CITY of Plymouth’s Jed Hutchings has shot to the top of the UK under-13 800m rankings with a stunning performance at the Cornwall AC Warm-up Meet at Carn Brea.
Hutchings clocked an impressive time of 2:15.5 minutes which is three seconds quicker than anyone else in his age group has done so far this year.
The youngster joins his City of Plymouth team-mates Poppy Northcott and Nubia Evans-Shields in topping a ranking list this season.
Both Northcott and Evans-Shields were in action at the Devon Open meeting at Brickfields on Sunday.
Northcott is currently the UK’s fastest under-13 girl at 600m, 800m and 1,200m and she smashed her personal best in the 1,500m on Sunday to move into the country’s top five of that event also. She ran 5:06.06 in windy conditions at Brickfields. That was five seconds quicker than she had previously run for the distance and she beat all the under-17 and under-15 athletes as well.
Northcott allowed Bideford’s Harvey Reeves to set the pace for much of the race before storming away from him in the final 200m.
Evans-Shields is topping the UK’s under-13 discus rankings and is also in the top 20 for the shot. The conditions were not the best on Sunday but she threw 30.95m in the discus and 7.12m in the shot.
Team-mate Ben Foster is ranked in the under-17 boys’ top 10 for shot and he easily won his category on Sunday with a 13.53m throw. He also showed his speed by clocking 12.38 seconds for the 100m.
Plymouth international multi-eventer Emily Bee continued her build-up for the season by running 26.23 seconds into a strong wind in the 200m, leaped 5.51m in the long jump and set a new PB of 34.54m in the javelin.
Club colleague Matthew Newton finds himself ranked second in the UK in the under-15 triple jump after leaping 11.57m at Brickfields.
Erme Valley’s Adam Dingley is ranked in the country’s top 30 for the under-13 long jump and he won his age group on Sunday with a 4.49m leap.
Team-mate Brownwyn Harris won the under-17 high jump with a new PB of 1.55m.
There was a good under-13 boys’ 75m hurdles race featuring two top 10 athletes, which Torbay’s Josh Taylor won in 12.79 ahead of Tavistock’s Nicolas Maczugowski in 13.87. Maczugowski and team-mate Rory Summers both impressed in the 150m. Summers ran 21.16 seconds and Maczugowski 22.32.
There were three strong under-15 girls’ 100m races that saw that saw five sub-14 second runs. Torbay’s Estelle Roots was quickest in 13.28 seconds, with City of Plymouth’s Mali Heard not far behind with 13.33 and Kinga Kudzic clocking 13.36, Janea Oligan 13.73 and Neve Dann 13.83.
Heard ran 26.96 seconds for the 200m, while under-15 team-mate Connell McCarthy ran a quick 24.90m for the 200m, having run 12.52 for the 100m, and won the long jump with 5.57m.
Plymouth’s Aaron Miller took victory in the men’s 100m and 200m in 11.51 seconds and 23.42 seconds, respectively.
Erme Valley’s Paige Johnson was quickest under-17 girl at 100m with 13.65 seconds.
Plymouth under-15 athlete Thomas Elliott ran 39.87 seconds to win the 300m, while under-17 club colleage Danny Filewood set a new 400m PB of 53.93 seconds.
Tavistock’s Tilly McDowell is up to eighth in the UK under-17 1,500m steeplechase rankings after a 5:45.46 run on Sunday.
Fellow Tavistock athletes Amelia Riggott and Emma Ryder also enjoyed success. Riggott was first under-15 girl in the 800m in 2:25.86, while Ryder won the senior 800m in 2:20.11.
Plymouth’s Kayleigh Weston set a PB in the women’s hammer of 40.06m, while Tavistock’s under-20 athlete Ella Tomlin set a shot PB (9.38m) and a discus season’s best (28.74m). Fellow Tavistock athlete Edward Fileman eased to victory in the under-17 javelin with 34.07m, while club colleague Charlie Shipton won the senior men’s hammer, shot and javelin.
Full results can be found HERE.