FIVE talented athletes from the region have been named on England Athletics performance programmes this week.
Great Britain international distance runners Poppy Tank and Will Battershill have been selected on the main performance programme for 2026-27.
City of Plymouth’s Tank has enjoyed a memorable 12 months and represented Great Britain at the European Cross Country Championships, the World Cross Country Championships and the European Track & Field Championships. She also represented England in the women’s 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games and is ranked top of the UK rankings in that distance this year.
Erme Valley Harriers product Battershill, who also represents Bristol & West AC, made his major track championship debut at the European Championships in Birmingham, where he reached the final of the men’s 3,000m steeplechase.
City of Plymouth discus thrower Nubia Evans-Shields has been named on England Athletics’ talent development programme for 2026-27.
Evans-Shields, who has just turned 20, set a new personal best of 51.56m this season which ranked her fifth overall in the UK and second under-23.
She finished sixth at the UK Championships in Birmingham while still a teenager and qualified for NCAA Division I Outdoor Track & Field Championships First Round in America for Delaware University.
Meanwhile, Tavistock AC young hammer throwers Hazel Stead and Isabelle Doney have been selected for the England’s youth talent programme for 2026-28.
Stead won a silver medal at this year’s English Schools’ Championship and picked up the same colour competing for England at the SIAB International in Belfast.
The Tavistock College pupil also won the under-17 England title at Bedford in July and was silver medallist in the under-18 event, just behind her club and school colleague Tegan Brown.
Doney finished the season strongly and threw 50.61m in August which also ranked her among the UK’s top under-17 hammer throwers.
England Athletics’ head of talent programmes Alan Richardson said: “Autumn is always an exciting time as we welcome our brand new cohorts of athletes on to the England Athletics Talent Pathway. Off the back of a busy summer season of competition which saw Talent Pathway athletes compete on the world stage, we’re excited to open our doors to the future superstars of our sport.
“We are proud of each and every athlete and their personal coach who has made it on to the four Talent Pathway programmes.
“Myself and the team look forward to welcoming all to our fantastic network of talent hubs across the next 12-24 months. Our outstanding team of dedicated staff and coaches are vital in supporting athlete development, health and wellbeing and the state-of-the-art facilities of our four talent hubs are excellent environments to thrive.”
Sporting practitioners based at the talent hubs deliver support for athletes across the four programmes in specialisms from physiotherapy to sports nutrition, medical insurance to clean sport and psychology.
Tank was recently invited to attend the South West Regional Volunteer Awards and she spoke about her experience of representing England at the Commonwealth Games.
She said: “One of the best parts for me was that they had the para-athletes alongside the able-bodied athletes and that was a really special experience because I wouldn’t otherwise have met a lot of those athletes.
“It was really inspiring to hear their stories, get to know them and just hear more about para-athletics.”
Tank competed against strong 10,000m fields at both the Commonwealth Games and European Championships.
She said: “You can be disappointed in the moment, but I think there’s lots to take away from it, positives to look at and it’s a great building block for the future.
“You only learn how to do those sorts of things and run those sorts of races by being in them, so it’s very invaluable experience for me to take forwards in my career. I’m really grateful that I got to represent England at the highest level possible.”