Jimi Tele and Bonne Buwembo struck gold at this weekend's English Schools Championships at Gateshead - and both set new club records too. Jimi's massive 13.64m junior boys triple jump mark won gold by 68cms and improved the club U15 record by almost 40 cms. He returned later to add relay gold as he led the successful Essex quartet. Bonne had to come from behind as Devon's Matt Smith's opening throw of 67.34m set the pace. Bonne eased past in round four and unleashed a new club record of 68.71m in round five to seal gold. Kike Oniwinde was close to her PB in winning bronze with 38.07m in very wet conditions as higher ranked athletes fell by the wayside. Nicola Hill won relay gold as the Essex senior girls squad dominated the race. She had earlier finished seventh in the 400m hurdles, once again contested in very windy conditions.  Georgie Bean placed a fine fourth in the Inter Boys' javelin with 57.10m but Brad Burr was unable to find his best form as he finished eighth. Charlie Moss was an excellent fifth in the Inter Boys' 200m in a fast 22.35s w/a and Laurence Goodacre made his English School's debut with a good eighth in the Inter Boys shot with 14.00m     added 13/07/08   

Three youngsters from the Hornchurch-based hurdles squad all came away with medals from the Eastern Region Championships at Cambridge on Sunday. Jack Edgar-Hill won silver just behind Cambridge's Ben Kelk clocking 14.4s in the U17 Men's 100m Hurdles and Angela James also struck silver with her U17 Girls' 80m hurdles time of 12.64s. There was double delight for Nicola Peachey who won bronze in both the U15 Girls' long jump with a PB of 4.69m and hurdles (12.44s). She was on track for silver in the latter until she clobbered a barrier.  added 07/07/08   

Seventh place at Liverpool on Sunday leaves the UK Women's League team facing a battle for survival for their Division Two place. A long list of absentees left the dozen valiant members who made the journey north with their work cut out to cover the programme in often difficult wet conditions.  Faye Fullerton (800m A) and Jess Tappin (High jump B) provided the only victories. The match results went against the club and saw the squad slip into one of the two relegation spots, two points adrift of Glasgow, Southampton and Cardiff with a lower points tally.  A top three finish is needed  in the third and final fixture at Carshalton on 3rd August to guarantee success, although a lower position could do the trick if the other results go the club's way.  added 07/07/08   

Club youngsters helped their schools to national success at Saturday's English Schools Cup competition. Jimi Tele won the 100m in a PB of 11.6s and took triple jump honours with 12.84m as his School Southend High School for Boys were crowned national champions in the Inter Boys competition.  Deborah Knight won the discus in 23.42m and ran the 100m in 14.3s to helped Southend Girls' High win the junior girls' trophy by a single point, while Shelley Wilson threw 23.69m discus and ran 30.1s for 200m as the same school who won the Inter Girls section.  Her younger sibling Danny spun the discus 32.05m for victory and ran 800m in 2:36.3s but his SHBS's junior boys team failed to make it a clean sweep, finishing second. In the Inter Girls' competition Ellie Bounds ran a PB of 4:47.2s to help Coopers placed fifth while her school mate Sophie Baggs ran 14.3 for the unfamiliar 80m hurdles and spun the discus 25.50m  Nicola Peachey completed the club interest with a 100m PB of 13.6s and 4.18m long jump for Chelmsford County High.   added 07/07/08   Full results

Mat Bland was an excellent third in the British Masters Championships at Birmingham on Saturday. His 4m 10.39sec clocking for the 1500m earned him bronze behind Plymouth's Simon Anderson (4:07.87 and North Shields' Thomas Brannon (4:09.11). It was Mat's fastest ever as a Vet and compares to his 3:50.0 career PB from 1991. Paul Berrett ran well to win the B final of the M45 800m race with 2m 10.82s and he also placed fourth in the 1500m 4: 24.12s.Russ Middleton missed out on an 800m final place clocking 2m 9.66s in his heat.  added 07/07/08   Full results

