The fourth edition of the European Athletics DNA Club Championships took place this past weekend in Leiria, Portugal. For the fourth consecutive year, Blackheath & Bromley Harriers had the honour of representing Great Britain – a privilege earned thanks to the combined efforts of over 80 athletes, coaches, officials, and managers who secured the national YDL title earlier this season.

A squad of 20 athletes, including travelling reserve Beth Regan, team managers Helga Pulin, Tim Soutar, Ian Firla, and physio Mike Reeves met at Luton Airport for the short flight to Lisbon, ready to take on the best clubs of Europe.

The DNA Format

The European DNA (Dynamic New Athletics) format is fast-paced and innovative. Each event is contested head-to-head, round by round, with points contributing to the team total. Day one sees six teams compete, with the top three advancing to the A Final and the bottom three into the B Final on day two. All roads lead to the final event – “The Hunt” – a pursuit-style mixed relay where the points are converted into head starts and deficits, and the first team across the line wins the match.

Day One – Narrowly Missing the A Final

The team got off to the perfect start with our 4x400m mixed relay quartet of Ryen Rennie, Alyssa Firla, Gracelyn Kendeck, and Sam Mowa, who stormed to victory, holding off a hard-charging Irish team to take maximum points.

Momentum built as one of our youngest athletes, Emilia Adese, made her competitive debut with the 4kg shot. Unfazed by the weight increase, she dominated her opposition to secure another maximum points haul.

On the track, Amber Bloomfield produced a strong run in the 100m hurdles, close to her season’s best, while Andrew Nikoro powered through the 110m hurdles to add solid points with 4th place. In the 800m, Niamh Stanley bravely stayed with the leaders through 500m before fading slightly in the closing stages against a powerful field.

In between those, Chinedu Ndukwu tackled the 400m hurdles with real determination. First to the opening barrier, he clipped one hard mid-race but showed grit to stay on his feet and battle home, ensuring the team gained valuable points.

The DNA format gives each field event centre stage, but the head-to-head structure – one jump or throw per round – means PBs are rare. Dennis Savage battled gamely in the long jump to finish 4th, while Jackie Nzekwe, more at home in the hammer circle, gave her all in the high jump to place 5th.

Back on the track, Cheyanne Nketia ran superbly in the 100m, pushing through the cold, windy conditions to take 2nd place, close to her PB. Meanwhile, Max Kennedy came agonisingly close to a lifetime best in the javelin, eventually finishing a strong 2nd in a tight contest.

Next up was our world record holder Divine Iheme, who lit up the track in the 200m with a commanding win, again just shy of a PB despite the adverse conditions.

Heading into “The Hunt”, the team sat 4th overall – just outside the coveted top three needed for the A Final. The deficit was six seconds to third and ten seconds to first.

The Hunt team – Aoife McDonagh (600m), Oliver Driscoll (400m), Nevie Tamblyn (200m), and Jed Starvis (800m) – rose to the challenge. Aoife closed the gap with a gutsy opening leg before Oli and Nevie piled on the pressure. By the time Jed took the baton, we were within striking distance. His heroic run clawed us to within two seconds of 3rd place, but agonisingly short of qualification. Despite missing the A Final, our squad clocked the fastest Hunt time of the day – proof of the quality in the team.

Day Two – Dominating the B Final

The disappointment of day one fuelled the team’s determination to make a statement in the B Final. Right from the start, it was clear there would be no half measures.

The unchanged 4x400m mixed relay squad set the tone with a gun-to-tape victory, crossing the line a staggering ten seconds clear. The video tells the story – the gap to second place was enormous.

Emilia Adese was again imperious in the shot put, this time equalling her PB from Day 1 to ensure her second consecutive maximum-points win and complete a season without a loss in both the 3 and 4kg. Dennis Savage, fresh from the unique experience of post-competition drug testing the previous day, jumped the second-longest mark in the field but finished 4th due to the format quirks – still valuable points for the team.

From there, the first places kept flowing. Niamh Stanley took command of the 800m from the gun and held off all challengers to secure victory. Jackie Nzekwe rose to the occasion in the high jump, clearing a competition PB for more points.

Cheyanne and Divine again dominated the 100m and 200m, while Amber, Andrew, and Tony delivered more crucial contributions across the 100, 110 and 400 m hurdles.

In the javelin, Max Kennedy set himself a challenge before the competition by symbolically marking an “X” at 51m on the grass. In the final throw of his season, he sailed past it, recording 51.7m to take a richly deserved win and a PB.

