R&N Athletic Club fend off Charnwood to win at Alexander Stadium
Rugby & Northampton Athletic Club maintained their 100 per cent record in the 2015 Youth Development League as they took victory in round two of the lower age groups with 561 points.
The success means R&N have a maximum 12 league points from two rounds after beating nearest rivals Charnwood by 56.5 points at Alexander Stadium, Birmingham.
The under-15 boys led the way for the club by dominating their age group. Oliver Lambert was the one to watch as he scored a hat-trick of A wins in the 200 metres (23.8 seconds, personal best), 300m (38.4) and 80m hurdles (11.4). James Ball followed in his team-mate’s footsteps with an impressive throw of 42.25 metres in the hammer A to achieve a winning margin of 15.18m and move up to the eighth-ranked under-15 athlete in the country. Ball also dominated the discus, throwing a personal-best 30.64m to win.
Jack Carey collected first place in the pole vault A competition with a height of 2.10m, while Rhy James won the B event with a height of 2.00m. William Ballinger threw a phenomenal 41.75m to triumph in the A category javelin with a new personal-best distance, while Ben Gidley threw 33.75m to win the B catagory. Matthew Broome was runner-up in long jump A with a leap of 5.40m.
Adam Caulfield had a day to remember after he achieved a personal-best time of 2:12.7 over 800m on his way to victory in the B race. Joe Musgrove finished second in the A catagory in a time of 2:07.7, while the ever-reliable Adam Searle contributed to the team total by winning the 1500m A competition in a time of 4:18.7.
Elsewhere on the track, Jaime Nalus put on an almighty set of performances to secure a triple success, winning the 100m B (11.9), 200m B (24.3) and long jump B (5.18m). Samuel Tutt also sealed a hat-trick of podium finishes, ending as victor in the 80m hurdles B (12.1), runner-up in the shot put A (11.28m) and third in the 100m A (11.9).
The under-15 girls were also in fine form. Anousha Salehi won the 300m A with a PB of 44.2 and club-mate Georgina Woodward took third in the B race with 45.8. Lucy Laight (2nd, 26.9, PB) and Laurone Ager (3rd, 28.3) were both among the medal positions in the 200m A and B races respectively, while in the 75m Zoe Gardner (11.5, non-scoring 1) finished second. Abbie Draper’s time of 12.6 seconds over the 75m hurdles B saw her finish second.
Lily-May Pursey was just 30cm away from victory in shot put A after she threw 9.57m to end as runner-up. Adele Blenkinsop comfortably secured first place in the B competition (7.91m) and Sophia Ivanova threw 17.11m in the javelin B to gain second. Georgi Jones’ distance of 20.49m in the discuss A also saw her finish in silver medal spot.
In the under-13 girls, Amelia Tutt ran a time of 12.6 over the 70m hurdles A to take victory and she followed that by sealing first place in the shot put A with a throw of 6.84m. Ella Watford narrowly missed out on a double victory, as she jumped a new personal best height of 1.36m in the high jump B and 4.09m in the long jump B to finish second and first respectively.
There was more success in the field with Maia Reynolds finishing top of the pile in the shot put B with 6.78m, and Abigail Ward continued her fantastic form by winning the javelin A by a substantial 9.89m after a throw of 27.76m, which was close to a club record. Millie Watford leaped to high jump B success by reaching a height of 1.25m.
On the track, Holly Walker finished third thanks to a time of 2:38.4 in the 800m A race. In the 1200m B race, Claudia Searle finished second with a time of 4:11.5.
Josh Lambert shone brightest for the under-13 boys as he took first position in both the 200m B (29.0) and shot put A (6.58m) events.
Elsewhere, Terry Egan won the 99th Northants county medal of his career as he finished third in the over-40 men’s Northamptonshire 10,000m championships, thanks to a time of 38:16.3. It was the 50th individual track medal of Egan’s career in what was the 54-year-old’s 25th race over 25 laps.
