TEAM CoBra promoted in SAL !

On Saturday 8th August, Team CoBra – the combined team drawing on senior athletes from Braintree & District AC and Colchester Harriers – won the final Southern Athletics League fixture of the 2026 season and gained promotion from Division 3 East to Division 2.

Congratulations to all athletes, team managers and volunteers who have represented and helped the team during the year.

The team finished the competition with 358.5 points, ahead of Thurrock with 318, and Basildon 311.5, all some way ahead of the other four teams.

Top performers from Braintree & District AC include:

August Moldova, our Masters over-40 sprinter who scored 2 B-string victories , a 4.42m life-time best in Long Jump (2nd A-string)), an A-string win in the High Jump with 1.38m. She was also a member of the winning 4x100m relay, racking up 34 points.

!st place finishes

• Augusta Moldovan – 100m (B) – 14.06
• Augusts Moldovan – 200m (B) – 28.94
• Augusta Moldovan – HJ – 1.38m
• Josphine Larkins – Hammer (B) – 37.44m

2nd place finishes

• August Moldovan – LJ – 4.42m (pb)
• Fraya Davey – Shot (B) – 6.70m

3rd place finishes

• Mike Hills – Discus (B) – 13.31m
• 4x100m Men – 47.23
• 4x400m Mixed- 4:20.55
• Natalie Pepper – 100mH – 19.36
• Freya Davey – Javelin (B) – 13.54m

After the final round of the Southern Athletics League is at Thurrock on the 8th August – Team CoBra are promoted. After 4 rounds, the final table for Division 3 East looks like this:

Team Manager, April Reid, said: “TEAM CoBra did well again, and we managed to keep Thurrock in 2nd on their home track, and so clinch promotion. I’m looking forward to developing this team next year in Division 2.”

Final league positions

After 4 rounds, the final table for Division 3 East looks like this:

Position	Team	Match points	League Points
1	Team CoBra	1311	24.5
2	Thurrock	1186.5	24
3	Basildon	943	19.5
4	City of Southend	910	18
5	West Norfolk	505.5	13
6	Ryston	322	7
7	West Suffolk	242	6

Individual results for the full team can be found here: https://www.southernathletics.org.uk/assets/files/results/2026/26sal3e4thurrock.htm

 

Reminder – 4th August – track shut so ‘hill training’ tonight for all

Reminder that the track is shut this evening (4th August) for maintenance. We’ll be training instead at the Discovery Centre, Great Notley Country Park, just off the A131.

Please arrive at your normal training time.

Some great SAL performances as part of Team CoBra

Braintree & District AC partner with Colchester Harriers to run TEAM CoBra in the (seniors age group only) Southern Athletics League. Here are some of the highlight performances of Braintree athletes at the 3rd round on 19th July, Bury St Edmunds.

1st places for:

• Josephine Larkins – Hammer (A) – 38.92m
• Ben Clarke – Hammer (B) – 39.79m + PB
• Augusta Moldovan – Long Jump (B) – 4.28m

2nd places for:

• April Reid – Shotput – 7.51m + PB
• Ben Clarke – Shotput – 12.58m
• April Reid – Javelin
• April Reid – Hammer (B) – 17.36m + PB
• Reuel Appleby – 400m – 51.0 sec

3rd places for:

• Martha May – 100m Hurdles – 23.5 sec
• Hannah Smith – Long Jump (A) – 4.66m
• Reuel Appleby – 100m – 11.5 sec

Team Manager, April Reied, said: “We also had  a lot of 1sts, 2nds and 3rds from our Colchester team mates who were fantastic, particularly across all the sprints and longer distance runs.

“A lot of excellent results again, and again, some more PBs coming through!”

Unfortunately, the meeting was cut short due to a medical incident. We send best wishes to the athlete involved and his club. We’ve been informed he is making a good recovery.

 

The final round of the Southern Athletics League is at Thurrock on the 8th August – Team CoBra go into the event with a good chance of promotion, but will face tough opposition from Thurrock on their home track. After 3 rounds, the table for Division 3 East looks like this:

Position	Team	Match points	League Points
1	Team CoBra	999.5	19.5
2	Thurrock	868.5	18
3	Basildon	852	16.5
4	City of Southend	551.5	11
5	West Norfolk	387.5	9
6	Ryston	268	5
7	West Suffolk	222	5

 

EAL Results – Sunday 12/07/2026 – Cambridge

Braintree and District AC Athletes had a great day at Cambridge for the Eastern Athletic League on Sunday 12/07/2026.

Here are the Best performance by event and age group.

