RUGBY and Northampton (R&N) started their Youth Development League Lower Age Group Midland Premier Division campaign in top form with a first-place finish at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham on Saturday 23rd April.
The athletics club were ten points clear at the end of the match, with Marshall Milton Keynes in second and Charnwood Athletics Club a further 15.5 points back in third.
The Under-15 Boys produced outstanding throwing and middle distance performances to set R&N well on their way to a top finish.
The 1,500m was dominated by Adam Caulfield, who took first place in four minutes 29.15 seconds, while Myles Martin finished second in the 800m (2:13.58).
In the field, Thomas Ball was in brilliant form to win the discus event, with a throw of 31.92 metres, before a third-place finish in the hammer (31.52m).
There was also throwing success for Ben Gidley (46.64m) and Fenton Bishop-Timing (31.22m), who clinched first in their javelin competitions. Gidley, who won by more than 11 metres, also claimed victory in the B-string hammer throw (24.40m).
The under-15 girls also produced dominance in the field. Lily May Pursey beat the A-string shot put competitors with a throw of 9.22m and set a new club record of 36.21m to claim second in the hammer.
Maia Reynolds’ 19.17m throw was enough to claim B-string discus top spot, while Adele Blenkinsop (8.21m) won the B-team shot put and Parisse Linton-Shaw threw 21.9m in the hammer to finish second.
R&N dominated the under-15 girls javelin competition with Abigail Ward finishing first in the A-string with 26.91m and the B title was won with a 26.79m throw by Abigail Pearce.
Eloise Nowill put in a good performance in the high jump to finish joint second in the A-string with a leap of 1.45m, while Millie Watford (1.4m) finished joint first in the B. There was also a strong performance from Georgina Woodward (2.1m), who clinched second in the pole vault.
On the track, Mary Beetham Green ran a 12.78 second 100m and completed the 200m in 26.58 to take second and third in the A races respectively. Second-place in the 75m hurdle went to Iola Grant who finished the B race in 12.31.
The strength in throwing carried over into the under-13 girls group, too. Mica Quinn claimed first in the A-string javelin with a throw of 20.95m, along with a 5.88m in the shot put for second place.
With Quinn top of the pack, Jess Roberts also took first in the javelin B-string thanks to a throw of 17.55m
Eve Corrigan also claimed a brace of top-two finishes taking second in the shot put (7.31m) before claiming top spot in the long jump (4.28m). Also jumping well on Saturday was Megan Burge – she came in second with a leap of 1.15m in the B-string high jump.
The track was a place of success for the U13s. Claudia Searle (4.07.95) finished first in the U13 Girls A-string 1200m and Henry Woodward (2:35.95) dominated the U13 Boys B-string 800m to cross the line almost four second faster than his nearest competitor.
Their was a trio of second places for the U13 Boys as Lewis Gurney (13.57) and Luke Gosling (13.54) finished well in both 75m hurdle races, while Noah Bennett (5:02.02) performed well in the 1500m.
It was a strong jumping display by the U13 Boys in the field as the four top places in the Long jump and high jump went to R&N. Oliver Scott (4.2m long jump, 1.2m high jump) won both B-string competitions while Kaiyuki Crisp (4.35m) claimed the top class long jump win and Lewis Gurney (1.45m) repeated the feat in the high jump.
