IT WAS the turn of the youngsters to shine for Rugby & Northampton Athletics Club (R&N) after a series of impressive performances at the England Athletics Under-17 and Under-15 Age Group Championships in Bedford.
The youngsters starred in the field events, with Eleanor Broome earning second place in the long jump. Broome leapt a fantastic 5.99 metres to pick up the silver medal in the under-17 age group.
Kiona McLennon also got herself on the podium, grabbing a bronze in the shot put with a distance of 12.75, while in the U15 shot put, Lily May Pursey shone by setting her second club record in the space of a week.
Pursey’s effort of 10.26 was a new club best, following on from her record hammer throw in Kettering last weekend.
On the track, Brittany Wood narrowly missed out on a place in the 80-metre hurdles final despite two fantastic efforts – recording times of 12.10 seconds in both her heat and the semi-finals.
For the boys in the same event, Oli Lambert was victorious in his opening heat with a time of 11.22, and put in another impressive display in the final to come home in 11.28, which resulted in a fifth-placed finish.
Jaime Nalus missed out on qualification for the 100m final, but the U15 athlete did record a new personal best in his heat, sprinting across the line in 11.8 seconds. Other fine track displays came from Josh Faulds (400m hurdles – 59.86) and Jay O’Leary (100m hurdles – 14.12), who again narrowly missed out on reaching their respective finals.
This weekend sees the club competing in the National Finals of the Youth Development League, with the lower age team (U15 and U13) competing on Saturday and the upper age (U20 and U17) on Sunday. R&N, along with Blackheath & Bromley Harriers, are the only team competing in both Finals and maintain their proud record of having competed in every Final since the introduction of the League in 2013.
