ATHLETICS: RUGBY and Northampton’s athletes were in action at the England Athletics Senior Championships in Bedford over the weekend, where two silver medals were picked up in a competition of high quality.
Eleanor Broome – still an U20 representative – was one of those among the medals, finishing second in the long jump with a fine effort of 5.99 metres.
Craig Murch was the other, delivering a season best 68.83m to finish as runner-up in the hammer throw.
There was disappointment for the club’s youth team though as their Area Final of the Youth Development League was abandoned due to a prolonged storm that arrived in Yate during the afternoon.
However, the club had done enough before the rain fell to ensure first place and a spot in September’s national event.
Matthew Broom scooped gold in the Under 17s long jump with 5.74m before grabbing third in the triple jump with 11.66m.
Connor Dadge followed up Broome by winning the B string long jump, leaping 5.28m.
There was double delight in the men’s javelin as Fenton Bishop-Timings and William Ballinger won the A and B strings while the women followed the trend with Georgina Woodward (2.00) winning the B, and Amelia Birkett’s 2.60m securing second in the A.
On track, Alfie Bowers continued the B success for the Under 17s by winning the 100m hurdles in 16.22secs and also finished runner up in the 400m hurdles in 1min 6secs.
For the U20 athletes, there was B string sprint success for Daniel Banks – who won the 100m in 11.21 seconds – and Ollie Biddle, who took the 200m in 22.93.
Alex Byers was also in form as he clinched the 400m hurdles comfortably, crossing the line in 1:04.09.
In the field, Thomas Lea won the B string U20 hammer with a throw of 20.57 metres, and took second in the A javelin with 44.39m.
Eleanor Broome impressed around the track and in the field, winning the U20 100m (12.38) and long jump (5.67m), before taking second in the B javelin with a throw of 16.50 metres.
The National Finals will be held at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on September 3.
Elsewhere 126 of the club’s athletes were involved in the Chairman’s Cup in Kettering on Sunday, where the club retained the trophy for the fourth successive year.
All four relays were won by R&N, while plenty of personal best times and club records were broken.
Arthur Tilt set two new club records in the U11 200m (30.0) and 800m (2:29.5) events, while William Drage set a new 100m quickest at the same age group, in a time of 14.3 seconds.
The 100m, 200m and 800m records also went tumbling in the girls’ events, with Ava Thomas sprinting home in 14.5 to set a new best sprint time.
Savannah Morgan took 2.2 seconds off the 200m best with 29.0, and Olivia Willison’s run of 2:41.2 was enough for a new 800m record.
In the U11 girls’ relay, Thomas, Morgan, Amelia Carlaw and Aveline Desdoits-Pitman’s combined 58.5 took a staggering 2.9 seconds off the record, while the U11 boys took 2.7 seconds off – Drage, Tilt, Finlay Grant and Tremell Foster joining forces for a time of 59.8 seconds.
Lewis Gurney got in on the act for the U13 boys, beating his own high jump club record with a leap of 1.57m.
