Club’s young stars in the medals at English Schools Championship in Gateshead.
Rugby & Northampton’s young stars were among the medals at The English Schools Championship in Gateshead at the weekend, with 23 of the club’s athletes representing Northamptonshire and Warwickshire Schools at the event.
Eleanor Broome, who narrowly missed out on England selection for the Commonwealth Youth Games, grabbed gold in the intermediate girls long jump with a leap of 5.94 metres. Broome, representing Northamptonshire Schools, put in an excellent series of jumps and led the way throughout, beating the UK number one Holly Mills by seven centimetres.
Silver medals went to Adam Wright and Oliver Lambert, who took the runner-up spots in the senior boys 800 metres and the 80m hurdles respectively. Wright, running for Warwickshire Schools, was narrowly beaten into second place with a time of 1:52.95, but he did set a personal best in qualifying, dominating his heat in 1:52.79.
Lambert also set a PB in his qualifying heat, crossing the line in 11.09, before a time of 11.15 secured second place in the final. Team-mate Samuel Tutt narrowly missed out on bronze in the race, coming home in 11.40, after also earning a new PB in qualifying (11.31).
Other club members close to medal positions were Zach Stapleton in the senior boys 100m (11.05), Caleb Downes (senior boys 200m – 22.33) and Kiona McLennon (intermediate girls shot put – 13.14m), all of whom finished fourth in their respective events, while Molly Barnett came fifth in the senior girls 100m hurdles in 14.7, after setting a PB of 14.5 in qualifying.
This coming weekend sees the final match in the Midland Premier Division of the Youth Development League for under-15 and under-13 athletes.
After three rounds, R&N are unbeaten and are setting their sights on winning their division with a maximum score, and the club looks certain to play a big part in the National Final, which takes place in early September.
