Dave Heath provided the icing on the cake of another highly successful weekend for Blackheath & Bromley’s athletes when he smashed his own World Record for the over 50s 1500 metres.

He only broke the record, which had previously stood for 31 years, two weeks ago when he timed 4.02.33. Now he has taken another four seconds off this as he ran 3.58.26 at Castres near Toulouse in France.

Meanwhile three Club members have been in Russia over the weekend competing for Great Britain at the European Team Championships at Cheboksary. They had mixed fortunes. On the Saturday Dina Asher Smith was in the 4x100 team who had to make late changes to their personnel after 100 metre winner Asha Phillip had to withdraw with a slight muscle tightness. Her replacement was 400 metre runner Laura Maddox who came in on last leg after Dina ran a strong second leg. Unfortunately the last changeover did not go to plan. The team finished way down on what had originally been expected.

Dina was scheduled to race the 200 on the Sunday and was strongly favoured to win and become the first Briton to have ever won the event. However, she went down ill overnight and had to withdraw.

Serita Solomon’s weekend didn’t go to plan either. She was due to race on the Sunday but twisted her ankle on the Saturday. However, treatment from the GB medical team saw her well enough to make the start line.

It was a very strong field but Serita got away quickly and held an early lead before catching the sixth hurdle. Remarkably she was able to keep on her feet and finish the race but she was 6th in her heat.

There was better news for second claim member Isobel Pooley who set a seasons best of 1.94 in the high jump to finish in 6th equal place. This was a World Championship qualifying height and she had a good attempt at what would have been a personal best of 1.97. Two more Club members have received International selections following their performances at the England Athletics Under 20 and Under 23 Championships at Bedford. Twins Cheriece and Shannon Hylton from Mottingham have been selected to represent Great Britain at the European Under 20 Championships at Eskilstuna in Sweden next month.

Athletes needed to win their event at Bedford and have the qualifying standard. Shannon took the Under 20s 200 metres in 23.22 and Cheriece was first in the 400 metres in 53.54. As a result they have been picked for these events in Sweden. Shannon is also in the 4x100 metres. They are also in a GB squad which will compete in Mannheim in Germany this weekend.

Louis Mascarenhas secured the discus title with a throw of 55.22. Crucially he is still slightly outside the qualifying standard for Sweden of 57.50. However, he still has a couple of weeks to obtain this.

Kerri Davidson picked up bronze in the triple jump with a leap of 12.33 and it was third also for Richard Webb in the 3000 metres steeplechase with 9.27.8, just outside his personal best.

Jazz Crawford was 4th in the 200 metres in 24.35. Niamh Bridson Hubbard and Will Fuller were 5th and 7th in their respective 1500 finals having set personal bests of 4.25.71 and 3.53.90 in their heats. Likewise Shaun Cooke and Scott Barker who set bests of 48.70 and 48.56 in their semi finals of the 400 before finishing 6th and 7th in the final. Jessica Keene was 7th in the 3000 metres in 10.08.40.

There were no golds in the under 23 age group as athletes attempted to win and gain selection for the European Under 23 Championships at Tallinn in Estonia. However there were three silver medallists. Jonathan Ilori has only just got back from the States but he still managed second place in the triple jump with a leap of 15.22. Matt Blandford was over 50 metres again in the discus with a throw of 52.24.

Remarkably Divine Oladipo is still an under 17 but she finished runner up in the womens discus with a throw of 42.56. Rachel Dickens was third in the 200 metres in 24.35.

Oliver Newport took 5th place in the long jump with a leap of 7.13.

Jessica Keene had also been competing the previous day at the South East Schools Inter Counties Championships at Erith stadium where she won the Intermediate Girls 3000 metres in 9.56.70. Further wins in this age group came from Victoria Wiltshire in the hammer with a throw of 49.44; from Holly Mills in the long jump (6.03); and from Yasmin Austridge in the 1500 steeplechase (5.07.91).

It was a high contest with runners up spots going to Charmont Webster-Tape in the 100, Parris Johnson (200); Anastasia Davies (80 metre hurdles); and Toyin Orelaja (triple jump) while third places were achieved by Kate Purser with a personal best in the 300 hurdles; Jamilya Robinson Pascal (long jump) and Anna Barnett (discus).

For the boys Joss Barber was second in the 1500 steeplechase as was Dele Aladese in the discus.