That left just The Hunt. This time, it was Blackheath & Bromley who carried the advantage – a commanding seven-second lead. Aoife blasted the opening 600m to extend the margin, Oli ran a dominant 400m, Nevie delivered another flying 200m, and Joe Scanes cruised the anchor 800m to seal victory. The team crossed the line more than ten seconds clear, celebrating a decisive B Final triumph.

It was a bittersweet ending. The squad took pride in dominating the B Final but knew their performances would have stacked up well in the A Final – the times and distances later confirming we would have been medal contenders. Still, there was satisfaction in finishing the competition with such emphatic victories and in sharing post-event celebrations with athletes from across Europe.

Special recognition goes to Beth Regan, who travelled as reserve and was a huge support to her teammates throughout the weekend despite not getting the chance to compete herself.

A weekend of pride, resilience, and camaraderie – and another chapter in Blackheath & Bromley’s long tradition of competing at the highest levels of European club athletics.

Details here – DNA Clash of the Clubs IV Leiria

In club competition, there is little that matches the excitement of a relay. As the day unfolded, this was undoubtedly true and thrills were delivered over and over again; however, at 7:00 am in the Norman Park car park, that excitement wasn’t exactly palpable.

48 athletes with the support of team managers and a handful of parents set off to the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham for the 2nd annual National Relay competition.

The first team to compete on the day was the u15 girls 4 x 100 of Noelle Carr, Matilda Murray, Zamaia Dixon and India Ellington. They ran a superb heat but such was the level of competition that despite running a time that was less than a half second of their season best, they finished just outside of a qualifying spot for the final.

Next up was the u15 boys 4 x 100 squad featuring Jericho and Nico Senior, Chris Ndukwu and Sylvester Amot-Konadu Jr. They ran a season best of 46.59 to qualify for the final where, impressively and maturely, they adapted their markings to accommodate for Sylvester suffering a calf strain and improved their time by nearly a full second and finishing in a very commendable 5th place.

The u17 women’s 4 x 100 was next to run. Chizam Boniface, Cheyanne Nkita, Sophie Tran and Nevie Tamblyn cantered through their heats comfortably before running a season’s best to finish with our first medal of the day and only 1/100th of a second out of silver.

The u17 men’s team of Nicholas Marquez, Daniel Olatunji, Olufikaya Lana and Riley Austin ran in a very competitive heat coming 3rd but missing out on the final by less than 3/10ths of a second.

Our u20 women’s team formed of Gracelyn Kendeck, Emilia Adese (u17), Honey Chalmers and Indiana Marshall ran excellent heat to qualify for the final with a big Q but come the final, they were hampered by some aches and niggles and couldn’t match their performance from the heats in the final.

The u20 men fought incredibly hard in their heat. A nearly half second season best by the team of Ryen Rennie, Sam Mowa, Marley Byfield and Chinedu Nduwku was just short of qualifying for the final. The team showed a lot of level headed thinking by deciding during the last phases of the warm up to replace Zuriel Nowgwugwu with Chinedu when Zuriel felt his hamstring tightening. His selfless withdrawal meant that he wasn’t risking compromising the senior men’s 4×400 team from competing later in the day.

With the 4 x 100 relays out of the way, the team quickly started recalibrating for the longer races. Several athletes including Sophie Tran, Jericho Senior, Chinedu Nduwku, Sam Mowa and Ryen Rennie were doubling up for the day and used the short break to fuel up and try to relax before their next huge efforts.

Karan Bryan, Maya Conell, Aoife Stanley and Freya Pearson were the first of our long relays to hit the track in the u15 girls 4×300. Despite really powerful runs by all four girls, they came 4th in the final, just missing out on a podium.

The u15 boys of Aathi Gananathan, Johnny Lee, Jack Barlow and Jericho Senior (running his 3rd race of the day), were only 4/100ths off their season best and came agonisingly close to securing another podium finish. 4th place for the boys.

The u17 women’s 4 x 300 team formed of Beth Regan, Alice Witherspoon, Faith Sogoye and Sophie Tran (also in her 3rd race of the day!) couldn’t hang on to the fierce competition and finished 5th on the day. This team has so much strength and potential in it that they will no doubt fire back in the YDL final in a few week’s time.