Bonne Buwembo improved his club javelin yet again when he launched the senior spear 67.80m, a 56 cms improvement, competing for Enfield & Haringey in the British Athletics League Premiership fixture at Windsor on Saturday. added 07/07/08

The Eastern YAL squad posted their best result of the season when they toppled league leaders Peterborough in their third round fixture at Stevenage on Sunday. The win increases the certainty that the club will once again feature in the end of season Top Six trophy final.  The Under 17 dominated their section, winning by 40 points. Ten individual wins, five A and five B, plus a relay success were the deciding factors. There were second places for the U17 women and both U13 squads and the U15 teams were both third.     added 30/06/08   Full results

Andy Lewis equalled the club U17 400m record of 50.4s, which has stood for 30 years as the National Junior League squad boosted their promotion hopes with a second place finish at Welwyn Garden City today.  The men ran eventual winners Norwich close, finishing just six points adrift. Their field events performances were a major factor in the team’s success. Bradley Reece had a hat trick of wins with A string hammer & discus victories and a B shot success. Jay Ryan partnered him to winning doubles in all three events and added high jump & pole vault points. Bonne Buwembo added a good javelin win and Grant Twist and Rob Jones made it a chase double, with Twist adding 400m hurdles B win.  Lisa Schofield's B discus success was the only ladies individual success but she combined with Lydia St Ange, Angela James and newcomer Cheki Onwuka for sprint relay victory.    added 29/06/08    Full results

The Men's Div 3N B team placed second at Bedford and the Southern Women's team were also runners up at Battersea Park.

The National YAL team need a miracle in their final fixture if they are to hold onto their Premier Division status after bringing up the rear at Norwich on Sunday. Jimi Tele (100m) and Andrew Kerr (hammer) provided the A string wins for the U17s, with Like Overton adding a B shot & discus double. Jack Edgar-Hill, (100mH), Gabriel Makinwa (TJ) and Emmanuel Quarshie (SP) gained wins for the u17 men and Adam McCarthy (SP), Kieran Nelson (400mH) and Chris Lowe ('chase) added B wins. Newcomers Luke Jarrett * Alex Law 's 200m double was the only max for the U13 boys. For the u17 women Kike Oniwinde's javelin & shot double and Esther Tele's long jump win were the top results, while Rachel Sadler & Laura Drew's B wins in the 800m & discus added little comfort for the U15s, while Jess Fazakerley's equal first in the B high jump was the best points for the four-strong the U13 girls.  added 23/06/08   

Bonne Buwembo confirmed his UK Number 1 Under 20 status when he added the England Athletics javelin title to his South of England gold from last week. His final round throw of 65.73m at Bedford was five metres further than the opposition's best efforts. Emma Christmas won her first major medal when she claimed U23 javelin bronze with her second round 41.96m throw - just below her week old best and an excellent throw in the gale force winds. Ross Clarke improved his 5000m PB to 14:48.69s when placing a fine sixth in the U23 championship, a nine second improvement on his best and the fastest by a club athlete for over 15 years. Nicola Hill shrugged off a bug to qualify for the U20 400m hurdles final in a time well outside her best but decided not to return for Sunday's final. Anthony Williams had to cope with Sunday's windy conditions and ran a wind-assisted 15.23s in his U20 100m hurdles heat. Luke Stott went out in the heats of the U23 100 and 200m.   added 22/06/08   

