9 March 2020: BKO Juniors win through to Yvette Baker Final

If the club had ever entered the Yvette Baker Trophy competition for juniors, it must have been a long time ago.  But yesterday, under the supervision of Club Captain, Martin Wilson, a small but enthusiastic team of 7 juniors travelled to the West Anglian OC event at Rowney Warren.  This was one of several regional heats being staged around the country to determine which clubs could participate in the Yvette Baker final in July.

The club, with a limited number of juniors registered as members, was competing in the ‘Shield’ section. Larger clubs compete in the ‘Trophy’ section. For the ‘Shield’, the results of the best 5 juniors are used.  This is taken across 4 different age groupings with results determined for both girls and boys – making 8 different components.  The scoring system is based on 100 points for a first place and then counting down – the maximum score in the ‘Shield’ is therefore 500.

Unexpectedly we found on the day that the only other ‘Shield’ club was SUFFOC so we knew scoring would be high and tight to determine the winning team eligible to attend the final.  Our team did brilliantly gaining 4 first places and one second giving a total of 499 points.  And SUFFOC? Their team managed to gain 3 first places and two seconds giving a total of 498.  It was close but the BKO Juniors are on their way to the Final at Westonbirt Arboretum on the 5th July. Well done to them!