The u17 men’s 4 x 400 team smashed their season best by nearly a second and frustratingly came 4th despite an appeal being put in by the team to the track referee for two cases of obstruction by the team that took the bronze. The second one was clear enough that the commentators on the live stream called it out but despite presenting video evidence and the spike marks on Kian’s leg, the officials remained unmoved. The team of Aidan Williams, Kian Farrell, Thomas Vallins, and Alexander D’Cruz can hold their heads high. Next year, the podium will be theirs.

The Senior men’s 4 x 400 squad was composed of a very young group of athletes all of whom could have been competing in a u20 competition and the difference in strength and experience to the senior men they were racing could be seen. A tremendous effort by Chinedu Ndukwu, Tane Chambers, Alexander Morrell and Zuriel Nowgwugwu saw them finish 8th.

Our Senior women, similarly, only had one senior woman in the squad. Julia Newman, Amber Bloomfield and Asia El Mourtabite, all u20s, joined Chanelle Cole in the punishing event. Some tremendous individual efforts saw the team fight to a 5th place finish.

The highlight of the day though was in the event that’s being talked about across social media and being featured in Athletics Weekly. The u20 mix 4 x 400 was always going to be a hotly contested race and it did not disappoint. With the lead changing hands between our team and Birchfield and an absolute burn up in the last lap by Sam Mowa to run a 48.8 (pb of 49.09), our team of Sam, Ryen Rennie, Sophie Osborn and Alyssa Firla narrowly lost to Birchfield but in the process, both teams shocked the national all time rankings by moving to 5th and 6th respectively (2nd and 3rd in 2025 with only the GB juniors team going quicker).

Two medals, a lot of sore throats from the shouting and the screaming and a lot of happy and exhausted athletes made their way back to Bromley with only a quick pit stop to eat at a motorway services on the way. The day was a huge success and now that the National Relays are firmly on the competition calendar, we will ensure that we are bringing out more teams including some of our star senior athletes next year.

A huge thanks to the club for supporting the event and to the team managers (Tim, Helga, Joanne, Karen D and Karen B) for making it happen!

For those unfamiliar with the format, the Southern Counties Vets AC League is an annual competition for clubs across London, Kent, Hampshire, Surrey, Herts and Middlesex. Blackheath & Bromley are members of the Kent League which is made up of 2 divisions, 6 teams per division and both the men’s and women’s team started the season in Division 1.

There are 6 fixtures each season, with a different mix of sprint, middle/long distance and field events at each fixture. It’s a masters only league and there are four age categories, 35-50, 50-60, 60-70 and 70+.Athletes compete against each other and their finishing positions equate to points (6 for 1st, 5 for 2nd etc) .Those points are added up across all events at each fixture and the team then get league points based on where they finished on the night (same points scale as the individual events). The reward for the top two clubs in the league is an invite to compete in the season ending finals against the top clubs from the other area leagues to find the overall area champion.

The first fixture was held at Norman Park at the end of May. There was a great buzz being the home team and it’s always nice when you get together with old teammates, competitors as well as getting to meet the new members of the team, especially after a long hard winter of training. After the 1st match both the Men’s and the Women’s team were in 3rd place, and the men’s team actually would take home 3rd place finishes in each of the first 4 fixtures.

On the women’s side, there were a pair of 2nd place finishes in the following two matches at Central Park, Dartford which moved them up to 2nd overall at the halfway point. 

However in match 4 at Tonbridge, the women finished 3rd on the night, and although they held on to 2nd place in the league this put them within 1 point of the chasers.  

There were contrasting results at Fixture 5, held at the Julie Rose Stadium, Ashford. The women’s team, despite only having 6 athletes to cover all 12 events, were still able to finish 2nd and within touching distance of a place in the finals. However a tricky night for the men’s team led to a 5th placed finish and put them in danger of relegation with one match to go.

The season finished with a fixture at Sutcliffe Park culminating in the rarely run 4x200m relay, with both teams finishing on a high with wins in that event. This helped the men see off the threat of the teams in the relegation places, as well as the home club Cambridge Harriers and hang on to 3rd place overall by 1 point. The women’s team had such a strong night that they almost claimed their first nightly victory, but despite missing out by just 2 points they were able to cement 2nd place overall and a place in the finals for the 2nd year running!

Details of the finals should be announced soon – Good Luck Ladies!

Overall it was another good season for the Masters teams and on behalf of the club and the team managers Sam Williams and Steve Hough, I would like to thank all athletes who took part this season and made it so enjoyable, and hope to see everyone back competing again next year.

