A DEPLETED Rugby & Northampton Athletics Club competed in the Youth Development League (YDL) Lower Age National Final at Bedford International Athletic Stadium on Saturday where they were led by the performance of Lily-May Pursey.
After dominating the Midlands Premier Division, a depleted YDL team took on the country’s best club athletes in the under-13 and under-15 National Final.
Pursey appeared in the Under-15 girls hammer throw and was just short of breaking her club record on her way to a third-place with a throw of 38.67 metres.
She also reached fourth in the shot put thanks to a personal best of 10.59m, which was a new club record, and, over in the B-string shot put, Parisse Linton-Shaw (8.76m) beat her previous best to also finish fourth.
Performing well in the Under-15 field events alongside Pursey was Georgi Jones (25.43m), who picked up a bronze medal in the discus.
Javelin thrower Abigail Ward notched a third-place finish (28.88m), and Abigail Pearce also won a javelin medal as her throw of 28.51m won the B-string silver, while Millie Watford (1.45m) set a PB to finish sixth in the high jump.
The Under-13 Girls were also successful in the field events. Second-place finishes in the B-string category were won by javelin thrower Jess Roberts (21.77m) and Eve Corrigan (7.87m, PB) in the shot put. Corrigan (1.30m) also set a new personal record on her way to winning a bronze in the B-string high jump.
There was also PBs for three Under-13G as Megan Burge (1.35m, PB) achieved fourth in the high jump, Lily Carlaw (8.09m, PB) threw her way to sixth with the shot put, and Florence Matthews (2:41.61, PB) crossed the 800m line in sixth.
Josh Tutt (10.37m) performed well in the Under-13 Boys shot put to secure a bronze medal and a new personal best amongst a very strong field, while Connor Cooke (7.92m) also set a personal best to win silver in the B-string shot put.
A long jump bronze was the reward for a strong outing from Kaiyuki Crisp (4.44m) and, over on the track, Noah Bennett repeated the feat in the 1500 metres with a personal best of 4 minutes and 47.64 seconds.
Tom Tyler (2:31.38) won a silver medal in the Under-13 B-string 800m while Myles Martin achieved a bronze in the Under-15 version of the race. Also leaving Bedford with a medal was Adam Caulfield (4:27.82) who crossed the Under-15 1,500m line in second place.