Eloise Locke enjoyed a double victory in the Junior Girls age group winning the shot in a new under 15s Club Record of 13.18 and taking the javelin with a throw of 38.46. Eve Keith continued the throws success as she won the discus with a distance of 35.03. Karina Harris was third in the long jump.

Henry James Cowie moved up in distance to win the Junior Boys 1500 metres in 4.16.65 while in the field James Lancaster was second in the hammer with 50.56 and George Pope was third in the pole vault. Many of these youngsters have been selected to represent their various counties at the English Schools Championships at Gateshead on the 10th and 11th of July. Those chosen so far include Junior Boys -Henry Cowie, Angus Harrington, Coleman Corry, James Lancaster,  Inter Boys - Joss Barber, Dele Aladese,  Senior Boys - William Fuller, Richard Webb, Shaun Cooke, Stefan Amokwandoh, Scott Barker, Junior Girls - Eloise Locke, Eve Keith,   Inter Girls - Magda Cienciala, Parris Johnson, Jessica Keene, Anastasia Davies, Yasmin Austridge, Jamiyla Robinson-Pascal, Toyin Orelaja, Victoria Wiltshire,  Charmont Webster-Tape, Katy-Ann McDonald, Isabella Hilditch, Divine Oladipo,  Holly Mills,   Senior Girls - Vivien Olatunji, Jazz Crawford, Leah Everson, Kerri Davidson, With so much taking place over the weekend it was almost inevitable that the Club’s League teams would not be at full strength. However, those not present at the Youth Development League, Lower Age Group Southern Premier 1match at Reading missed one of the most exciting matches in living memory. After over five hours of competition the Club won by just half a point scoring 535.5 to Southampton’s 535 with the hosts a mere six points behind.

Never has the mantra “every point is vital” been shown to be so true and every youngster in every event may a crucial difference to the team.

Fresh from their exploit’s the previous day the under 15 girls throwers continued their unbeatable form with Eloise Locke first in the shot and javelin and Eve Keith taking the discus. They were joined by Alexandre Kelsey who launched the hammer out to 37.14 for victory.

On the track Kelsi Cornish won the 800 and Karina Harris the 300 and they joined Zoe Martial and Antonia Alapafuja in the 4x300 metres which they won in 3.00.3.

For the boys Angus Harrington continued to show his great versatility by winning the 1500 and the javelin, the latter in a new personal best of 40.96. James Lancaster won the discus and hammer and Nathan Sureshkumar’s 31.34 to win the B discus would have won the A string had James not been competing. Peter Guy was first in the 800 in 2.08.1.

In the under 13 girls events Jessica Neal dipped under four minutes to win the 1200 metres in 3.59.7 and Akeiyla Robinson Pascal was first in the high jump with a clearance of 1.43. The boys did not have any A string wins but their talent, enthusiasm and team spirit did so much to contribute to the overall success of the Club.

What this means is that with just one match remaining the Club are almost certain to finish in the top two in the division and so qualify automatically for the National Final in September. However, as they head the table they will want to travel to Birmingham as Southern Champions.

It was not such a good result in the Southern Athletics League match at Southampton where the Club finished last of the four competing teams. This means that they are now in 13th place in the 16 team division after three of the five matches. The League placings are very close, however, so there is plenty to play for in the remaining two fixtures.

The best results came in the sprints with Duayne Bovell and Grace Sheppard winning the mens and womens A string 100 metre races. The only other winner was Christine Moore who cleared 3.30 in the pole vault.

Two Club members were in action at the British Masters 5km road walk championships at Horwich, a race which this year included an International competition. Shaun Lightman represented England and helped them to victory over Ireland and Scotland. He timed 30.33 while over a minute ahead was Roger Michell who timed 29.03.

Further Masters success came at last weeks Dartford Open meeting where Tom Phillips broke his own Club over 60s record for the 100 metres with a time of 12.8. This moves him to top of the National Rankings.

Down at Exeter Arena Chris Woodcock won the over 70s South West Vets 1500 metre title for the third successive year.  Keen followers of the Sport who bought last weekends Telegraph editions will have been disappointed to find zero coverage of the European Team Championships. However, they were pleased to see vice President Jane Bradshaw quoted in an article on buggy running. Jane is a personal trainer specialising in post natal fitness and recommends running as normally as possible with “hips held high and level and shoulders relaxed” and “your feet should land normally underneath your body”. The Club has running covered from the cradle to the grave.