THE second Devon Open Series meeting of the delayed 2020 athletics season produced some stunning results from Armada athletes.
The event took place at Braunton and City of Plymouth, Tavistock and Erme Valley Harriers all had competitors producing eye-catching displays.
The throwing, hurdles and sprint events were particularly strong in north Devon.
City of Plymouth’s UK leading under-15 discus thrower Nubia Evans-Shields continued her impressive season by comfortably winning with a 33.12m throw. Tavistock’s Charlotte Walker came second with a personal best of 25.02m which put her in the UK’s top 20.
Tavistock’s Owen Fileman also finds himself at the top of a UK ranking list after throwing 26.31m to win the under-13 hammer. He also threw a personal best of 23.79m in the discus – an event where he is now ranked fourth nationally.
Edward Fileman, who won silver in the intermediate boys’ discus at last year’s English Schools’ Track & Field Championships, moved into the UK’s top 10 of the men’s under-20 rankings with a PB throw in his new age group of 44.58m. He also won the hammer, an event where he is ranked sixth nationally, with 55.66m.
Lois Fileman is ranked fifth in the UK under-20 women’s rankings and she threw 46.25m at Braunton. She also moved up to 14th in the discus rankings with a PB throw of 35.67m.
Club colleague Phoebe Milburn is ranked sixth in the UK under-15 girls’ hammer listings and she managed 36.62m on Sunday in that event and also claimed a new shot PB of 9.41m.
Team-mate Louisa Hess joined Milburn in the UK’s top 10 for the under-15 hammer with a PB throw of 34.69m. She also managed a PB of 24.45m in the discus and 8.60m in the shot.
Another Tavistock thrower, Harry Tomlin, moved up to 16th in the UK under-17 javelin rankings with a PB throw of 50.35m. He is also in the top 25 for the shot now after managing a new best of 12.68m at Braunton. Matthew Jenkins won the under-15 shot with a PB of 9.16m.
On the track, City of Plymouth’s Henry Curtis smashed his 100m hurdles PB to move up to sixth in under-17 rankings with an impressive time of 13.48 seconds, which is just 0.03 of a second off David King’s age group club record. Curtis also set personal bests in the 100m (11.60 seconds) and 200m (23.65 seconds) at Braunton.
There was a strong under-15 boys’ 80m hurdles event that featured three athletes in the UK top 22. City of Plymouth’s Adam Dingley took third in good company with a time of 13.17 seconds.
Poppy Northcott enjoyed an impressive meet on Sunday, finishing with three personal bests. She moved up to 14th overall – and fourth first year athlete – in the under-15 girls’ 300m with a time of 42.37 seconds. She also moved into the UK top 25 in the 75m hurdles with a time of 12.30 seconds. There was also a PB in that event for team-mate Kate Gray (12.37), who is now ranked 33rd.
Poppy Northcott also ran a PB of 26.87 seconds in the 200m.
Not to be outdone, her twin sister Rosie also claimed three personal bests. She ran 13.84 seconds for the 100m, 13.26 in the 75m hurdles and leaped 1.40m in the high jump.
Fellow twins James and Joe Wheeler of Tavistock were also in hot form. James set PBs for the under-17 100m and 200m, clocking 11.53 seconds and 23.50 seconds, respectively, while his brother Joe, last year’s English Schools’ junior boys’ 300m champion, set a new PB for the 400m with a 51.73 second run. Not too far behind was City of Plymouth’s Thomas Elliott, who ran 52.75 seconds for the one lap race.
City of Plymouth’s Kinga Kudzia set a big new PB of 12.48 seconds to move in the UK’s top 20 for the under-17 girls’ 100m. Club colleague Lili Fern was second in that event with 13.03 seconds but she won the 200m with 26.77 seconds.
Tavistock’s Rory Summers set new personal bests in the under-15 100m of 12.29 seconds and 24.76 seconds. He also won the long jump with 4.94m. City of Plymouth’s Nicolas Maczugowski also set new PBs in the same age group 100m and 200m with times of 12.47 and 25.44, respectively.
Erme Valley’s Rose Bruynseels claimed new PBs of 14.95 and 30.95 in the under-13 girls’ 100 and 200m.
Her Harriers’ team-mate Bella May knocked five seconds off her 1,500m PB to finish first in the under-15 girls’ age group with a 5:16.45 run. Second went to Tavistock’s Charlotte Walker with a PB of 5:19.20.
Ewan Dix, of Tavistock, broke his 1,500m PB by 15 seconds to win the under-15 boys’ age category with a time of 4:33.80.
Erme Valley’s Nathan Brown came second in the men’s 1,500m with a season best time of 4:11.32.
Full results can be found HERE.
