Norman Park as her favourite track.

In the men’s 100m, Steven Mackay started the season with a sub-11 second performance, finishing in 10.98, his fastest legal time yet.

Big shout out to Ethan Rankin (U17) who tried the 400m for the first time.

Sam Maher won the men’s 1500m in a strong 3:58.65, hopefully confirming that last years injury worries are behind him.

Bradley Andrews-Callec was chasing an English Schools qualifying time and hoping for some good competition. He ran a dominant but solo race, lowering his PB from 9:09.81 to 8:53.51 to achieve his goal and finish nearly a full minute ahead of the senior men in the race.

In the field there was some confusion about how many throws some of the athletes were allowed and which athletes were counting, which was frustrating for the team and the athletes approach to the event.

Ali Higgins won the women’s Javelin with 34.56m and Daniel Dubras (U17) threw a PB of 40.67m and Tom Bennett a PB of 37.22m.

Alex Cotton produced at PB of 38.91m in the mens Hammer and one of 31.61 in the discus. Rachel Leck also got a 18.16m PB in the discus and a 7.00m PB in the Shot

We also had 4 officials who travelled with the team to help run the competition and gain valuable experience from hugely knowledgeable officials.

To round the day off, there was an excellent social at the new Clubhouse – you know it’s a good night when the staff are clearing up round you. There was also a chance to see the 40m indoor training track that Blackheath have built – just what JSAC aspire to.

Plans for next years event are underway. We hope this becomes an early annual fixture in our track & field season and we are able to take larger teams each year.