Bobsleigh anyone ?

 

Lewis Byng – 3rd in the World U20 Rankings.
This week we have news of Lewis Byng’s latest endeavours as he climb’s to 3rd in the world U20 rankings and 2nd on the UK U20 all time list.

There’s news of 5 of our juniors competing at Rugby in an Open T&F event.

Imy Sheppard and myself were competing at The Pingles Stadium – our second home – at the weekend and there’s also a fabulous item on ex member Felicity Bee and her latest challenge – the bobsleigh!

Finally, as news was a bit thin on the ground this week I’ve been delving in to the club archives for another Trip Down Memory Lane.

It’s the last few days of this month’s Magic Mile and Warwickshire Road Race League competition and hopefully I’ll have further news on these next week.

Take care

Best Wishes

David Jones.

Lewis Byng.

Report – Paul Bearman

In the recent Loughborough Invitation meeting Lewis Byng became the UKs 2nd best U20 shot putter, throwing the senior 7.26kg shot with a huge throw of 18.56m, which also lifted him up to 3rd in the world U20 rankings.

Lewis has been in good form in training and this is a stepping stone towards the forthcoming British Championships.

Reflecting on the competition Lewis said “it was raining and the circle was greasy and so hopefully the conditions will be better in the British champs and I can get nearer to Carl Myerscough’s U20 record of 19.46m”.

Niamh Hillard showing perfect form.
Seb Hillard warms up before his race at Rugby !

Kettering and Rugby & Northampton AC Open Series.

Report – David Jones.

Five of our junior members competed at Rugby at the weekend, where the windy conditions made racing difficult.

In his first official competitive 1500m race, U17 Taylor Stubbins ran a superb race finishing in a time of 4:35.13.

Siblings Niamh and Seb Hillard competed in the 1500m and 800m races respectively, recording very satisfactory times of 5:21.85 and 2:40.36, especially considering their lack of competitive races this year.

Finally, Zach and Elfric McKenzie competed in 300m and 600m races. In the 300m Zach finished in 2nd place with a time of 42.36 and Elfric ran a personal best time of 2:01.38 to win his 600m heat.

Yours truly in the 800m at a wet and windy Pingles Stadium. For the avoidance of doubt I am not leading the two runners behind me. They were just about to lap me on the finishing line – in a 1500m race !
I’d like to say it was fun but I’d be fibbing.

Birchfield Harriers 4 Club Inter Club Competition.

Report – David Jones.

Last Sunday The Pingles hosted another T&F competition with Imy Sheppard and myself competing.

I was running in the 1500m but the wet and windy conditions were far from ideal.

My time of 5:49.8 was a season’s best and puts me in 3rd place in this year’s UK rankings for my age.

Imy competed in the 200m. Her time of 25.98 was a season’s best and just 19/100ths of a second off her PB. It was also almost a second quicker than her time the previous week.

Felicity Bee – now and then.

Felicity Bee.

Report – Paul Bearman.

Felicity Bee was a long standing member of the juniors and excelled as a multi eventer and then went onto specialise as a javelin thrower latterly with Birchfield and represented Wales at junior level on numerous occasions in the javelin.

Felicity is currently in her final year studying Medicine at Cardiff University with plans to become a paediatric surgeon. She has been spending the summer and the lockdown at home in Tredington and she got in touchwith me to ask if she could train with us when we returned to the track for her new challenge ….Bobsleigh!

Felicity was introduced to bobsleigh in October 2018 at the push track at the University of Bath but she had to wait 13 months for her first taste of the sport on the ice.

She joined the British Bobsleigh and Skeleton training squad at the start of the 2019/20 season after impressing during summer trials. She made her competitive debut in November 2019 when she finished 11th in the monobob event in Lillehammer and she went on to feature a further three times in that discipline throughout the 2019/20 campaign.

Felicity produced a personal best of eighth in La Plagne in March before bringing her season to a close by switching to the women’s 2-man bobsleigh at a week-long bob school at the same venue.

At the start the athletes push the sled as fast as they can over a distance of 65m from a standing start and this is where Felicity’s speed and power from her athletics training are considered such a great asset.

It’s great to see Felicity back training on the track and hopefully we will get to see her representing GB in the winter Olympics in the future.

A bonus for the club is that her mum Mandy has returned to coach and her experience is currently benefitting her U17 bubble of athletes.

It’s a constant fascination for me to see how some of our older athletes have moved into different sports and jobs associated with sport, not just athletics, but the grounding, fun, discipline, and experiences from their junior athletics days can open doors, not necessarily on the track or in the field, but hopefully lead to a healthy and successful adult life.

Trips Down Memory Lane.
The Grand Prix League from 17 years ago, with a very familiar name at the top of the table and winning by a comfortable margin.
National recognition for the Not the Roman Nine Race from the April 1991 Newsletter.
The newsletter from March 1990 stating that the junior membership had been stopped due to the fact that there were 50 members. As Paul Bearman said to me earlier in the week – we’ve come a long way.
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Junior Newsletter – March 2001
Runners World

UK’s Best Running Club

Below is part of our submission to the above in 2009.

We didn’t win. We wuz robbed!

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