Some weeks are really hard to summarise and this is definitely one of them! So… the best way here is shout it out: 4 Golds, 2 Silvers and a bronze.
The Beagles have been all over the country, from local races to national competitions, doing what they do best – challenging themselves, performing well and doing their club very proud! There is a lot of news to digest but all of it is worth a read so enjoy!
Ayo Falola Dream Mile
Wednesday night saw a group of our Middle Distance runners head to Lee Valley for the annual Ayo Falola Dream Mile event.
The evening started with a set of invitational 800m races. Jude Hearn ran strongly in the U15 boys event to finish 3rd just outside his best in 2:13.79. The U17 men’s race was won by Max Sanderson also fractionally outside his PB – 1:59.78. Preston Taylor made his track debut to finish 4th in 2:09.55. In the girls u13 race Madison Kindler finished first by a good margin in 2:21.22. In the U15 event, Missy Tiller ran well to end up third in 2:22.51 with a brave performance from the under the weather Nicole Hawkins to finish 6th in 2:35.44. Finally in the U17 girls event Evie Warn ran a new PB of 2:22.04 to finish 4th.
In the feature mile events, Isabel Forrest attacked the women’s B final, leading from the front to start and later kicking to an amazing sprint finish to gain a new PB of 5:29.95 and a second place finish. She even helped Clare Elms to a new world record in the indoor v60 age category! Well done both.
The women’s A race saw Olivia Forrest pick up a new PB, a second place finish and third fastest U17 indoor mile ever – 4:46.55.
Max Sanderson returned to the track for his mile race picking up second place this time and a new PB of 4:31.50. Mattie Delea ran the distance for the first time so a guaranteed PB and a good one of 5:07.90. And Louis King put in a brave performance to lead his race from the front and push the pace to gain his first mile time of 5:09.40.
Well done to all the who ran and supported this great event.
England Athletics Indoor Age Group Championships Day 1
Day 1 of the England Athletics Open under 20/17 & 15 Indoor Championships. The pinnacle of the indoor season 2024 saw two Brentwood Beagles athletes make the journey north to Sheffield. Whilst an England championships event, it is also open to home nations, including Scottish, Northern Ireland and Welsh athletes all having achieved the qualifying standards for their respective events.
First of the Beagles day 1 competitors in the 300m U15 heats was Stephanie Smith, current UK 2023/24 indoor 300m ranking of 21st, and an England indoors 2024 ranking of 8th (Po10 Stats). Running in heat 3 lane 1 was always going to be a challenge and was a lane left unused in heat 1 and 2. Finishing in 44.38 Stephanie was only 0.06 outside her best indoors. Whilst not qualifying for the final tomorrow, the challenges of championships events was highlighted by the UK No. 2 failing to qualify for the final, and the UK No. 4 falling before the finish resulting in a DNF for the heats.
Later in the afternoon Missy Tiller U15, current UK 2023/24 indoor 800m ranking of 10th, and an England indoors 2024 ranking of 8th (Po10 Stats) competed in the 800m heats. Going out hard in her heat, setting a strong pace she finished with 2:27.51, her position not proceeding her to the final tomorrow.
Thanks to Mark Smith for the report and Day 1 support! The video stream below shows Steph’s race at 5:02.34 and Missy’s race at 5:36.30
Essex Cross Country League – Hainault
Saturday saw the final Essex cross country league event of the season and it was definitely a case of saving the muddiest until last!!! The Hainault course was incredibly challenging and we are immensely proud of the whole Beagles team! Not only did we see great performances on the day we also collected a number of trophies for performances across the season. Amazing work everyone!
Our U13 teams have had a really brilliant cross country season – taking each race as the learning experience it should be and pushing themselves to get better every time. Today Summer Smith once again proved her dominance in the age group finishing first female and picking up the league trophy too (11:58). Elsewhere in the 3km girls results Esme Thomas was 7th (13:42), Aria Sabado 9th (13:51), Sophie Bickerstaff 10th (13:55), Caitlin Phillips 19th (15:19), Robyn Colyer 26th (17:51) and Ava o’Neal 27th (17:52). The girls team finished the season second in the league! Our u13 boys also ran well today with Frankie Edwards 14th (12:58), Ollie Johnson 27th (13:48), debutant Adam Armour 31st (14:38) and Matthew Cottee 38th (16:21).
