Another week, another two Senior Club Records at Blackheath & Bromley. After Dina Asher Smith set a British record over the 100 metres last week and Lorraine Ugen moved to third on the long jump all time list the week before, it was the turn of Adam Gemili and Serita Solomon to take centre stage.

Serita was in action in the Salzburger Leichtathletik Gala in Austria where she improved her best over the 100 metre hurdles to 13.04.

Adam was at Bedford for the stadiums annual International Games and he took full advantage of a +3.7 per metre second wind to run under 10 seconds for the first time finishing in 9.97. The breeze was above the legal limit for record purposes but is the fastest wind assisted 100 metre time by a Club member. In his first race of the day he ran a legal 10.12.

It was a good day for the Club’s sprinters with Kieran Daly timing 10.42 after injury; Tremayne Gilling 10.62; Duayne Bovell 10.79 and Cameron Starr 10.81. In the 200 metres Kieran Daly and James Alaka timed 21.12 and 21.32 and Shannon Hylton won her race in 23.01. Twin sister Cheriece ran 54.31 in the 400 metres while Rachel Dickens clocked 55.22. In the mens 400s Shaun Cooke timed 49.38 and Matthew Jones 52.56.

Molly Scott timed 13.83 and 14.12 in her 100 metre hurdles races.

In the field events, new second claimer Isobel Pooley won the high jump with a clearance of 1.91 and it was first also for Chioma Matthews in the triple jump with a leap of 13.39. Shaunagh Brown was second in the hammer with 62.17 and third in the discus with 47.48. Louis Mascarenhas threw 52.95 in the mens contest although he was throwing the junior implement. Lorraine Ugen finished in third place in the long jump at the Diamond League meeting at Eugene, Oregon in the United States. She jumped a wind assisted 6.89 for third placed and also leapt a below the legal limit 6.81.

Fellow jumper Jermaine Olasan stretched out to 7.02 in the Athletisma meeting at Namur in Belgium.

Phil Sesemann made a big improvement over the 1500 metres at the British Milers Club event at Sports City, Manchester. He dipped under 3.50 for the first time as he clocked 3.48.68.

The Club finished third in their second Southern Athletics League match of the season at Chelmsford. Highlight on the mens side was a new over 40s Club record from Steve Timmins in the Hammer. The previous best of 40.68 had stood to Chris Ellis since 1987 so Steve’s throw of 45.18 was a mighty improvement. This was the only victory in the mens events all afternoon, A or B string.

The women got off to the best possible start on the track with a double victory in the 400 hurdles for Becky McLinden and Leah Everson. Jessica Keene won the 3000 metres in 10.21.2 with Kelsey Fuss making it maximum points in the B string. The other A string win came from Anastasia Davies in the 100 metre hurdles.

Highlight in the field was a personal best throw of 45.63 by Divine Oladipo in the discus less than half a metre off Shaunagh Brown’s Club Record for an under 17. It is the furthest in the country this year by an under 17. Christine Moore won the pole vault with a clearance of 3.30.

The Club’s youngsters won their second Southern Premier Division One fixture of the UK Youth Development League, Lower Age Group at their home match at Norman Park. They reversed positions with Southampton , who won the opening fixture, and with a superior points score they head the table with both clubs on 11 League points.

Under 15 boys 800 metre Club record holder Henry James Cowie did not compete in his number one event. Instead he won three other A strings. He equalled his personal best of 12.2 in the 80 metre hurdles to win in the same time as the runner up. He also took the 300 metres in 38.8 and the high jump with a clearance of 1.60. He wasn’t needed in the 800 because of the quality of the Club’s middle distance runners. Angus Harrington won in a national grade one time of 2.04.7 and Peter Guy’s 2.07.0 would have won the A string had Angus not been competing. All three rounded off the afternoon in the 4x300 metres with Thomas Mills which they won by some distance in 2.42.1.

The under 15 girls team of Antonia Alapafuja, Zoe Marshall, Karina Harris and Grace Scopes won their 4x300 in 3.02.0 and further track success came from Katie Woolcott with a grade one 12.6 victory in the 100 metres and a 2.22.8 clocking for Kelsi Cornish in the 800.

Some fine throwing saw Eloise Locke and Eve Keith win both strings of the shot with grade ones of 12.55 and 11.30 respectively. Eve set a personal best of 35.61and Eloise was runner up in the javelin with a grade one of 33.96.