U14G

• High Jump – Evelyn Fuller – 1st 1.40m
  

U16G

• 100m – Lulu Gooding – 3rd – 14.4
  
• 100m (B) – Enioluwa Zoe Saiki – 2nd – 14.0
  
• 200m – Katie Perkins – 2nd – 27.7
• 200m (B) – Enioluwa Zoe Saiki – 3rd – 30.0
  
• High Jump – Evie Freeland – 2nd – 1.45
• Long jump – Lulu Gooding – 2nd – 3.98m
  
• Long jump (B) – Enioluwa Zoe Saiki – 3rd – 3.61m
  
• Discus – Lydia Davey – 1st – 21.29m
  
• Hammer – Lydia Davey – 1st – 35.25m

U18W

• High jump – Martha May – 2nd – 1.50m
  

Senior Women

• 100m – Augusta Moldovan – 3rd – 14.2
  
• 200m – Augusta Moldovan – 4th – 29.0
• Long jump – Hannah Smith – 1st – 4.97m
  
• Discus – April Reid – 4th – 21.76m
• Hammer – Freya Davey – 2nd – 32.79m
  
• Shot put – April Reid – 4th – 7.22m (PB)
• Shot put (B) – Freya Davey – 3rd – 7.18m
  

U14B

• 80mH – Joshua Clarke – 4th – 18.4
• Long jump – Folabi Saiki – 1st – 4.78m

U16B

U18M

• 400m – Will Brown – 3rd – 55.9
  
• 800m – Will Brown – 2nd – 2.11.5
  
• Long jump – Nathan Clarke – 2nd – 5.33
  

Senior Men

• 100m – Bradley Hedman – 3rd – 12.7
  
• 200m – Bradley Hedman – 3rd – 25.5
  
• 200m (B) – Kell Ayiteyfio – 1st – 24.1
  
• 400m – Kell Ayiteyfio – 4th – 54.8
• Javelin – Henry Scillitoe – 1st – 42.62
  
• Javelin (B) – Luke Scillitoe – 1st – 36.06
  
• Shot put – Ben Clarke – 1st – 13.03 (PB)

Team manager, April Reid, said; “And lots more fab results including some new PBs – Ben Clarke broke 13 meters in the mens shot put for the first time, Freya Davey in Javelin.
If there were any more please let us know!

April herself broke 7m for the first time in Shot put.

She continued : “Well done to all athletes – and a big thank you to all the parents who helped out at events and gained us extra points!”

The next competition is the Southern Athletics Leage, 19th July, held at Bury St Edmunds. This is for age groups U18, U20 and Seniors (competing as seniors). Team sheets coming soon. Get in touch with any extra entries, .

Note – If you would like to take part in a competition but its your first time,  or you want to chat to one of the team about the process of the day, please reach out! Coaches and team managers will help you understand what to expect and what to do on the day.

 

New posters

If, on your way to/from the track, you’ve passed through the changing rooms at Braintree Sports Centre, you’ve probably seen that we’ve updated the club noticeboard. First off, thanks to the sports centre staff for finding the missing key.

Secondly, if you’d like to take a copies of the posters on the board to your school’s PE department, please download your favorites and print them off.

Taking a poster into school not only promotes your club – it gives you  a good opportunity to tell your PE staff about your achievements at your club.

Thanks to April who provided most of these photos.

You can get printed copies of the posters on request from Chris Webb.

Silver for Martha

Braintree & District AC high-jumper, Martha May, has continued her successful season with a Silver medal in the Southern of England AA (SEAA) Championships.

The Championships took place over the weekend of 27th & 28th June at Chelmsford – the hottest weekend of the year so far.

On Saturday 27th, George Loring finished 10th in his U14 1500m heats, narrowly missing his PB with 5:02 – a great effort in the very warm weather.

On Sunday 28th, Martha took 2nd place in the U18 High Jump. She said; “I finished 2nd in the U18 high jump comfortably clearing another 1.60m jump – a very consistent height now. I had very close attempts at my PB of 1.65m which is looking promising for future competitions this year. There was a strong breeze which impacted my performance slightly as I was battling a headwind into the bar, but overall it was a good competition.”

 

Braintree & District AC enjoy home success

Braintree & District AC hosted a Southern Athletics League Round 2 match on Sunday 21st June for ‘Senior Age Group’ athletes. And, in partnership with Colchester Harriers, we won! The joint team (Team COBRA) scored a very creditable 402 match points ahead of 2nd place Basildon with 348.5 points, and Thurrock with 318 points.

After 2 matches (with 2 matches to go), that puts Team COBRA on on 12.5 league points, Thurrock on 12 points and Basildon on 11.5 points.

Other teams in the division are West Norfolk, City of Southend, Ryston, and West Suffolk.

