Hunts AC successful in busy week - News - LIVING SPORT

Hunts AC successful in busy week

Hunts Athletics Club tasted success during a busy week of competition with club members competing at five separate events.

The highest profile event to contain club athletes was the English Schools Championships in Birmingham where 16-year-old Jordan Gillbanks and 17-year-old Jonathan Edwards proved themselves to be top class performers as they both set superb personal bests.

Edwards finished 7th in the Senior Boys discus, adding over three metres to his club record, while Gillbanks ran a personal best in the Inter Boys 400m heats and another best to finish 5th in the semis, missing the final by a mere 0.03 secs. The pair are both ranked in the UK top 15 in their respective events.

At the latest Southern Men’s League meet at Barking, a new Hunts AC sprint sensation emerged. Ryan Palmer, still only 15 and who has only started athletics a few weeks ago, won the 100m B race by half a second in a very fast 11.2 secs, before a half second victory in the 200m.

Also in winning form was Peter Downhill and Karl Jackson who swept both strings of the 400m hurdles races while Christian Roberts ran out an easy winner in the 400m B race.  Making his debut for the team, Barry Wild braved the intense heat to win the B string 5000m.

In the Eastern Young Athletes League at Stevenage, Ryan Palmer picked up where he left the day before at the Southern Men’s League meet with another double sprint victory over the Under 17 Men’s 100m and 200m.

In the Under 17 Women’s sprints, Lily Seach continued her dominance in the 300m with a comfortable win the A race while Meredith Ash gained a first place in the 200m B string race. In the Under 15 Girls 800m A race, Katie Scholey prevailed for the win by 0.7 secs in 2:27.3, her second-fastest time.

The Huntingdonshire AC Veterans team travelled to Sandy to take part in the latest Eastern Veterans Athletics League match with the men’s team capturing four vital wins in their quest to reach the Finals in September for the first time.

On the track, Geoff Brewster picked up an eight-second win in the M50 1500m while William Bradley won by the even larger margin of 12 seconds in the M60 race.

Out in the field, Wayne DuBose took two firsts in the M50 shot putt and high jump. Standout on the women’s side was Sue Cahill who set a new veteran’s hammer throw record for the third time this year with 19.33m.

Not all of the Hunts AC’s success was limited to just the track and field athletes as Diane Gannon and Hilary McConville both picked up age group place trophies in the Bushy 10k race at Peterborough.

Gannon picked up the second-place trophy in the W50 category, while Hilary McConville placed third in the W55 section. In the Fun Run, Eleanor Smith won the girl’s race by over a minute in 12:12 and placed 5th overall out of 46 finishers. Her younger sister Polly finished 2nd in the girl’s section in 13:20.

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