Tareq Bannour continues to impress in the under 13s age group with wins in the 100 and 200 in times of 12.9 and a personal best of 26.0, the third fastest in the country this year. Middle distance success came courtesy of Rowan Fuss who won the 1500 in 4.32.1, having taken part in the Bromley park run in the morning. This is the fastest time in the country this year. Ellie Dolby moved to 7th in the National rankings as she won the 800 in 2.26.1; and Jessica Neal took the 1200 in 4.03.7.

Highlight in the field came in the girls high jump where Akeiyla Robinson Pascal cleared 1.44. The success wasn’t just on the track and in the field as with good weather and a bumper crowd, including at least one local councillor, there were healthy sales of refreshments. A sale of second hand kit raised more valuable cash to support the Club’s under 20 womens team who represent the UK in the European Champions Club Cup in Istanbul in September and the under 13s and 15s National Final expenses. On the basis of Saturdays result they are on course to be one of the two Southern qualifiers. As well as equalling the Club 800 metre record Henry James Cowie has also recently broken the Under 15 boys pentathlon record at the London and Kent Schools Combined Events Championships at Lee Valley. Wayne Gray’s record has stood for 20 years but Henry exceeded this by over 100 points to score 2993.

He won four of the five individual events, the 800 in 2.03.8; 80 metre hurdles 12.2; long jump 5.25 and the shot 13.45. He was second in the high jump with 1.65 just two centimetres off his best. Wayne Gray went on to become a professional footballer as did sprinter and sometime cross country runner Kieran Richardson who played in the FA Cup Final this weekend for Aston Villa. It has been a busy couple of weeks for Henry as he also ran in the Westminster Mile races over the Bank Holiday weekend finishing 7th in the under 15 boys race. Niamh Bridson Hubbard was 2nd in the under 20 womens race in 5.03 with Tom Desborough 7th in the mens race in 5.06. Naomi Kingston was 4th in the under 15 girls race in 5.17. Holder of five senior Club Records Shireen Bailey was runner up in the Olympians race only beaten by Steve Cram. She timed 6.03.

On this form Shireen would no doubt be picking up medals in Masters competitions in the over 55s age group. As it was, those Club members who competed in the Southern Counties VAC Championships at Ashford all came home with at least one gold medal. Most decorated were Barbara Terry and Jackie Montgomery who won three gold medals each. Barbara was first in the shot, discus and hammer in the over 65s age group with distances of 7.00, 18.27 and 22.83. Jackie won the over 50s pole vault with a clearance of 2.40; took the long jump with 4.12; and the 200 in 32.14.

Tom Phillips and Helen Godsell both won sprint doubles in the over 60s age group. Tom won the 100 in 13.10 and then added the 200 title in 27.45. Helen won the womens titles in 14.65 and 31.18.

All four were back in action on Monday night for the latest fixture of the Kent Masters League at Canterbury where both mens and womens teams finished in second place and are second overall in the League for the season.

Helen Godsell and Barbara Terry scored maximum points for the women in the over 60s age group. Helen won the 100 in 15.1 and Barbara the discus with 19.52, nearly nine metres further than the runner up.

Wins for the men came from Tom Phillips in the over 60 100 metres in 13.4 and from Tim Nash in the over 50s 800 metres in 2.26.7. Masters team manager John Turner was in action himself over the weekend but not on the track. He timed 4.06.18 in the Kent Roadrunner Marathon at Gravesend to finish in 153rd place. Alexis Tobin was first home for the Club in 110th (3.53.50) with Pete Rogers 269th (4.47.16).

Race Walker David Hoben has been competing over an even longer distance. He was in action in the Dutch 50km race at Weert where he was 7th in 7 hours one minute and 15 seconds.

Following her British record last weekend, Dina Asher Smith will compete at the Sainsburys Birmingham Grand Prix this weekend over the 200 metres. She faces a top class field which includes Allyson Felix and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce who between them hold 14 world sprint titles.

Competing in the Midlands will mean Dina misses the Club’s opening Premier Division fixture of the UK Womens League at Edinburgh. With the top eight Clubs in the country going head to head it will be a tough match for the Kent Club but their preparations had been facing severe disruption. Having spent a considerable amount of money on train fares there was a proposed strike by the Rail Maritime and Transport Union which meant they might have been forced to make alternative travel arrangements at the last minute. Thankfully the strike has now been called off.

The men travel to Southampton for the second British Athletics League Division One of the season. They will be looking to build on the solid fourth place achieved in the first match but again they will face strong opposition against some of the best teams in the country. With all this travel they will need something to pass the time and what better than the latest edition of Athletics Weekley which features a report of Dina’s British record together with an interview with her and coach John Blackie; plus an interview with the remarkable Dave Heath who is set to break British and World Masters over 50s age group records 13 years after suffering a heart attack following a blood infection.