Highlight Braintree and District AC performances included:

Women

• 100m (B) – Natalie Pepper – 4th – 14.7sec
• 400m (B) – Martha May – 4th – 67.6sec
• 100mH – Natalie Pepper – 2nd – 19.6sec
• HJ – Martha May – 1st – 1.58m
• LJ – Hannah Smith – 2nd – 4.86m
• Hammer – Josephine Conway – 1st – 42.10m
• Discus (B) – Rebecca Greenslade – 2nd – 24.05m
• Javelin (B) – April Reid – 2nd – 16.82m
• 4x100m – 1st

Men

1st PLACE

• 100m (B) – Alexander Holmes – 1st – 11.7sec
• 200m – Thomas Hammond – 2nd – 23.3sec
• 400m – Thomas Hammond – 1st – 52.2ses
• 1500m (B) – Dominic Scherer – 2nd – 4:19.5
• 5000m – Kurtis Swan – 1st 15:55.0
• LJ (non-scoring) – Nathan Clarke – 5.79m (pb) – 4th longest distance overall competition
• Hammer (B) – Ben Clarke – 1st – 35.56m
• Discus – Ben Clarke – 1st – 38.49m
• Javelin (B) – Luke Scillitoe – 1st – 38.47m
• Shot put – Ben Clarke – 2nd – 12.90m

After the competition, Braintree & District Chairman, Derek Mason, said: “Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who helped out this Sunday at the track. It was great to see a full competition once again at the club and has given me more motivation to once again pursue Braintree for the track to be resurfaced. A wonderfully successful day.”

Another success for Lydia

Braintree and District AC hammer thrower, Lydia Davey has had yet more success, this time winning the Essex Schools AA Championships.

Lydia, throwing a 3kg hammer in the Under 15 age group, won with a throw of 37.63m to add to her Essex County AA Championship Under 14 win in May (41.94m / 2.72kg), and her 3rd in Discus at that same championship.

Head Coach for Braintree and District AC, Simon Mennell. said: “Congratulations to Lydia and her coach Denise Larkins. Lydia’s win at the County Schools championship demonstrates that Braintree is rapidly becoming the club for aspiring throwers in mid-Essex.”

Braintree and District AC has coaches for Discus, Hammer, Javelin and Shot, with successful athletes competing in all these events. The club also has coaches for sprints, middle distance, hurdles, long jump, triple jump, pole vault and high jump.

Mr Mennell continued, “We’re having considerable success with our throwers this season, and also our high jumpers. It comes down to hard work by the athletes combined with energetic coaches. We hope their success inspires other young athletes to join us.”

 

• •  

Reminder : SAL at Braintree, 21st June

A reminder to all – our next Southern Athletics League match will be held on home turf at Braintree Athletics Track on Sunday 21st June.

The match was originally planned to take place at Colchester but was switched to Briantree earlier in the season.

If you’re competing, please make sure you have confirmed with the team manager. If you’re available to help in any capacity, please let Derek Mason know as soon as possible. And if you just feel like an afternoon of sport that isn’t anything to do with football, come along and support.

EAL Match 2 Results – 31/05/2026

Evelyn Fuller stars at EAL Match 2

Stars of the team at EAL Match 2 (Bury St Edmunds) were undoubtedly Evelyn Fuller and Henry Scilllitoe.

Evelyn took 1st place in the U14G High Jump with 1.45m and just missed equaling her 1.50m pb. She won by 10cm and recorded only 2 failures having already won the competition.

Once again, our throwers turned out in force and delivered solid points scoring, including 2 A-string and 1 B-string wins, led by Henry Scilllitoe’s 43.22m PB in the Javelin.

 

 

 

 

Performances included:

• U12G
  • 75m – 13.8sec – Chloe S
  • Long Jump – 2.97m – Chloe S 
• U14B
  • 100m (A) – 8th – 17.0sec
  • 100m (B) – 3rd – 14.0sec
  • Discus – 1st – 22.59m – Lydia Davies
  • Javelin – 4th – 10.86m – Lydia Davies
  • High Jump – 1st – 1.45m – Evelyn Fuller
• U16B
  • 300m (A) – 8th – 58.8sec
  • 1500 (A) – 7th – 4:42.9
• U16G
  • 200m (A) – 8th – 30.7sec
  • 300m (A) – 8th – 58.8sec
  • 300m (B) – 3rd – 45.8sec
• U18W
  • 400m – 4th – Martha May – 67.0sec
  • High Jump – 1st – 1.60m – Martha May
• Snr Men
  • 100m -1st – 11.2sec – Reual A
  • 400m – 1st – 49.8sec – Reual A
  • 3000m – 1st – 8:52.9 – Kurtis S
  • Discus (A) – 3rd – 25.67 – Ben Clarke
  • Hammer (A) – 3rd – 19.63m – Mike Hills
  • Javelin (A) – 1st – 43.22m – Henry Scilllitoe
  • Javelin (B)- 2nd – 34.72m – Ben Clarke 
  • Shot Putt (A) – 1st – 11.98m – Ben Clarke
  • Shot Putt (B) – 3rd – 5.40m – Mike Hills
  • Long Jump – 2nd – 5.27m – Reual A
• Snr Women
  • Discus (A) – 2nd – 24.50m – Rebecca Greenslade
  • Discus (B) – 1st – 22.93m – April Read
  • Javelin (A) – 3rd – 17.01m – April Read

NOTE – I don’t have full details for the results of the 31st May. If you can add names or other performances, please email: webmaster@braintreeanddistrictac.co.uk