Bicester AC enjoyed a very successful first round of the winter long Oxfordshire Sportshall competition held last Sunday in Wantage. Bicester notched up two wins, two seconds and two thirds in the team competitions. Bicester’s athletes also broke five of the existing league records for the Wantage venue.
Bicester AC were comprehensive winners of the under 15 girl’s team competition, winning by a margin of 88 points. 9 of the 23 competing athletes were from Bicester AC. In conjunction with the team event, under 15 athletes compete in an all rounder competition where all athletes compete in up to three competitions. Bicester’s athletes featured prominently in the individual all rounder competition with Bicester occupying the top three positions. Olivia Naidu Johnson achieved top placings in all of her three individual competitions. In what was a competitive 2 lap event she produced the fastest time of 24secs, 0.5secs faster than teammate Aaliyah Beadle, who was timed at 24.5secs. Bicester achieved four of the top 5 scores in the speed bounce with Naidu Johnson sharing top spot with teammate Grace Jarvey and a competitor from Witney with a score of 80. Bicester AC’s Lucia Haverly was 4th with 77 and Amelia Beadle 5th with 75. Naidu Johnson’s 3rd win was in a competitive standing long jump which she won by a margin of 1cm with a winning mark of 2.08m. Amelia Beadle is in her first year of the under 15 age group and she performed well to win the under 15 girl’s vertical jump with a winning mark of 55cms. Yasmine Sheppard produced a good putt to win the shot with 6.85m with teammates Grace Fulcher and Erin Griffiths (who was making her debut at the discipline) producing 6 metre plus marks for the first time with putts of 6.36m and 6.11m respectively. And there was a Bicester win and new league record for the Bicester quartet of Sheppard, Haverly, Naidu-Johnson and Jarvey as they took the relay clocking 1mins 39.7secs. Beadle finished runner up in the all rounder competition with Sheppard and Jarvey sharing 3rd place with a competitor from Witney. Other Bicester athletes to compete were Jessica Shepherd whose efforts included a score of 70 in speed bounce and Lily Spencer who produced a jump of 1.84m in the standing long jump.
Bicester AC’s Erlgean Appiahkorang-Mensah also achieved top placings in the individual under 15 boy’s competition but with only two athletes competing Bicester could only manage 3rd in the team competition. Appiahkorang-Mensah set a new league record in winning the under 15 boy’s 4 lap event (47.5secs). He then teamed up with Henry Unger to set a new league record in the under 15 boy’s 8 lap paarlauf event (1min 39.8secs). Appiahkorang-Mensah also won the triple jump (7.34m) and the speed bounce with a score of 81. Henry Unger was having his first sportshall competition for a while and did well to finish 5th in the all rounder which included good 2nd places in the standing long jump (2.16m) and the shot (8.43m).
Bicester AC’s other team win was in the under 11 girl’s event where Bicester prevailed by two points. Bicester’s one win came in the one lap race with the Bicester quartet of Emilia Beadle, Ava Obina, Olivia Maxwell and Hannah Parson producing a combined time of 54.70secs. There was a good 2nd place in the vertical jump from Emilia Beadle and Ruby Maxwell who produced a combined leap total of 78cms. Emelia Beadle also combined with Hannha Parsons for 2nd place in the three lapper with a combined time of 84.10secs. Ava Obina was making her competitive athletics debut and she combined with Ottilie Maclean to finish 2nd in the chest push (combined total of 10.59m) with Obina’s throw of 5.56m the 2nd furthest on the day. Obina also produced the 3rd highest score of 48 in the speed bounce. The Bicester quartet comprising Obina, Olivia Maxwell, Parsons and Layla Hendon produced a combined total of 169 in the speed bounce which although only good enough for 4th was only three behind the winning score of 172. Ivy Balch also competed for Bicester and her efforts in the non scoring events included a score of 39 in the speed bounce.
There was a close finish in the under 11 boy’s competition where Bicester held a narrow advantage going into the final relay event. However a strong performance from the two Witney teams in the relay moved them up to first with Bicester AC dropping down to 2nd. Bicester’s combined times in the relay were just over a second off 2nd place. In the earlier events Bicester were impressive winners of the 1 lap race. The combined quartet of Charlie Simpson, Levi Fulcher, Theodore Simms and debutant Lucius Mohandus won with a combined time of 55secs. Charlie Simpson ran comfortably the fastest individual time of 12.70secs which also equalled the league record time. Simpson also produced comfortably the highest score of 59 in the speed bounce competition where the Bicester quartet of Simpson, Reece Dunwell, Mohandas and debutant Frazer Hounslow finished 2nd. There was a win for Levi Fulcher and Brendan Kelly in the vertical jump with a combined winning mark of 89cms with Fulcher producing the best mark of 50cms. Fulcher and Simms also finished a good 2nd in the chest push with a combined distance of 11.29m. Other Bicester AC efforts in the non scoring events included debutant Jaxon Fabri whose efforts included 1.44m in the standing long jump, Alex Kelly who jumped 1.28m and Oliver Kelly who jumped 1.16m.
Bicester AC was leading the under 13 girl’s competition holding a one point lead over Oxford City with two events remaining. Bicester were not able to field a team for the 8 lap paarlauf an event which Oxford City won. They also won the final event, the relay, with Bicester back in 3rd which left Bicester 2nd in the final team result. The Bicester duo of Brianna Senior and Imogen Senior produced a combined height of 90cms to win the vertical jump. Imogen Unger also combined with Lily Childs to win the standing triple jump with a combined distance of 11.68m. Childs’s individual jump of 6.23m was the longest individual jump in the competition. Meriel Woodrow and Evie Kemp combined to produce best ever shot putts with marks of 6.23m and 5.44m which when combined was the 3rd best distance.
Bicester under 13 boys finished 3rd. Cyrus Ariana combined with Oliver Jarvey to win the two lap race with a combined time of 48.60secs. Ariana then went on to break the under 13 boy’s league record in the 4 lap race clocking 50.70secs and his time combined with Harry Spencer’s 58.20secs was good enough for 4th. Jaydon Beadle and Harry Spencer produced a combined effort of 87cms for 2nd in the vertical jump and Beadle then combined with Jarvey for 2nd in the standing triple jump with a combined distance of 11.34m. And the quartet of Ariana, Beadle, Jarvey and Spencer finished 2nd in the relay clocking 1min 39.3secs.