SBH Photographs Taken In 2022 – Month By Month
JANUARY – LIZZIE BIRD RECEIVES HER 2021 SBH AWARDS – Congratulations to LIZZIE on receiving her Athlete of the Year and SBH Olympians Tokyo 2020 awards for 2021.
LIZZIE had this to say “Thanks so much – and apologies again that I couldn’t make it to the presentation. I am back in the country now but up in Scotland at my parents. I will be returning to Boulder, Colorado early in January”.
SOUTHERN U13/U15/U17 INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Lee Valley on 15-16 January.
An excellent day for SBH with so many personal bests achieved. We had 2 Southern Champions, firstly MOIESHA SAVAGE who won the Under 13 Girls 60m, with a personal best (8.24) ranking her UK No.2. Secondly ZICO JONES who won the Under 17 Men’s 400m, with a personal best (50.95) ranking him UK No.2, this was ZICO’S first ever 400m race.
Photographs sent by TY HOLDEN, features MOIESHA SAVAGE after receiving her Gold Medal after winning the Under 13 Girls 60m and ZICO JONES after receiving his Gold Medal after winning the Under 17 Mens 400m.
FEBRUARY – HENRY RYAN WINS BARNET SCHOOLS RACE – Congratulations to HENRY who won the Year 6 cross country race at Stonex Stadium area on Wednesday 8 February. Photograph of HENRY with his winners medal.
ENGLAND ATHLETICS U15/U17/U20 INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Sheffield on 12-13 February
We had two Silver Medallists from ZICO JONES had an excellent run to take the Silver Medal, ZICO this year has concentrated on the 400m, and as a 1st year Under 17 produced an outstanding run in the Final, producing a personal best (50.55) which ranks him UK No.2 U17 in 2022.
Photographs of ZICO just before the finishing line in the 400m Final, and at the medal ceremony with his Silver Medal
Congratulations to MANON BAINES won the Under 17 Women’s Pole Vault Bronze Medal. The Power of 10 results published MANON as finishing in 4th place, in fact she finished joint 3rd (3.50m) with SARAH BARBOUR of Kilmarnock.
Photographs show MANON just prior to the medal ceremony, then celebrating with her bronze medal.
NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Parliament Hill on 28 February
Photograph of DAVID GREENSTEIN, JONNY SHAW and ROBERT RIGBY, looking extremely happy following 12000m of the very tough Parliament Hill course.
MARCH – HERTFORDSHIRE, MIDDLESEX AND KENT INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Lee Valley on 19-20 March. An outstanding championship from our tri-county athletes, with no less than 24 medals.
ANGEL MCLEOD at the Middlesex medal ceremony after her 60m win (7.97)
ZICO JONES at the Middlesex medal ceremony after his 60m win (7.26)
KACEY WALTERS with her Kent gold medal after winning the Triple Jump (11.72m)
CYCLE RIDE IN DORSET – Last week, JOHN DRYDEN and JULIAN GOATER had arranged to meet up with HUGH RICHARDS at his home in Poole, Dorset. On the Tuesday, they had arranged to go out for a long bike ride, and after some 40km JOHN inadvertently touched HUGH’S rear wheel, and crashed to the ground. They were on an isolated country road, but were fortunate that not too long after the accident a car approached them and stopped, they managed to get JOHN into the car and took him to the A&E department at Poole Hospital. It turned out that JOHN had broken the top of his femur on his right leg, and they proceeded to reset the bone with a metal plate and screws. After a week in hospital, JOHN finally left the hospital on Tuesday this week, they managed to get JOHN in the back seat of the car, and ANN got him home to Guildford safely. We wish JOHN a very speedy recovery.
Photograph outside HUGH’S house in Poole, just prior to leaving on that unfortunate journey, then just as they were setting off.
50 YEARS PRESENTATION IN 2016 – Last week I published the list of 22 members who have completed 50 years or more with SBH.
