Although several Trafford juniors were moving up an age group and several were making their Trafford debuts, they acquitted themselves superbly, finishing second team in the first match of the Premier 2 Division.

In the U20 Women 100m and 200m, Chayce Smith and Holly Peltier formed a powerful pair, as they both finished second in the 100, Holly won her B string 200 and Chayce was fourth in the A.  The U20 Women scored very well in the middle distance, thanks to Sammy Mason, Rebecca Mason, Catherine Hooper and Ciara Lydon all finishing in the top two for the 800, 1500 and 3000m.  Catherine then also won the steeplechase and was third in the 400m Hurdles.  Holly and Rebecca also stepped up admirably in the throws.

For the U17 Men, Jamall Walters (A string) and Jack Morrissey (B string) placed second in their 100m and 200m races.  Joe Bentall ran a 3000m PB which earned him second place in the A string.  Ahmed Simeen had a very successful day with PBs in the 100 and 400 Hurdles, with second place A string in both.  TJ Simpson was moving up 1kg in the shot, but still beat his PB from the old weight.  He was then second in the Discus A with a PB and also recorded a Javelin PB!

The U17 Women fielded an impressively large number of competitors.  We welcomed several new athletes to the Trafford track team.  These included Ty Brockley-Langford and Chloe Freilinger who won the A and B 800m, respectively, whoop!  Chloe also raced the 200m and 300m, where she set PBs.  In the B 300 was Evie Collier, who also set a PB for third.  Evie (A) and Jessica Birchall (B) ran excellently to win their 3000m.  Jessica then won the steeplechase A, while Charlotte Haywood Percival won the B.  That added to Charlotte’s win in the Triple Jump B and 1500 B!  Meanwhile Sammy Mason won the 1500 A for a Trafford clean sweep in the middle distances.  Molly Haworth had a busy day as she scored good points in the A strings of the 80m Hurdles, High Jump and Triple Jump.

To top off the day, the U20 Men entertained the team with a thrilling 4x400m.  While George Hurst and Rushwan Lewis laid the groundwork in the first two legs, there was still considerable distance to make up on the lead runners.  Xav O’Hare, who had already recorded a 400 PB, took us past a few teams, then past onto Sanchez Nguie for the final lap.  With 20m to go Sanchez had got us into second, and then with a final push managed to take the victory!

The second team place here puts us in a great positon going into the second match at Stretford on Sunday 27th May.

Big shout out to Captain Degsy and all the volunteers and parents who supported.

Mike Martin’s photos are available on the Trafford Athlteic Club Facebook page (@Trafford.athletic.club).  Full results are available here: http://www.ukydl.org.uk/page4.html

Simon O’Meara