Pirton Boxing Day run,  26 Dec
Just over 3 miles long, not quite a 5K, run over the 'bad weather course'.  323 runners

Isobel Everest

20:50

26

PB, 2nd Lady

Chiltern Cross Country,  Shuttleworth, 16 Jan
The early heavy rain cleared in time for the first race at Shuttleworth where the cream of local cross country runners met for the penultimate race of this seasons Chiltern League.  Biggleswade AC were represented in most age categories from Sam Bartram and Oliver Trudgill in the U11 boys to the Senior ladies and men.

There were many good performances from the Biggleswade Juniors including Sam Smith and Adam Murphy who both finished 9th in their respective races.  Star of the early races though was undoubtedly Hannah Hutchinson who won the U20 womens race in fine style.  Senior ladies Tracey Patmore and Natalie Morgan tackled the hilly two lap course with usual grit and determination with Tracey achieving 3rd place in her age category and 6th place overall.

Ten senior men from the club made up a strong team and there were some terrific performances over the longer 3 lap course.  Vince Plosky was first Biggleswade man home in 12th place just ahead of Simon Fawcett.  Three of the team were in the MV40 category with Steve West seeing good results from his hard training through the winter to come in 19th place.  A very strong run from Club Chairman Nigel Bush saw him cross the finish line in 3rd place in his age category with Colin Harries only a few places behind.

This was a great team effort from all the Biggleswade runners which saw them finish in overall 7th place out of 16 teams.

U11 boys	Sam Bartram	16th
	Oliver Trudgill	23rd
U13 boys	James Thomas	15th
U15 boys	Sam Smith	9th
	Adam Welham	15th
U17 Men	Adam Murphy	9th
U20 Women	Hannah Hutchinson	1st
Senior Ladies	Tracey Patmore	6th	3rd FV35
	Natalie Morgan	22nd
Senior Men	Vince Plosky	12th
	Simon Fawcett	13th
	Damien Pitts	63rd
	Steve West	65th	19th MV40
	Jon Balaam	69th
	Neil Gregory	79th	24th MV40
	Nigel Bush	83rd	3rd MV60
	Craig Brown	87th
	David Albone	88th	30th MV40
	Colin Harries	101st	10th MV60

South of England Indoor Championships,  Lee Valley Athletics Centre 16/17th Jan
These indoor championships are looked upon as a test of fitness and seeing how the training has gone for most - and an indicator for the coming summer season.

The Club had three athletes who performed at the weekend.  Victory came in the U15 Boys Hurdles with Euan Dickson Earle having to compete over a qualifier and the final.  Euan was given a good draw and was in the 1st heat, and all was asked of him was to save enough for the final and make sure of qualifying as the first 2 from each heat or a fastest qualifier.  Euan decided to set his stall and went for the win, winning in a time that, breaking 9 seconds 9.94 and was the only athlete from the qualifying rounds to dip under 9 seconds.  In the final Euan was given a seeded draw and was in lane 3.

The spectators hushed as the starter gave the command on your marks - the tension around the Biggleswade supporters was tense.  The gun went and the finalist were off.  Euan got a steady start but over the first hurdle landed unbalanced and there was a slight stumble, but he found his rhythm and over the next hurdles slowly drew himself into a lead, off the 6th and final hurdle, Euan was well into his rhythm and had a lead and in the run maintained it to win in a new club record of 8.84 secs, the only athlete to break 9 seconds even in the final.  Checking the time Euan is currently the UKA's No 1 in the U15 boys hurdles, and just outside the top 20 of the UK All time list.

Later in the day James Vosper ran in the U15 boys 200m .  This was a new experience for James as he had never run on a banked 200 m track before - never the less James stuck to his task and in his heat (which was the fastest of the qualifiers 4 of the 6 athletes qualified for the semi-final).

James did find it difficult on his first race, as coming off the banking to the finishing line he felt his legs running away with him, down the gradient.  In the semi he knew what to expect and ran more controlled and ran a better race and ran a lot quicker.  He was 4th in his semi and just missed out in a final place - finishing 8th quickest overall.

The following day James ran in the 60 m and he believed this to be his better event - cruising to 2nd place and automatically qualified for the semi-final, which was nearly 6 hours after his heat!! In the semi-final James ran a better race again and was just edged out of a qualifying place by coming 4th in a new Personal Best (PB). 

Biggleswade AC's U20's horizontal jumps athlete, Daniel Steel was competing in the Triple jump and finished in a commendable 11th place.  Although below par for Daniel, he was able to see his hero in action, Olympic Gold medal athlete Phillips Idowu who was competing in the Senior Mens Triple Jump, Philips did not have it all his own way as he was pushed by Tosin Oke who was competing for Woodford Green and Essex ladies club and internationally now competes for Nigeria, Philips won by only 8 cm.

There were a few new championships best performances with another Beijing athlete, Samson Oni breaking the record in the High Jump, but for Biggleswade AC all three athletes competed to their best and all came away with good performances and results they can build upon, they now go forward to the national championships in Birmingham next month.

Fred Hughes 10,  24 Jan
671 runners

Rob Hemming

1:09:12

75

Folksworth 15,  24 Jan
416 runners

Isobel Everest

1:47:26

75

PB, 10th woman

London Games Open,  Lee Valley Athletics Centre, 31 Jan
Senior ladies athlete Rachel returned to Lee Valley having set a personal best indoors at Lee Valley just before Christmas.  Rachel's performance showed how she is progressing with another new indoor PB 65.63 secs in the 400 m - 2 laps of the indoor track in North London.

Rachel came 4th her heat with less than 1/2 second splitting 2nd and 6th places.