ATHLETICS: City of Plymouth youngsters impress at Par Mini Series

CITY of Plymouth’s UK-leading under-15 discus thrower Nubia Evans-Shields managed to break the 41-metre barrier for the second time within the space of seven days on Saturday at the Par Mini Series in Cornwall.

Last weekend, Evans-Shields became only the sixth British under-15 ever to achieve the feat when she managed 41.14m.

She backed that up by throwing 41.01m on Saturday at the same venue. She leads the UK rankings by more than 11-metres and is fifth on the all-time list.

Club colleague Henry Curtis may have recorded a big personal best in the under-20 110m hurdles in horrendous conditions at Par on Sunday.

Curtis was given a manual time of 14.0 seconds, which is far quicker than he has ever run before. However, as things stand, it would not count for the official UK under-20 rankings as any runs under 15 seconds have to be timed automatically. However, he is still waiting for official confirmation on his time.

His team-mate Toby Clayden did run in the same race and claimed a PB of 15.7 seconds in the torrential rain.

Fellow City of Plymouth hurdler Nicolas Maczugowski continued his good form with victory in the under-15 80m hurdles event. Despite the wet and windy conditions he clocked 12.1 seconds. He currently tops the UK rankings with 11.78 seconds.

Plymouth’s under-15 middle distance runner Molly Shorey ran her fastest 1,500m time of the season on Sunday at Par. Battling the rain, she clocked 4:50.8 to finish as first female. That puts her in the UK’s top 20.

There was a PB over the same distance for Barnaby Hutchings, who clocked 5:02.1 to move up to 14^th in the national under-13 list.

In the field events on Saturday at Par, Tavistock’s under-20 athlete Harry Tomlin set a new javelin PB of 43.46m, which ranks him 26^th.

There was also a PB in the under-17 shot for Plymouth’s Matthew Newton, who threw 10.59.

Meanwhile, Plymouth’s James Arnott battled through a -4.0 wind at Gateshead to take fifth in the multi-class para 100m at the Muller Grand Prix on Sunday. The wind was so strong that Arnott’s time of 12.37 seconds was almost a second off his season’s best.

At the Loughborough International Meeting on the same day, Tamar Trotters’ Mike Wilsmore finished sixth in the men’s 1,500m in 3:46.04. That was just off the 3:45.16 he ran at the BMC Meeting at Stretford earlier this month.

Away from the track, Tavistock’s Joe Beaton was first under-20 and fifth overall at the Turn and Burn 5k at Exeter with a 15.49 minute run.

Plymouth Harriers’ Steve Fletcher was seventh in 16.26 minutes and Tamar Trotters’ Richard Ham was third male-45 in 17.33.

Fellow Tamar Trotter Bex Ezra came fourth women overall in 18.15 minutes, while Erme Valley’s Alison Thorn was first female-45 with a 18.57 run.