Rugby and Northampton Athletics Club finished off the season with a stunning victory in the final UKYDL Lower match held at Rugby. With Covid effecting much of the sport, this has been a very different year in terms of competition but the coaches, parents, officials and athletes have responded brilliantly. This was one of the best ever victories by the club, winning the match by over 100 points.
The tone was set for the whole competition when R and N hurdlers won an unprecedented 7 of the 8 available races. There were victories for Penelope Jones, Grace McCollin, Jacob Vural and Charlie Cook in the U13 age group and outstanding performances from Isabel Mur, Ella Darby, Ben Smith and Harry Pritchett in the U15 age group. The pattern continued throughout the match with R and N athletes achieving outstanding victories in all areas.
The U13 girls saw Isabelle Knight post some of the countries leading sprint and jumps performances in the U13 age group as did Alice Berrill in the U13 javelin. The U15 girls won a whole host of events with outstanding marks from Lorna Stenhouse (high jump), Olivia Monk and Isabel Mur (sprints). Eva Rogerson (1500m) and Ella Darby (300m and long jump)
Not to be outdone, the boys also exceeded all expectations with outstanding A string victories for Abbas Hazra-Corte (sprints), Moyo Stumphusen (shot), Oliver Harrison (javelin) and Robbie Dale (300m).
The match culminated with the relays which underlined the dominance of the club. The U15 boys won both the 4 x 300m and the 4 x 100m – the latter in the 13th quickest time in the whole country. Not to be outdone, the U15 girls sprinted to an emphatic victory in a new club record of 50.5 secs – the sixth quickest in the country this year. Pride of place, however, went to the U13 girls relay team who scorched to victory in a time of 54.2 secs – unbelievably the second quickest time by any club in the whole country this year -the highest ever ranking by any R and N relay team ! A massive well done to Kiki Blagg, Isabelle Knight, Penelope Jones and Grace McCollin and congratulations to all that took part this year.
