The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Nene Valley Harriers enjoyed one of the best medal hauls in their history at the England Athletics under-15 and under-17 championships at Bedford over the weekend.
Hannah Molyneaux – who is trained by South Holland legend Geoff Capes – won gold medals in the under-15 girls shot putt and discus, while Spalding Grammar School sprinter William Hughes took gold in the under-15 boys’ 200m and added silver in the 100m.
Molyneaux’s putt of 14.22m broke the championship record and gives her the clean sweep of county champion, northern counties champion, English schools’ champion and now the England athletics title.
She also completed a clean sweep in the discus with a whopping effort of 35.65m to take the title – and was even able to sit out the last few rounds.
Hughes, another double winner at the northern championships, was not too far away from repeating the feat here.
On Sunday he dominated the under-15 boys’ 200m heats, winning in a time of 22.71secs despite easing off as he headed towards the line.
The final was clearly harder work, but after hitting the home straight his stride opened up and he pulled away from the field to take the title with a time of 22.82secs in very damp conditions, but clear of second place.
On Saturday, Hughes competed in the 100m in the sun with minimal wind.
He ran a comfortable heat, finishing in second place – split only by the photo – after clocking 11.47secs. In the final, he was pipped by the heat one winner – but he did beat his heat two victor after again recording the same time of 11.40secs.
Hughes’ twin brother Charles, also of Spalding Grammar, marginally missed out on a medal after finishing fourth in the under-15 boys’ shot putt.
His 13.45m was just 8cm away from claiming the bronze medal and was an excellent PB.
Elsewhere, Megan Ellison clocked a club record 2.14.06mins to finish fifth in under-17 ladies’ 800m final.
Tierney Augustine came eighth in the under-17 ladies’ shot putt with 11.93m, while Elysia Costanzo was 15th in the under-15 girls’ pole vault after clearing 2.16m. In the under-17 boys’ 100m
Callum Crosby clocked 11.75secs despite suffering with a hip problem.
Jasmine Allen’s two long jumps of 5.04m saw her miss the cut by just 6cm in the under-15 girls’ long jump, while she then clocked 26.92secs in the 200m heats.
Josh Akinwumi was in the fastest under-17 100m hurdles heat and recorded a PB time of 13.85s to finish fourth in his heat.