HUGH STARKEY reminded me that on Saturday 6 August 2016, at the British Athletic League and UK Women’s Athletic League joint fixture at Allianz Park, JOHN DRYDEN, HUGH RICHARDS, HUGH STARKEY and KEN TOLLADY were invited to a special presentation of an engraved wine glass goblet, engraved with the SBH logo and their name, to celebrate 50 years with SBH.
The photographs were sent by JOHN DRYDEN, and the 1st photograph of left to right, HUGH RICHARDS, KEN TOLLADY, JOHN DRYDEN and DAVE BEFORD who presented the mementos, then HUGH STARKEY.
Outside the SBH clubhouse, with DAVE BEDFORD possibly giving one of his memorable stories to both HUGH’S, with JOYCE and BRYAN SMITH in the background.
This a photograph HUGH RICHARDS sent me, which is the trophy he won in 1967, for winning the SBH points title.
APRIL – JAN PEARSON HER FIRST DAY TIMEKEEPING – JAN who recently joined us, sent me this note following her timekeeping experience at last Saturday’s LICC meeting (8 April).
Did my first ever stint as a volunteer athletics timekeeper today. Full on 8 hour day but at a venue only 10 minutes from home. Luckily the sun was shining. A top official trusted me with her expensive stopwatch – I’ll have to buy my own to carry on. A mix of events and age groups. A surprise entrant was the delightful Team GB golden girl DINA ASHER-SMITH who ran in the unfamiliar 300m and of course left everyone in her wake. She took a long time to recover but still spent time with her adoring public (the other athletes). Her parents were there supporting her.
There’s a lot of concentration involved in timekeeping. I was just given 1st place to take and then to compare my time with the chief timekeeper. She and the other two also recorded 2nd and 3rd and usually all the rest in the longer races. You have to focus on the starter who is positioned in different places depending on the event (we have a good vantage point from our timekeeper’s stand) and know when to click start when he fires his starting pistol and then to click stop at the right time on the line. Hard to see the winner in a close 100m. It all happens so fast. Apparently, I did well for a first time. Luckily there was also electronic timekeeping and photo finish so I could check how close I was to the actual time. I was never spot on but got very close sometimes. For the 4x 400m relay I had a bit extra to do – pressing a different button to record the 4 individual runners’ lap times too. There was a junior female from Taunton attempting to qualify for the European Champs and Commonwealth Games in the 5000m Walk. Not sure if she made the time. Hope she did – she looked good.
I did enjoy it so I’ve got a few more days lined up this year – mostly at StoneX Stadium, aka Copthall, home of Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers (who were there before Saracens arrived to share the space!)
Congratulations JAN on your debut, it sounds that you had an exciting and fulfilling day at Lee Valley, photograph of JAN during the day.
MAY – NEELAM KADERBHOY – 21 SEPTEMBER 1969 – 2 MAY 2022 – It is with great regret that I have to advise you of the death of NEELAM KADERBHOY at the age of 52, after a long illness.
NEELAM joined SBH on 23 March 1983 at the age of 13. She competed on a regular basis for the Club. Following her retirement from running she became a coach and a team manager as well as a member of the SBH Council. A very popular member who will be sorely missed by her fellow athletes, her fellow coaches and the many young athletes she coached over the years.
GEOFF MORPHITIS has spoken to ANNA HIGSON, who, like a lot of you, was very close to NEELAM. She has agreed to act as the conduit between the Club and the KADERBHOY family. She will find out the most appropriate address to which condolence cards should be sent and advise us accordingly. If you have any questions etc please contact her at higsonanna@hotmail.com or modile 07966 785022.
NEELAM’S funeral takes place this Friday 6 May, details below, all are welcome.
We have received so many messages from her many friends at Shaftesbury, ANNA sent me this message – Thanks everyone for your messages; it is so great to read your memories and thoughts about NEELAM. I have also known her since the late 1990s as we both trained at Barnet Copthall (as it was) and we became close again when my daughters joined Shaftesbury a few years ago.
