ATHLETES of all ages were in action for Yate & District AC last weekend, with a home match for the seniors and a trip to Cardiff for the youngsters.

Having been promoted into the top division of the Youth Development League, manager Sam Smith and her team of under-13s and under-15s were unsure what to expect from the regional final.

Wins were hard to come by but exceptional performances over 1500m from James Harrod, Seamus Robinson, Dalis Jones, Fred Cooper and Evie Green saw an almost clean sweep in that event.

Luke Ball had a trio of fine wins in the under-13 hurdles, high jump and long jump, with his leap of 5.21m in the long jump being particularly noteworthy. Toby Conibear can be relied up on in the hammer: his winning throw of 43.82m well down on his effort at English Schools but still more than enough to take top honours.

Overall, a fifth place finish for a newly promoted team was a very satisfactory result.

Yate seniors compete together with athletes from Bristol & West AC in Division 1 of the Midland League. This latest outing saw them competing with Birchfield Harriers and a group of other big clubs from across the north Midlands.

Going into the match the local team was in second place behind Birchfield: by the end of Sunday’s match this was in doubt as Yate/Bristol had convincingly won the match with Birchfield well down.

It has been observed many times, but it remains true that teams that fill all the places are more likely to win, and this was the case here, with very few gaps in the Yate/Bristol team.

There were exceptionally fine wins from Hannah Hobbs in the 800m and Floren Scrafton in the 1500m. Hannah’s time of 2:12.75secs was a full five seconds ahead of her nearest rival, while Floren’s time of 4:40.34 was an extraordinary ten seconds clear of the field.

There was a double win in the men’s triple jump from Jack Joynson and Matt Muggeridge and a good second and first in the men’s hammer from Eugene Lawlor and Matt Spicer. Jo Smerdon and Maria Townsend also recorded wins in the ladies’ javelin.

On the track, wins were harder to come by, but it is worth recording the fine runs from Ben Wells and Daniel Brooks in the 200m and from Josh Snook and Tom Pallot in the 400m.

All in all, a good day’s work, setting the team up for what remains of the season.