THE WEATHER played a part in both matches involving young athletes from Yate and District AC on Sunday.

But the contrast could not have been greater. At home for the first meeting of the Avon Track and Field League, the sun shone brightly all day.

In Exeter for the third Yate and District League meeting, the rain lashed down solidly for over two hours, to the extent that there was some talk of abandoning the competition.

However, at both meetings Yate athletes acquitted themselves admirably.

As part of Team Avon, Yate under-20s and under-17s were consistently in the top three finishers in their various events, with several winning by large margins.

In the under-17 men’s 400m, there was double success for Yate. Nathaniel Mitchell has shown that this distance is where he really shines.

He came home over a second clear of the nearest boy in a very respectable time of 52.05 secs.

Isaac Cory, on the other hand, is more at home in the shorter sprints. Running 400m for the first time he stormed to a massive three second lead over the second runner with a good debut time of 52.42 secs.

Daniel Brooks recently dipped under eleven seconds for the 100m. Given the conditions, this was never a possibility, but a good winning time of 11.05 secs was still an achievement. He backed this up in the 200m with a second place time of 22.57 secs.

His brother Adam has come on a treat over the high jump and won convincingly with a leap of 1.95m.

He then stepped up for the triple jump – an event he had never attempted before – and won that with a very good jump of 12.56m. David Thomas was also a winner in the high jump, clearing 1.70m.

Abdi Hasan has recently recovered from a niggling injury and dearly wanted to dip under two minutes for the 800m. Here he did it, coming home well clear of the opposition in 2:59.58 secs.

There were even greater winning margins in the women’s 3000m where Hannah Hobbs finished a street and a half clear of the field for the under-20 win. She was followed home by Rosie Hamilton-James less than a minute behind for the under-17 result.

There were good results also in the men’s 3000m, with a win for Ben Whitaker in the under-20 and a second for James Harrod, who recorded the better time.

Toby Conibear makes a habit of winning with the hammer. Here he extended his personal best to over fifty-five metres. Also improving her best performance was Jodie Dale in the under-17 javelin with a throw of 34.08m.

Team Avon stormed to a massive win in the match, over a hundred points clear of Team Devon and Cornwall.

Next comes the play-off against the winning teams in the northern half of the Midlands on July 29 at Kip Keino Stadium, Stoke Gifford.

Meanwhile, back in sunny Yate, Dalis Jones predictably won the under-15 girls’ 1500m in 4:49.8 secs. Less predictably, she ran in the 300m and came a respectable second in 44.2secs.

Fiona Barkley has come on wonderfully in the high jump. Here, she cleared 1.63m to win easily. There were wins also for Abi Robson in the 100m hurdles, Megan Williams in the pole vault, and Sophie Lane in the under-13 javelin.

On the male side there were wins for Rob Philips in the senior men’s 200m, for Luke Ball in the under-15 eighty metres hurdles and James Viner in the discus. Archie Davis-Grant won the 100m hurdles and Matt Spicer the senior discus. He also ran the 100m, but did less well.

The overall result is still to be decided – so it must be close.