Over the past two years, we formed a WhatsApp group with JACQUI AGYEPONG, SHARON MURPHY, STEPH PAPARIZOS (all Shaftesbury teammates from the 90s) and some of the mums from the group NEELAM used to coach. The main purpose of ‘TEAM NEELAM‘ was to give her hope and friendship in her difficult situation. She was lonely and had to face her situation with little in-person support due to the Covid restrictions. We know that our daily chats and messages helped raise her spirits and loved chatting to her.
Consequently, we chatted every day and used to have weekly Zoom calls with NEELAM until she found this too difficult. Here’s a photo of her last birthday in September – we had a SBH cake made and delivered to her care home and we each had our own cupcake so we could
On a personal note (ALAN WELLER), I have known NEELAM when she was 19, and her love for training and competing was second to none. From the middle of the 1990s to the early 2000s, NEELAM, DEREK SURREY and myself, took part in 5 running challenges at Club La Santa in Lanzarote. This involved 4 races in 4 days – 10K road race, 8K across rocky tracks and up and along an extinct volcano, 5K sandy beach race and lastly 15K race across the island. NEELAM grit enabled her to finish the challenge just outside the top 5. One thing you may or may not be aware of but NEELAM played an excellent game of Pool.
Rest in Peace NEELAM
Photograph of NEELAM with many of her young athletes, who have benifitted from NEELAM’S outstanding training talent.
NEELAM’S last birthday in September – we had a SBH cake made and delivered to her care home and we each had our own cupcake so we could
A MESSAGE FROM RAY AND CLARE POWELL – Thank you all so much for giving your time up this weekend at the Vitality 10K on Monday 2 May. After the pandemic, the fact that you can still give up your valuable time to volunteer, means that you are very special folk.
CLARE was very sorry that she was not able to attend, due to her back, i am going to try the good old medieval way of getting her onto the rack.
Photograph of our team, from left to right – Front row TIM MULLINS, SIMON KEENE, JOLYN MULLINS, RUTH KENT, COLIN MOXSOM, REBECCA WOODS, CAROL – Back row DANIEL SECHAN, DENNIS MUNDAY, ROD, RONAN BREEN.
VITALITY 10K RESULT – ROBERT RIGBY V60 392nd (SB 37.35) taking 1.23 minutes off his 1 January time, and is ranked UK No.10 V60 in 2022, DANIEL NICHOLS V35 452nd (SB 38.09)
Robert sent me a photograph of himself and DANIEL after the end of the race.
CHARLES HICKS BETTERED THE BRITISH UNDER 23 10000m RECORD – CHARLES bettered the British under-23 record of DAVE BEDFORD when he ran a European record (27:47.0) on cinders in Portsmouth in 1971. Photograph taken by DAVID HICKS.
CHARLES ran a personal best 10000m (27:37.26) at the Payton Jones Invitational in Stanford, California on 29 April. DILLON MAGGARD won the 10,000m in (27:37.26) ahead of South African ADRIAN WILDSCHUTT’S (27:38.54).
NIGHT OF THE 10000m – Took place at Parliament Hill on 14 May.
JOHN KELLY went and commented – fantastic! Who said athletics was a dying sport?!, also RONAN BREEN was there and also commented – It was a great event and the beer helped.
We had 2 runners, firstly in the 10000m Men Race 4 KOJO KYEREME V45 finished 3rd with a seasons best (30:53.45) which ranks him UK No.1 V45 in 2022, there is a video of him on the SBH Instagram account. Incidentally KOJO is part of #highgate10k folklore as the only athlete to compete in every event since it started in 2013.
In Race 5 TOM BUTLERfinished 6th with a personal best (30:27.66) after surging through the field of 35 runners in the second half of the race,JOANNAsent me a photograph of TOM in action.
JUNE – BMC GRAND PRIX – Took place at Watford on 11 June
SAM WIGGINS is 21 years old, and under the guidance of NADEEM SHAIKH, 2022 has seen his progress from (1:54.14) at the BUCS championships, to his PB at Watford (1:48.62) taking 1.42 seconds off his 28 May time, and is ranked UK No.10 U23 in 2022. He now qualifies for the British Championships at the end of June in Manchester. Photograph shows SAM with GEORGE HARRISON whose coaching career has been outstanding and NADEEM.