Bonne Buwembo added another 21 cms to his club U20 and senior javelin records when winning the South of England U20 Championships at Crystal Palace on Saturday. His 67,14m throw was also a championship best.  Georgie Bean took bronze in a new PB with the senior javelin of 54.22m. Ross Clarke notched the most important win of his career when he was crowned senior 1500m champion.  He clocked 3m 56.61s to win by one hundredth of a second. Emma Christmas was another to throw a javelin PB. Her 42.23m effort improved her two-week-old best and placed her sixth. Mel Harrison threw a season best of 40.50m when winning discus bronze. She also  was fifth in the shot with 11.19m. Dan Gamester was eighth in the senior hammer (45.38m).  Anthony Williams improved his 110m Hurdles PB to 15.18s when placing eighth in the U20 men's final and Claire Brennan ran a season's best of 15.56s in the women's 100m hurdles. Sara Luck was also outside the medals in the 800m, finishing sixth with 2:12.33s, and Robyn Matson (7th) and Hayley Pegg (11th) contested the 1500m.. Joe Ramie was 10th in the U2 triple jump (13.22m) and Grant Twist 11th (6m 30.85s) in the 2000m steeplechase. Nicola Hill gained useful experience when winning the Northern Ireland 400m hurdles Championships in Antrim yesterday in windy conditions with 66.93s. Laura Bealey improved her 400m PB to 61.72s at the Northern Championships, running for Sheffield University and was eighth in the hurdles equivalent with 69.32s. Alexa Joel improved her 3000m PB when placing fifth in a good quality race at Watford on Saturday and Faye Fullerton was eighth in the 1500m in Huelva Spain in 4:14.79s on Friday.    added 15/06/08 & updated 16/06/08   

Golds in the throwing events and middle distance races provided the club highlights at Saturday's Essex schools Champs at Chelmsford. Brad Burr's inter boys' javelin PB  took gold with Georgie Bean second, and there was also an inter boys' shot double as Laurence Goodacre's shot PB had the upper hand over Emmanuel Quarshie, both exceeding 14m.  Kike Oniwinde equalled her best to win the Inter girls javelin and Andrew Kerr (junior boys hammer), Sophie Baggs (Junior girls discus) and Esther Tele (Inter Girls long jump) also struck gold on the field. Track wins went to Ellie Bounds (800m), Sidnie Sales (inter Girls 3000m) and Adam McCarthy (400m hurdles - Inter boys)   added 09/06/08   

A weakened Southern Men's League team did well to place second against a strong Yeovil team in their Division 1 fixture at Swindon on Saturday.  With a number of athletes missing and with Matt Russell and Chris Coates still recovering from illness it was always going to be difficult to win. But to make things worse Scott Spencer pulled a calf muscle warming up and a number of athletes had to leave early due to evening commitments so all things considered  runners up spot was a good result. A string wins were the preserve of Bonne Buwembo in the javelin and Danny Gamester in the hammers and Sam Harrison and Bradley Reece ensured doubles with B victories. There were four other B victories and a welcome return after a long break from Ashley Reece.    added 09/06/08 

The UK Women's League team got their season off to a solid start with battling fifth at Swansea on Sunday.  Alexa Joel headed the cast with a fine 1500m victory against highly ranked Vicky Griffiths and also ran way with the B 800m. Sara Luck was a good second in the 800m before winning the 1500m B, and added the fastest leg of the 4x400m. Robyn Matson ran strongly for second in the 3000m. Kate Cowley won the B high jump and was second in the B javelin, with Emma Christmas also second in the A.  Mel Harrison was again in great form. She was second in the shot, with Catherine Holdsworth winning the B, fourth in the discus and fifth in the hammer. Laura Bealey (400m Hurdles B) and Hayley Pegg (3000m B) added PBs and Nicola Hill ran a a season's best in a high quality 400m Hurdles a race.         added 09/06/08 

Bonne Buwembo improved his club U20 and senior javelin record to 66.93m but could finish only eight at a high quality competition at the Bedford International Games on Sunday. Faye Fullerton was a comfortable winner ahead of a good domestic field at the BMC Grand Prix at Manchester on Saturday.  Her 4m 12.47 winning time was over three seconds clear of the rest. Alexa Joel improved her 2008 best to 4:19.74secs in seventh place.   added 03/06/08 

An improved all-round performance, with a glut of PBs was still only good enough for third place, in the home NYAL fixture at Mayesbrook on Sunday. Wins were hard to come by against strong Blackheath and Woodford squads. The Under 15 girls were the only squad to finish second in their section - all the others were third. Good points came from the throws which contributed 11 wins and middle distance events added six more and sprints, jumps and hurdles just four. The result does little to ease the threat of relegation and improved turn outs and better showings are needed on the difficult final two fixtures at Norwich and Southampton if the club is to hold onto Premier League status.   added 02/06/08   

