THERE were some impressive performances as athletics returned to Brickfields for the the start of the 2022 season on Sunday.
There were a number of national standard displays at the City of Plymouth Spring Warm-up Meeting.
Plymouth’s Nubia Evans-Shields has dominated discus throwing in the UK at under-13 and under-15 level and she showed she is looking to continue that national dominance at the higher age group by moving straight to the top of the early under-17 rankings with a season-opening throw of 39.94m.
But Evans-Shields was not the only thrower to impress in cold conditions on Sunday.
Club colleague Hannah Gellatly moved up to third in the UK under-20 women’s hammer rankings with a throw of 47.84m.
Tavistock’s Phoebe Milburn is third in the under-17 hammer rankings after throwing 45.06m to take victory on Sunday ahead of club colleagues Louisa Hess (38.80m), Ella Patterson (37.77m) and Hannah Walker (37.68m). Milburn also won the under-17 shot (10.11m) and javelin (21.66m).
Also in the throwing events, City of Plymouth’s Evie Bee set a new PB of 25.19m to win the under-15 javelin ahead of Tavistock’s Evie Palmer, who threw a PB of 22.38m.
Plymouth’s Jacob Clark won the under-17 javelin with 34.43m, while team-mate Ben Upfold won the senior men’s discus (36.40m) and javelin (39.15m).
There were two outstanding performances from young City of Plymouth athletes in the 3,000m.
Jed Hutchings smashed his PB to win not only the under-17 age group but finish first overall in 9:00.82, which puts his third in the early UK U17 rankings.
Team-mate Molly Shorey went straight in at number two in the UK under-17 girls’ rankings with an eye-catching run of 10.05.58 on her debut at the distance.
Another City of Plymouth under-17 athlete to start the season ranked second in the UK is Poppy Northcott, who ran 46.19 seconds on her debut at the 300m hurdles. She edged out club colleague Kate Gray (47.82 seconds) and Tavistock’s Georgia Buckingham (51.00) in a high standard under-17 300m hurdles race. Northcott also won the under-17 200m in 26.6 seconds.
There was also a good under-20/under-23 women’s 400m hurdles race. Newton Abbot’s Hanna Ulvede just edged out Tavistock’s Joely Bytheway on the line. Ulvede clocked 66.61 seconds, with Bytheway finishing in 66.89 seconds, while Plymouth’s Kinga Kudzia, on her debut at the event, was not far behind in 68.21.
Plymouth’s Ali Carpenter won the men’s 400m hurdles in 63.77 seconds with team-mate Jake Weir first under-17 in 68.01 seconds.
There was an impressive debut over the 400m flat for Tavistock’s Rory Summers, who has just moved up to the under-17 age group. He took victory in 51.8 seconds, which puts him in the UK’s top 10.
Plymouth’s Jacob Lamboll stormed to victory in the under-20 men’s 400m in 50.6 seconds. He also won the 100m in 11.51 seconds, ahead of team-mates Connell McCarthy (11.65) and Jacob Michaelides (11.92).
Harriet Beardsmore triumphed in the under-20 women’s 400m in 61.0 seconds and also ran 26.93 seconds for the 200m event, which was won by her team-mate Kinga Kudzia in 26.4 seconds.
Plymouth’s Mali Heard enjoyed an impressive PB run in the under-17 300m, clocking 40.8 seconds to go fifth in the early national rankings. Team-mate Holly Reid was second in 45.9.
Hurdler Toby Clayden showed his flat speed by winning both the men’s 100m and 200m races in PB times. He clocked 11.28 seconds for the 100m and 22.7 seconds for the 200m.
Team-mate Connell McCarthy was first under-20 in the 200m in 23.1, while Mackenzie Pike won the under-17 boys’ 200m in a PB time of 23.5 seconds, just ahead of Andreas Isaias in 23.8 seconds, which was also a PB for him.
In the under-17 100m, Nicolas Maczugowski smashed his PB to win in 11.60 seconds, with Pike clocking 11.71 and Isaias 12.04.
Plymouth’s Lili Fern took victory in the under-20 women’s 100m in 12.67 seconds. She also clocked 27.0 to finish second in the 200m.
There was a new PB of 13.79 seconds for Tavistock’s Grace Wonnacott as she finished second in the under-17 girls’ 100m, while Plymouth’s Omar Hammoudeh took victory in the under-13 boys’ 100m in 14.14 seconds.
Plymouth’s Gregor Norster set a new PB to finish as first under-17 in the 800m with a time of 2:01.81. Team-mate Madeleine Jones won the under-15 girls’ 800m in 2:34.57, while Isaac Lamerton was first under-15 boy in the 1,500m with a 4:50.7 run.
Tavistock’s Zoe Bigham was first under-13 girl in the 1,500m with 5:22.5, while Plymouth’s Leonie Dyer took victory in the under-15 girls’ 75m hurdles in 13.18 seconds.
Noah Jones got his outdoor pole vault season off to a good start with a leap of 3.90m, while new Plymouth team-mate Emmanuel Opara took victory in the triple jump with 12.92m. Under-20 athlete Matthew Newton was not far behind with 12.17m. Tavistock’s Katelyn Milburn was first under-15 girl in the triple jump with 9.80m.
University of Plymouth’s Katrin Higginson and Zech Cohen won the steeplechase events at the end of the meeting.
Full results can be found HERE.
Meanwhile, City of Plymouth Adam Dingley opened his outdoor season at the Yate Sprint & Hurdles Meet.
Dingley enjoyed an encouraging debut at the under-17 100m hurdles clocking 14.27 seconds to go third on the early UK rankings, just behind fellow Devon athlete Josh Taylor, who clocked 14.23 at Brickfields. Dingley also ran a PB of 12.50 seconds for the 100m flat.
Swipe to see full gallery. All pictures are low resolution and are protected by copyright.