BMAF CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place at Derby on 10-12 June
Photograph of LISA WEBB V55 with her 1500m Gold Medal (5:35.11), LISA also won the 800m (2:45.09), and as you can see it was a very windy day.
Photograph of ROSALIND ZEFFERTT V60 with her Triple Jump Gold Medal (7.67m w0.0), ROSALIND also the Long Jump Gold Medal with a seasons best (3.88m nwr) adding 14cm to her 9 May jump, and is ranked UK No.2 V60 in 2022
SEPTEMBER – BMC REGIONAL RACES – Took place at Gillingham on 3 September.
800m – Women ‘s A ELLIE BAKER 1st (PB 1:59.52) taking .02 of a second off her 2021 time, and is ranked No.4 in 2022. ELLIE’S time was a BMC women’s only race record. Photograph taken by MARK SHEARMAN.
LONDON INTER CLUB CHALLENGE PHOTOGRAPHS – Many thanks to JOHNSON OGUNNIYI who sent me his photographs which were taken at StoneX Stadium on 28 August.
The photographs are of JOHNSON OGUNNIYI V50 who Long Jumped a PB (5.10m w-1.6) and a SB in the Shot (8.52m)
LYDIA ROGERS who ran the 100m (13.84 w-2.4) and Long Jump (4.79m w-1.7), wearing the baseball cap is EMMANUEL OGUNNIYI
GEOFF MORPHITIS and EMMANUEL in a relaxing mood, towards the end of the day
STACEY GONZALEZ BETANCOURT V45 in preparation mode, prior to her successful height of (2.90m) in the Pole Vault.
TOLU AYO-OJO U23 just failing to clear the Pole Vault bar, but went on to winning the competition with a height of (4.20m). 5)
Finally relaxing after a good days effort is RAY POWELL, GEOFF MORPHITIS, NADEEM SHAIKH and JOHNSON OGUNNIYI
OCTOBER – THE BIRMINGHAM CREW – Currently we have athletes at either Birmingham or Loughborough University. Recently a social evening was held at Birmingham, with theme “Club Vests”. As you can see from the photograph, they certainly looked pretty sharp. From left to right JOSH WOODS, LILY HOLT, TRINITY O’CONNOR, CRAIG MONCUR and EVAN CAMPBELL.
CONGRATULATIONS TO HAYLEY MCLEAN AND SCOTT LINCOLN – The England Athletics Hall of Fame Presentations took place on Saturday 15 October at the Hilton Hotel at the NEC Birmingham. A great night for SBH with KATHERINE MERRY first presented the NAL Female Track Athlete of the Year Award to HAYLEY MCLEAN. One-lap hurdler HAYLEY was recognised as the female track athlete of a season. She raced eight times individually in various events for Shaftesbury, topped by her (56.46) over 400m in the third round at StoneX Stadium.
Then the NAL Male Field Athlete of the Year Award to SCOTT LINCOLN. SCOTT was named the best male field performer of the year for his {19.73m} shot put, representing Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers in May. It is the second year in a row he has claimed the honour.
YORKSHIE 10 MILE ROAD RACE – Took place at York on 16 October
ROBERT RIGBY V60 75th (SB 65.50 1st V60) Photograph of ROBERT with his winners medal.
NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY RELAYS – Took place last Saturday at Mansfield.
The overnight rain and early morning drizzle stopped before the racing began in Berry Hill Park, but the day was always overcast and later runners in the senior men’s race almost needed torches to navigate the wooded sections of the course.
With the going good underfoot there was no slipping and sliding but there were, nevertheless, a few tumbles in that wooded section but, once again, safety issues decreed that the opening stage of each race was shorter than subsequent legs.
The following photographs were taken by NADEEM SHAIKH, regarding KIERON BIERTON who was an outstanding SBH athlete in the 1990s, and is running for Wrekin and is a V45.