The Southern Women's League team made it two wins in two fixtures as they beat league leaders Aldershot in their second round fixture at Milton Keynes today. Mel Harrison was close to her best with a quartet of wins in the shot, discus & hammer, plus B string javelin. Nicola Hill added a hat-trick of victories with wins in both sprints & the B discus. Emma Christmas set a new PB to win the javelin, and also took full B hammer points. Claire Brennan won both 100 flat & 100m hurdles and track wins also came from Katie Richardson & Nina Brennan (400m) Cathy Matthews (100m H B), and Robyn Delivett (B 200m).  Danielle Ross added 15 cms to her pole vault PB to go second on the club all time list. Vicky Smith returned from injury to gallantly tackle all three middle distance events and Angela Thompson improved her PB to place second in the 3000m B. Hayley Pegg (1500m) and Ingrid Deane (800m) completed the winning squad added 31/05/08  added 301/06/08

Club athletes helped Essex carry off the Inter Counties title this weekend in very wet & windy conditions at Bedford. Pride of place went to Faye Fullerton who pressed international Vicky Griffiths all the way and was rewarded with a silver medal in a new PB of 2m 05.98s - almost a one second improvement and fourth best ever by a club female. Emma Christmas was fifth in the javelin with her second best ever throw of 41.26m and Bonne Buwembo was also close to his best finishing sixth in the men's javelin with 66.33m. Other club athletes in action were Mel Harrison (11th - discus - 34.86m), Louise Mathews ( 8th Javelin 36.62m), Rob Warner (8th - 9:59.52s steeplechase), Kate Cowley (11th - long jump - 5.28m) and Nicola Hill (6th heat - 400m hurdles - 66.5s).   added 26/05/08 & updated 27/05/08 

One gold, two silvers and a bronze were won by club athletes at this weekend's South of England U15 & U17 Championships at Ashford.  Jimi Tele produced a fantastic leap in the U15 boys triple jump to set a new championship best performance of 13.53m winning by a massive 64cms   It firmly establishes him as UK number 1 and would have been a new club record, and would have been one of the top 15 jumps all-time by a UK U15 had the strong wind not exceeded the allowable limit.On Saturday Emmanuel Quarshie won silver in the u17 shot, smashing his PB with 14.23m - to jump to third on the club all time u17 list. On Sunday Brad Burr and Georgie Bean both produced personal bests to win silver and bronze in the U17 javelin. Brad's throw was a great 61.82m and Georgie was not far behind with 59.74m - second and fourth on the club all time lists. Andrew Kerr's hammer PB of 40.80m was a new club U15 record - but was good enough only for sixth. Nicola Peachey improved her PB to 12.23s (w/a) in the U15 girls 75m hurdles and jumped 4.44m in the long jump qualifier. Potential medallist Sophie Baggs, who recently threw over 31m in a school competition threw 10m less at Ashford, ending up with just 21.51m in 10^th place, after two no throws and a token effort.  Joseph Waked was just outside his PB with 4:41.41 in the U17 1500m   added 25/05/08 

The National Junior League team bounced back after their poor first round showing with a narrow win over league leaders Norwich in their Thames Division fixture today. The me put on a great show on the field with eight victories, including a pole vault & High Jump double for Jay Ryan, who also added hammer B victory and a shot PB. Anthony Williams won A long jump & 110m hurdles and B triple jump in another PB. B string wins came from Jack Edgar-Hill (110 hurdles), Bradley Reece (discus), Vincent Lazaro (long jump) and Craig Moore (high jump). Williams teamed up with Tom Foskett, Toma Davies & Joe Ramie for 4x100m victory.  The women had a solid show with just three wins from a 1500m double from the Sales siblings, Georgie & Sidnie and Zoey Littlechild's 3000m victory. But the final match result depended on the 4x400m relays. The ladies team of Sidnie Sales, Ingrid Deane, Katie Richardson and Georgie Sales finished one place behind Norwich and with the men's quartet also one place behind them was enough to clinch victory by five points when the scores were tallied. The team are placed third overall at the half-way stage in the league campaign.  added 25/05/08 & Updated 26/05/08 