Athletics, in the most part, is an individual sport so it’s great to feel part of a team and that is the best thing about these League matches, every point counts so whether you took part in one event, or were at every fixture your contributions were much appreciated.

And whilst there were a number of standout performances I did want to highlight a few individuals who were the epitome of team players.

• For the men, Ian Firla took part in 13 different scoring events, in a variety of age groups, often having to hotstep from a field event, to the track and back again and with nightly finishing positions often decided by just a few points these contributions really make a difference.
• Similarly the aforementioned ‘Ashford Six’ were also big contributors across every fixture and really underpinned the success of the women’s team. They are Carole Coulon, Jennie Butler (both 9 events), Jackie Montgomery, Helen Godsell (both 11 events).
• Sam Williams, whilst also managing the women’s team took part in 14 events, and lastly there was Daniela Sage who ran, jumped and threw in a whopping 15 events.

Fantastic effort from you all!

If you are interested in getting involved next season we are always looking for new members too so whether you are an ex-Olympian, a complete novice or somewhere in between everyone is welcome, so come down to the club, speak to the one of the coaches and become part of the Masters Athletics community – you won’t regret it!

2025 B&B Masters Athletics Team

Womens Team – Carole Coulon; Daniela Sage; Helen Godsell; Jackie Montgomery; Jennie Butler; Katy Sugden; Louise Vallins; Maureen Miller; Rita Awatefe-Aydin; Sam Williams; Sarah Belaon; Trang Nguyen

Mens Team – Alan Hardy; Ashley Reid; Clem Leon; Cornelius Griffin; David Adams; Duayne Bovell; Iain Nye; Ian Firla; James Burton; Kevin Ansell; Leonardus De Bruyn; Luca Ercolani; Matt Ellerton; Micah Evans; Paul Sutherland; Phillip Bunn; Roger Beswick; Roger Platt; Sam Aldridge; Simon Tolson; Steve Hough; Steve Langdon; Tim Ayres; William Senbanjo; John Turner; Richard Coe

Ashley Reid

The President’s newsletter dated 13 August has been emailed to members today, featuring the EA U15 & U17 championships, Park Runs and other updates.

We believe the issue with some members seeing the newsletter falling into their spam folder has been resolved.

Going forward we wish to encourage more members to share notes, experiences and updates on their achievements and enjoyments with our wonderful sport. Please email content to Steve Pairman (stevepairman13@gmail.com) by Tuesday each week if you would like to share any news with the rest of the membership!

The men’s 3000m was won by Jack Kavanagh of Blackheath & Bromley in a Championship and League record time of 7.58.23. Congratulations’ Jack!!

A more detailed report to follow but thank you to the athletes in their efforts to enable the win and to the judges and volunteers who helped on the day.

The 100th edition of the English Schools Track and Field Championships took place in a blisteringly hot Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, for the 2025 edition. Blackheath & Bromley Harriers Athletics club had 26 athletes selected to represent various counties, with many more making the reserve list, an achievement in itself.

The weather was perfect for spectators, but probably a little bit too hot for the athletes, but this didn’t stop them producing some outstanding, record-breaking performances.

• 9 individual Gold medals
• 4 individual Bronze medals
• 2 relay Gold medals
• 2 relay Bronze medals
• 3 England call ups
• Multiple finalists
• 2 x 2nd claim Golds
• 3 x 2nd claim Silvers

Junior girls
Alessia Scala (Kent – coach John Bancroft) continued her fine comeback after injury to comfortably win high jump gold.

Ella Brooker (Kent -John Wakeman) chose a great time to vault a PB, whilst winning the pole vault gold.

Matilda Murray (Kent – Paul Austridge/ Kieran Daly) shook off a heavy fall in the week, to easily qualify for the 75 meter Hurdles final and was a close fourth in the final but had the consolation of winning relay bronze with her with Kent team.

Junior boys
Piers Spencer – Simms, (Surrey) continued his winning ways winning double gold in the 100m, clocking 10.93 and the 4 x 100 with his Surrey teammates.

Jericho Senior (Kent – Clem Leon) ran a superb new PB in his 300m heat to qualify for the final, where he fought hard to win a fine bronze. Jericho was part of the Kent relay team also winning bronze.

The inter boys and girls had the added bonus of earning an England call up if placed first or second!