Senior Men – KRISTIAN IMROTH, DYLAN EVANS and KIERAN CLEMENTS
KRISTIAN IMROTH, SIMON KEENE and SAM WIGGINS
JEREMY SOTHCOTT, NADEEM SHAIKH and SAM WIGGINS
KIERON BIERTON and NADEEM SHAIKH
CLARE AND RAY POWELL – On behalf of the Club and myself, we send our thanks and gratitude to CLARE and RAY POWELL for the 7 years of outstanding professionalism and dedication. Also, to rhe many of SBH members and friends who have given their support to RAY and NADEEM, but also prior to them, going back to the early days of the London Marathon cobbles by the Tower of London.
RAY writes – Having been asked to take over from NADEEM SHAIKH in 2015, with organising volunteers for London mini Marathon duties and other London Marathon races. As NADEEM, had left a very strong 10 year legacy behind him, it was quite a daunting task for CLARE and myself. Our first year was a nervous learning curve, one which we came through without too many hiccups. The proceeding years were very happy times, but always hoping that road closures, train delays, and numerous other reasons that getting up at 3-4am in the morning can throw at you. We were very lucky that at each event 98% of volunteers did turn up. As you will see in the photos at every event the kit was a different colour, so most volunteers have a good selection to choose from. London marathon were very supportive to us both during the years we were with them, which we are very grateful for.
The new Rosterfy system in place now means that London Marathon events have everybody’s details on its database, making mine and CLARE’S job slightly redundant. All the volunteers that we had over the years, London Marathon can now contact yourselves directly, asking whether you will volunteer at all of their events. Financially the club has been receiving on average around £5000 a year, for organising and supplying a team of volunteers for the London Marathon events. This has been changing over the recent years, and in 2022 we have received at total of £150. From 2023 the club will no longer be involved in the organising of any London Marathon events.
Hope to see lots of people at the boxing day run, as there will be London Marathon kit in the raffle.
Regards RAY
These are are a few recent photographs taken of the SBH team – The first photograph was taken at the 2019 Westminster Mile
The second is the 2021 London Mini Marathon
The third is also at the 2021 London Mini Marathon featuring JOHN KELLY, NORMAN FOX, CLARE POWELL and ANITA KELLY
Finally the 2021 Big Half Marathon
DECEMBER – GEOFF WILLIAMS WELL-DESERVED HONOUR – Congratulations to GEOFF who has become an Honorary Vice-President Award of the English Schools Athletics Association. Photograph of GEOFF receiving his award.
EUROPEAN CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS – Took place in Turin, Italy last Sunday 11 November.
The following article was published on the Athletics Weekly website recently. Photographs taken by MARK SHEARMAN.
CHARLES HICKS and ZAK MAHAMED finish one-two and lead GB to men’s team gold as host nation hope NADIA BATTOCLETTI seals women’s U23 title from MEGAN KEITH. Less than 24 hours after England lost to France in the World Cup in Qatar, British cross-country runners in Turin got some measure of revenge when they pipped France to the team title in the under-23 men’s race by just three points. This was courtesy of CHARLES HICKS and ZAK MAHAMED finishing a brilliant one-two as MATT STONIER closed in the team in eighth as RORY LEONARD and JOE WIGFIELD finished 11th and 13th. Most of the athletes had watched the World Cup game in their team hotel the night before but unlike the footballers they took their chances in style on the tough, undulating course on the outskirts of Turin by breaking away emphatically from their rivals as VALENTIN BRESC of France took bronze.
CHARLES triumphed 12 months earlier on a flatter course in Dublin and in the run-up to these championships he had won the NCAA title in Oklahoma. MAHAMED, meanwhile, was a revelation as he produced an inspired run to break away with CHARLES before eventually succumbing to his team-mate’s superior firepower in the finishing stages. “This is amazing, It’s the affirmation of so much work. Having both the NCAA and this race come together so well is great. To get the team win as well is something else.” Sporting a JACK GREALISH style Alice band in his hair, CHARLES adapted to the challenging rollercoaster terrain to carve out an eight-second victory over MAHAMED in (23:40) as BRESC finished a further 10 seconds back.
