Stratford AC youngsters pull together to claim second

STRATFORD AC athletes broke a string of personal bests as they finished second in the Heart of England Premier Division meeting at Rugby.

A 67-strong team claimed victories in all of the male age groups against a highly competitive field.

At this stage of the season, the team managers have to make judgements on selection after just some limited pre-season competition and what made this such a successful opening competition was being able to fill virtually all the events.

It also needs both the A and B string playing their part with every point counting and all the athletes pulled out good performances across the team to earn valuable points.

Among the impressive performances, George Fox Rowe won both the under-13 75m hurdles (12.80s) and the long jump (4.40m), while Louis Kendrick won the B long jump (4.14m) and finished a strong second in the 1500m (5.01.6).

Imogen Sheppard led from gun to tape to triumph in the under-15 800m, easing up in 2.26.0, while Rhys Mahon had an equally emphatic win in the equivalent boys’ race in 2.20.2. Adam Pomeroy took the B race in 2.31.4.

Harry Allwood, making his debut for the club, surprised himself by winning the 300m in 41.00 and as a late replacement in the 200m, he ran a PB to finish second in the 200m (24.9).

Hurdles is traditionally a strong event for the club and Zephan Boxall followed in that tradition, running the qualifying time for the English Schools championships to win the under-15 80m race (11.9s).

Cole Williams was victorious the B race in 13.30. Jack Sumners has moved up to the under-17s this year and is enjoying a blistering start to the season.

In pre-season competitions he has continually improved his PBs in the hurdles and long jump and at Rugby he did it again by running 13.2, the second fastest time in the UK this year.

Sumners was chased home by Oliver Creswell, who ran 13.3 — the third fastest in the UK so far this year.

In the long jump, Sumners jumped a huge PB of 6.48 to win and Dan Boyd was thrilled with his efforts in all his events, jumping 6.09 to win the B long jump and then he enjoyed a winning sprint double in the 100m (11.7) and the 200m (23.3), all PBs.

Under-15 team manager, Mike Sheppard, said: “It was a really good day across all the age groups with lots of strong performances from our established athletes. “What was really pleasing was the breakthrough revelations and surprises from so many athletes.”