Bristol & West AC

here has been more success this month for the athletes of Bristol & West AC. We had ten club members selected to represent Avon County Schools at the English Schools’ Championships held in Birmingham from 7–8 July.

On the track it was a frustrating weekend as Jack Randell was disqualified in the Junior Boys’ (U15) 300 metres and Mikkel Bassue pulled a ham-string running 10.97 in his heat of the senior men’s (U20) 100 metres and was unable to take his place in the semi-final.  Jess Fraser finished fourth in heat two of the intermediate (U17) 300 metres in 41.34.

Club athletes had more success in the field where Anna Loughlin finished 10th in the intermediate girls hammer with a best throw of 49 metres 67 centimetres. In the junior girl’s hammer Thema Osbourne-Hendricks threw 30 metres 83 centimetres for eleventh place.

The final youth development league match of the year took place in Swindon on Saturday 15 July. The team turned out in force for this important competition.  U13G Chloe Marrett continued her superb form in the sprints winning the 75m in 10.6 seconds and the 150m in 20.3 seconds. Only a few weeks into joining the club Herbie Bailey made an impressive debut with third place in the U13 boys high jump at 1.35m.  

Our growing number of talented throwers performed well again. U15 girl Thema Osbourne-Hendricks continued to impress a weekend after the English Schools’ Championships by racking up the points. Thema had a second place finish in the hammer and third in both discus and shot. Jess Lewis took the U15G javelin with 27.94m and Patrick Kyle rose to the occasion in the U13B event launching the spear 29.03m.

The club narrowly missed a 3rd place finish in this match. This would have secured a place in the premier division for next year. The team have done admirably this year and many athletes have been at the lower end of their age-group (U13 is school years 6 and 7, U15 is school years 8 and 9) – this bodes very well for next year!

Bristol and West AC is a club for all ages and abilities. Whether you are a youngster with aspirations to make the 2028 Olympics or you are someone who would just like to get active and start running, there is a place for you in the club.

Further information about training and competitions can be found at www.bristolandwestac.org