Inter boys
Joe Scanes (Kent -Mike Reeves). Joe ran a comfortable heat in the hot conditions and then dominated his final, taking gold and collecting his England kit for next weekends schools international.

  Joe (41) on the way to his win
Ben O’Grady (Kent – Mike Reeves). Ben, in his first English School finals took full of advantage, taking the lead in this tough event and battled well to secure a fine bronze in a new personal best time.
New recruit Jomiloju Hughes was a good fourth in the triple jump final.

Joseph Hill (Kent – Mike Reeves) won his 3K heat comfortably and ran hard in a tough final but it’s challenging running two 3k’s back to back, in those very hot conditions.

Oliver Ward (Kent -Mike Reeves) has had a great season Steeplechasing and ran hard in this tough event in the final, making a great account of himself.

Alexander D’Cruz (London -Jay Galley). Alexander has impressed this year making the English Schools finals in his first year, in this new event for him. Alex was very unlucky not to make the final, despite running a new personal best.

Charlie Platt (Kent -John Wakeman) Former ESAA Champion Charlie was competing in his fourth English finals and comfortably cleared his opening height but unfortunately didn’t progress further.

Troy Ogedengbe. (Kent) had qualified for the 200 meter, but was able to run due to other sports commitments.

Inter girls
Emilia Adese (London – Herbie Kuenstlinger) went into the games with the added pressure of being number one in the country but was unaffected, as she put the 3K shot 15.53m to not only win gold but also to secure her England selection for next weekend international.

Elsa Pawson (Kent -John Wakeman) – Having won the English schools before, Elsa was able use this experience to win once, again securing a fabulous gold and the added bonus of collecting her England kit ready for next weekends school international.

Florence Holman (Surrey- Herbie Kuenstlinger). Florence sustained a slight injury at the Surrey champs, not ideal preparation for these champs but still recorded an impressive 6th place finish, not far off the medals or her best.

Cheyanne Nkeita (Kent -John Blackie). Cheyanne ran well in the 100m heat just missing out making the final.

Nevie Tamblyn (Cornwall -Ian Dibbens) was selected for the 200m but unfortunately couldn’t compete due to other commitments.

Senior boys
Rayhan Mourtada (Kent -John Blackie). Rayhan qualified comfortably in the heat to qualify for the final. The final was always going to be rapid as Rayhan was up against his county and national rival and both went head-to-head and could only be separated by a 1/10th sec at the finish, with Rayhan winning gold and breaking the 43-year-old championship best performance.

  Rayhan (42) on his way to the championship win

Max Clark (Kent -John Blackie) – Max, on his come back trail after injury won his heat and impressively secured bronze in a rapid final.

Jed Starvis (Kent -Mike Reeves) – Jed a former English schools finalist ran hard in his 1500 heat just missing out on making the final.

Oliver Driscoll (Kent) was selected for the 200m but unfortunately picked up an injury pre championship and was unable to compete.

Senior ladies.
Daisy Snell (Kent – Guy Spencer) Daisy had a memorable English Schools. It was her final English School’s champs, her 18th birthday and she was given the honour of captaining the Kent schools team and to top it off, won gold by over 30cm, an end to a fabulous schools athletic career.

Qi-Chi Ukpai (Kent -Guy Spencer) Qi- Chi had a superb triple jump competition, winning gold and making that four consecutive years of winning English schools title, a very impressive achievement.

Madeleine Dodds, (Surrey-John Wakeman) Maddie, in her second English schools finals, vaulted superbly, securing an impressive bronze.

Gracelyn Kendeck (London -Roy Dickens). In Gracelyn’s first year over 400m hurdles she won her heat to qualify for the final, where she battled hard, placing 4th just outside the medals, in a time very close to her best, but was consoled helping her county relay team win a fine gold

Second claim athletes

A few of our second claim athletes excelled at the champs with:

• Izzy Rae (Berkshire -Nathan Standing) winning gold over the 80m hurdles a week after breaking the British record, whilst competing for BBHAC at the YDL, in the rain!
• Divine Iheme (Oxfordshire- Nikruka Iheme) looked effortless through his heat and final of the 100m, clocking an impressive 10.41 to take gold.
• Olivier Coulibaly winning silver in the inter boys discus.
• Aaron Axtel winning silver in the inter boys hammer.
• Ruby Rogers winning silver in the inter girls 100m.
• Aidan Williams was 3rd in his 400m hurdle heat, qualifying him for the final.

Report from Paul Austridge