Twenty-eight gaps in the ranks cost the National Young Athletes squad dear as they finished last, just 27 points  adrift of Basildon. The exam-hit U17 women had the distinction of having most gaps (15) but also the most wins (10). The U17 men had eight wins, including triple jump, shot & javelin doubles, and the U15 girls had five. But the other three age groups could only contribute six victories between them and the u13 boys had looked like leaving empty handed until Finbar Smyth's late 1500m success. Better turn outs and improved results are needed to avoid relegation.  added 19/ & 20/05/08 

Faye Fullerton claimed the club senior 1500m record today when she erased Una English's 12 year-old mark in blustery conditions at the Loughborough International. Her new milestone of 4m 10.45s was almost a two-second improvement on her previous best and bettered the existing mark by 0.88 secs. It was good enough for third behind Commonwealth Champion Lisa Dobriskey and seasoned international Susan Scott. Alexa Joel was in 4th in the 5000m with a good 16::25.62s, while Ross Clarke carved three seconds off his 1500m PB finishing fifth in 3:52.28s to move up to ninth on the club all time list  added 18/05/08 

A terrific all-round team effort saw the Southern Men's league team snatch victory from Exeter in the final two events at a damp Lee Valley today, even though the Devon club had led by 25 points at the halfway stage. With two events remaining the HMAC squad were still six points behind and even after a double success from Grant Twist and Jason Lendon in the A & B 3000m steeple chase a win in the final 4 x 400m relay was needed to ensure outright victory The lads did us proud by coming home in front to ensure the first men's Division 1 victory for a number of years and keep the team on track for promotion. added 17/05/08  Full results

Another sunny day brought a further medal glut as the Essex Championships conclude at Basildon today. Another seven golds went to Rob Warner ('chase), Matt Bland (Vets 1500m), Nicola Hill (400H -U20), Brad Burr (JT -U17), Emma Christmas (JT), Kate Cowley (HJ) & Vincent Lazaro (U20 - LJ). Silvers went to Lisa Schofield (U20 - 400H) and Adam McCarthy (400H - U17), Laurence Goodacre (U17 - SP), Joseph Ramie (U20 - TJ) Eleanor Bounds (U15 - 800m) and Amy Cox (U17 HT) while bronze meals went to Kieran Nelson (400H - U17), Joseph Ramie (U20 LJ). added 11/05/08 

A gold-silver-bronze 1500m success from Faye Fullerton, Alexa Joel & Sara Luck capped a fine day of excellent performances and good conditions at Day 2 of the Essex Champs at Basildon today. Jimi Tele won U15 long & triple jumps and added 100m bronze. Bonne Buwembo smashed the Championships best in the U20 javelin for gold and Nicola Hill's 400m PB earned her U20 gold. Luke Stott (400m) and  Ross Clarke (5000) added two more senior golds. Silver service was provided by Mel Harrison (DT & SP), Claire Brennan (100H), Lucy Sargent (100m)Kate Cowley (LJ), Andrew Lewis (U17 - 400m) and Jack Edgar-Hill (U17M - 100H) and bronze medals went to Angela James (u17W - 80mH) James Purnell (U15B LJ), Daniel Gamester (HT) and Sam Harrison (SM - JT).  added 10/05/08

A six strong fought from the first event and almost pulled second place in their Div 3N Southern League opener. Stuart Tufton was at his consistent best in the pole vault, Neill Collins ran excellent tactical races and Tom Foskett ran with a maturity beyond his years.  Martin Chester showed his bulldog spirit by warming up with a tactical 800m before his 5000m, 1500m, and 3000m steeple which he finished only to changed his wet spikes before doing a leg of the 4x400. Darren Keevil and Aaron Bonning competed in 22 events between them with the highlight a double victory in the high hurdles. added 6/05/08