Our amazing U15 girls once again proved a force to be reckoned with and unsurprisingly picked up the trophy for first place team in the season. Over 4km today, Olivia Forrest again was victorious with the win on the day and in the season (14:51), Evie Warn finished runner up on both counts (15:53) with Isabel Forrest finishing in 4th place (16:29). Our super sprinters were out in support too and did us very proud with Ella Gilder-Briggs 24th (21:20) and Honey Peck 29th (23:40). On the boys side Jude Hearn had another great race to be amongst the top runners and finishing 5th (14:45). Jake Mitchell put in another strong performance to come 23rd (17:17) with Matthew Jones running well in 37th (20:44) and Charlie Lingley making up the team in 39th (23:41). Well done all.
The U17 race saw just two Beagles today with Preston Taylor finishing a brilliant third over the 6km course in 19.11. Also doing a great job was Mara Thomas who finished 6th in 24:44. Honourable mention to Max Sanderson who turned up to collect his second place trophy for his league performances.
Finally the tough men’s 8km race proved really hard going in the mud. Well done for enduring and doing a great job to Stuart Crowther who came 120th in 37:10 (third in his age group) and Elliot Worth who finished 140th in 39:08.
Well done again to everyone for an amazing league season! Same time next year?!! Special thanks to Jacqui Parker-Warn for the trophy pictures.
England Athletics Indoor Age Group Championships Day 2
Day 2 of the England Athletics Indoor U15/U17 Championships, and Ava Carter made a brilliant championship debut over 200m in the first event of the day. Running in Heat 3, lane 4, she successfully brought home a new life time best for both indoor and outdoor 200m with a new PB of 26.76. Whilst not proceeding to the semi-finals her time was faster than an automatic qualifier in Heat 5 who came second with 26.86. Again important lessons to be learnt about championship rounds and how heat seeding can work out, with championship events not always proceeding the faster or more able athletes through the rounds.
Later in the day it was the turn of our middle distance athletes. Also making their indoor championship debut, Olivia Forrest and Evie Warn both took on the U17 1500m event. On paper this looked as if it would be a hotly contested event but Olivia took the lead early and extended it throughout to take the gold medal (and lion) in a new indoor PB of 4:26.83. Further back, Evie ran a really tactical race, sticking to the pack for the early laps before making her move and consolidating third place with a brilliantly confident performance to bank the bronze medal and gain a new 1500m PB of 4:47.38.
The final Beagles performance of the weekend was from Max Sanderson who ran the U17 men’s 1500m. A really mature performance with some clear strategic thought meant Max ran the early laps in second and third before making a decisive move in the last couple of laps to build a gap in third. Unfortunately in the last couple of metres of the race he was just overtaken but a superb fourth place finish and a new 1500m PB of 4:01.27.
What a weekend! Congratulations to all of the Beagles who took on the national championships. We’re beyond proud of all that you achieved this weekend. Special thanks to Mark Smith for the photo of Ava Carter. Ava’s race can be seen in the stream below at 14 mins in and Max’s race is at 7:39.30. Our medalists are shown in the final video below.
Parkrun and Junior parkun round up
With many Beagles’ taking part in the Essex XC League, there were just 3 runners attending Parkrun on Saturday morning. At Raphael, Callum Goodey (20;25) ran well to place in the top 10 from a field of over 400. His time was just 5 seconds outside his PB. Dylan Hussain (23:56 PB) was also in good form as he collected a course best by 47 seconds. Finally, over at Wickford, Scott Brooks (21:41) finished 12th.
The rain caused a cancellation to Hutton Rec junior parkrun on Sunday, but we had runners over at Harrow Lodge who were led home by Oliver Trevor (08:31) finishing 1st. Just two places behind was Aria Lily Sabado (08:47) with Blossom Smith (08:58) 5th. Finishing 7th and claiming a new course best was Ezra-Zion Gooch (09:19) while also running well was Freya Brewington (10:49).
At Lake Meadows, just the 4 runners with Hugo Wilks (08:31) 4th and Sophie Bickerstaff (08:37) running well to finish 5th. In 10th was Isobel Larner (09:05) closely followed over the finish line by Jamie Murphy (09:10).
Well done to all our runners this weekend. Note, if you or your child has an * by their name, please help our editors by adding Brentwood Beagles as your/their club under their parkrun profile (groups). Feel free to contact us if you need help setting this up.
Coming up
Wednesday night sees another trip to Lee Valley for some of our middle distance runners with an 800/1500m distance event on offer. At the weekend Ronnie Marchant, Katie Lowe, Evie Abbott, Nicole Hawkins, Tobi Oluborode Oluseye and Timi Oluborode Oluseye will be travelling to Norwich for the regional sportshall final – good luck to you all! And good luck too to everyone aiming to be part of Team Havering at this weekend’s London mini marathon trials!
