YOUNG ACES STAR ON THE MAIN STAGE
A HOST of Carmarthen Harriers youngsters have enjoyed great success on the international stage.
Eight Harriers at under-17 and under-20 level have shown their talent as the return of top-level fixtures provided an opportunity to compete against the best from across the United Kingdom.
The Manchester Track and Field International returned to the Manchester Regional Arena and four Harriers were selected for the Welsh team.
Jessica Lee was third in the women’s long jump with a leap of 5.86m, her third best jump this season.
In the women’s high jump, Lili Church finished in the same position with a clearance of 1.69m.
Dafydd Jones and Ben Thomas competed in the middle-distance events, with Jones running the 1,500m in 4:10.88 and Thomas lining up in the 3,000m steeplechase.
The U17 UK School Games National Finals was an invitation event where the top eight athletes in the UK were selected to participate on a busy weekend of athletics at Loughborough University.
Storm Evans, in her first international event, threw 33.20m in the women’s discus.
At the end of the weekend, Evans was also awarded with the Spirit of the Games Award out of 360 athletes, not only for her performance but also for being a good ambassador for the sport.
Lee represented Wales for the second time in a matter of weeks and jumped consistently to secure a fifthplace finish with 5.66m.
In the penultimate event of the second day, she helped the Tokyo All Stars team to victory in the women’s 4x100m relay in a time of 47.87 seconds.
Osian Roberts was the third athlete to compete in the field in the men’s high jump event and cleared 1.85m.
Steffan Davies made his debut on the international stage and picked up his first Welsh vest in mountain running.
After being selected earlier this summer for the Welsh team at the
Home Countries Under-18 Youth Mountain Running Championships in Ambleside, he travelled to Northern Ireland a few weeks later for the British and Irish Junior Mountain Running Championships.
Davies completed the tough 4.02km course in 27 minutes 58 seconds.
Elsewhere, Morgan Batten was invited to throw at the two-day England Throws Camp Festival, held at Moulton College in Northampton.
In the javelin, the under-20 athlete recorded a throw of more than 50 metres for the first time ever with 50.95m.
In less than a fortnight’s time, the 2021 track and field season will conclude with the rearranged SIAB Schools Track and Field International at Moorways Stadium in Derby, hosted by English Schools.
Sixteen Dyfed Schools pupils from Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion have been selected to represent the Welsh Schools U17 team against the top athletes from English, Scottish and Irish Schools.