Following on from an excellent club performance in the Heart of England League at Redditch, 15 athletes and their families battled the football and traffic to Saffron Lane, Leicester for the opening Youth Development League match and were rewarded with fine performances.

The under 15’s started the day with Sophie Godber recording 3.39m for 5^th place in the long jump, who later followed up with an excellent 300m for 4^th place in 51.7s and finished with a PB of 5.68m in the shot put. Her partner in crime at the shot was Jessica Salt who overcame illness to record a PB of 5.68m for 2^nd place in the B string. On her first outing of the year, Hannah Beales stormed to second place in the 800m knocking 6 seconds off her PB with a time of 02:31.0. The last girl to compete was Ella Moss who ran a strong 05:50.8 for 3^rd place in her first ever 1500m, then went straight to the high-jump bed to win that with a PB jump of 1.30m. All four girls combined at the end of a long day to claim 2^nd place in the 4x300m relay with an excellent time of 03:23.0.

Due to unfortunate injuries, the boys team was reduced to only 3 athletes, but included 2 boys making their track & field debut for Tamworth. Oliver Shortman threw a solid shot put of 5.05m for 4^th place and then followed up with an fantastic performance in the 800m B race by knocking a massive 14 seconds off his previous best to finish 3^rd in a time of 2 minutes and 50 seconds. Before the 800m A race, Braeden Welsh-O’Neill was caught up in Leicester City football traffic and had to run half a mile to the stadium! Arriving 2 minutes before the gun, he performed admirably on his debut to finish 3^rd with a time of 2:28.0. He also ran 14.2s for 4^th place in the 100m and took 3^rd place in the B shot with a distance of 4.83m. Our final boy in the age group was another debut for Zac Edwards who ran in the 1500m. Up against a very quick field, Zac held his nerve to finish 4^th in an time of 5:37.1, and we look forward to seeing more of his running this year.

Under 13’s In the younger age group, a quartet of boys competed across a number of disciplines and recorded some top results. Another debutant was William Kemp who competed on the track for the very first time and ran a very composed race in the 1200m to record 2^nd place with a time of 4:23.5. In the other middle distance race, William Upton had his first outing of the season in the 800m to finish 2^nd with a time of 2:52.0 taking 10 seconds off his previous PB! He then also ran in the 75m with a time of 12s, and leapt to a new PB in the long jump with a distance of 2.93m for 5^th place. Also in the long jump was George Haddock for 5^th place in the B competition with 2.83m. George had a blistering start to his day with a new PB in the 75m of 10.8s for 3^rd place in the B race and a AAA Grade 4 standard. Last but no means least was Carson Scott who competed in the 75m and 150m. His excellent form this season continued with wins and personal bests in both events recording 10.8s for a convincing win in the 75m, and then taking over a second off his previous best with 20.8s in the 250m. These were both AAA grade 4 times and his 150m time puts him in the top 20 in the country so far this season. The boys combined for the 4x100m relay and finished off in style with another event win for Tamworth in a time of 59.0s.

The U13 girls also took a strong quartet with yet more outstanding sprint success, but also in the field and middle distance. Isla Rogers continued her fine form with 2^nd in the 800m with a time of 2 minutes 38 seconds just outside her best, did likewise in the long jump with 3.58m to win the B competition, and finally took a PB for 4^th place in the shot with a distance of 4.95m.

In the sprints, the 75m saw Lottie O’Donoghue, Lola Gossage and Grace Hirst competing with some very good times. Lottie recorded a PB of 10.6s (AAA grade 2) to storm to victory in the A race, Lola took 2^nd place in the B with a time of 11.3s, and Grace ran an excellent 11.1s as a guest runner, both of which are AAA grade 4. Lottie and Grace also took to the track for the 150m and won the A and B races respectively, with Grace running a PB of 21.8s for a AAA grade 4, and Lottie clocking 20.8s as the 10th fastest time in the UK this year. Lottie continued her good form with a third win in the long jump with a distance of 4.06m. After all the individual success the girls joined together for a last win in the 4x100m relay with a time of 57.5s.

Many thanks to all athletes and families for coming along, thanks to Rob James & Trevor Stevenson for officiating, and Colin Pleass for the coaching and management!

Overall Tamworth finished 5^th in the match due to reduced numbers, but actually scored 2^nd highest in points per athlete. There were 10 AAA grade ranked performances, and 24 personal bests for the athletes, so signs of a strong season to come.

Next Fixtures:

• 21^st May Lower YDL at Nuneaton
• 29^th May Upper YDL at Solihull
• 19^th June Heart of England at Stourport
• 26^th June Upper YDL at Stourport
• 3^rd July Lower YDL at Sutton Coldfield
• 31^st July Heart of England at Corby