As part of our 2025 AGM celebration, as well as introducing our new Club President (Steve Pairman) and the 7 new VP’s, we also incorporated the Blackheath & Bromley Volunteer, Official, Team and Athlete of the Year Awards, the Club Closing 5 mile, a 3.5k run and a photo shoot! It was a well-attended and busy day.
It was lovely to see so many taking a keen interest in the achievements of the Club as a whole, for those who couldn’t attend here is a brief summary of the day.
The first events of the afternoon were the Cross-Country Runs. There was a 3.5km run for the younger/shorter distance runners, followed by the Club Closing 5, a handicapped 5mile run which is the finalcontribution to the Bennet Cup results included below.
For the 3.5km race the girls showed true BBHAC comradery crossing the line hand in hand, so our joint winners were Leela B, Alice B, Jasmine S, Arianna T and Isabella J. All winners and with that level of team work I fear for the competition at the track and field leagues this season. Great work girls. For the boys the first across the line were Emery A, Dexter M and Ricardo C, but split into age groups the winners were for the
U13’s
1st Emery A
2nd Dexter M
3rd Billy P
U15’s
1st Ricardo C
2nd Juan T
3rd Zacc F
The boys were also joined by their Team Manager Joanna Martin who followed them across the line only a short (ish) distance behind!
Next to set off were the Club Closing 5 mile runners, the sun was still shining and the results were as follows:
Men
1st Luca Ercolani
2nd Leonardus De Bruyn
3rd Tom Desborough
Women
1st Evie De Bruyn
2nd Jennie Butler
3rd Katy Sugden
Handicap on the Day
1st Matthew Maddocks
2nd Angelina Stephens
3rd Bernard Wilson
Following the races we had the squad photos, some of which will be published with this report, then all moved inside for the review of the year, medal presentations and announcement of the Club Awards. With over 100 in attendance it was a great atmosphere, the café was buzzing with excitement.
Paul Austridge and John Hubbard who both could have won their categories themselves, announced the winners for the Club Athletes, Team Officials and Volunteer Awards. Full details of the nominees and runners up will be published with the AGM report. The overall winners were as follows:
Huge congratulations to Sam Reardon and Chloe Sharp our Male and Female Senior Athletes of the year and to Hannah Clarke and Daniel Goriola who chosen as male and Female Junior Athletes of the Year. All have been outstanding athletes this year and wear their club vests with as much pride as we have of them. Well done to them all, they are truly inspirational athletes and role models to all.
Paul also introduced our club Team of the Year, they were up against strong competition, our teams win many leagues attending the YDLfinals, XC nationals and European DNA year on year, this year though it was decided the Lower Age Group YDL team just rose above the rest to clinch the award. Well done to our U13 & U15’s who made it such an amazing group of athletes.
Our Club is managed and run by volunteers. Officials, helpers, team managers, management, event organisers, and many coaches who all give their time to train athletes, organise leagues, plan events, maintain equipment and run the club freely, we simply wouldn’t exist without all of them. Please make time to thank them as we do and remember this on the bad days, running in the rain may scupper your PB but there’s a Track Official been there all day to get your time just in case!
So out of the many who give their time voluntarily this year I am delighted to share that Karen Cosby was recognised as Official of the Year for her selfless, smiley contribution to officiating and Roger Platt and Karen Desborough as Volunteers of the Year for their contribution to general volunteering and volunteering in general. All of you are a real credit to and much loved by the volunteering team.
It was a great Afternoon of Celebration for all who attended.
Photos have been kindly provided by Kevin and can be viewed here:
https://kevhowarth.smugmug.com/BBH-AGM-day-inc-handicap-race/n-XrxnDG
Many thanks to Kevin for his support on this!
Bennet Cup Results:
