Louth Athletic Club juniors stake claim for English Schools Championships

The grounds of the Royal Hospital School made for a wonderful venue, and for once there was virtually no wind blowing in off the sea, providing fine running conditions.

The best club performances came from two of the Louth girls in the intermediate girls’ race, for school Years 10 and 11.

Hannah Reid and Issy Dhami are both Year 10 pupils and were up against many older athletes, but Hannah’s fine winter continued with her best race of the season, finishing 21st, and fourth Lincolnshire runner home.

She was closely followed by her training partner Issy who produced a brilliant sprint finish to overtake nine athletes in the final 400 metres to cross the line 29th, and fifth Lincolnshire girl.

Both girls finished as team counters as part of the first six home, and helped Lincolnshire to their best team performance of the day.

Their score of 76 points was enough for third place, just a point behind Norfolk, and four off winners Suffolk.

In the Minor Boys race, Declan Templeton was the 10th Lincolnshire athlete home in 58th overall in a time of 12min 55secs.

This was followed by the Junior Girls (Years 8 and 9) race where Evie Brooks (Year 8) ran well against older girls to finish 37th in a large field of 77 athletes.

She was followed home by clubmate Freya Plaskitt in 48th.

Evie completed the course in 12.50 and was sixth Lincolnshire athlete home, while Freya was 11th Lincolnshire finisher in 13.06.

The Junior Boys’ race contained two Louth AC athletes; Lucas George–Jones and Matthew Spendlove.

Lucas completed the course in 13.57, finishing 38th, while Matthew’s time of 14.05 brought him home in 41st.

The boys were ninth and 11th Lincolnshire finishers, respectively.

The Intermediate Boys’ race, for Years 10 and 11, had three Louth AC athletes competing in county colours.

Lloyd Buck had a fine run, improving on his county performance to finish sixth Lincolnshire athlete in 45th overall in a time of 20min 28secs.

He was closely followed by seventh-placed Lincolnshire finisher, Jayden Daniels, in 49th in a time of 20.34.

Jevon George-Jones had a slightly below-par performance by his high standards, finishing 60th in 21.23, the ninth runner home for the county.

The strong performances from Evie, Issy and Lloyd should have brought them into contention for county team selection for the English Schools Championships, while their team-mates Hannah, Matthew and Jevon have all already secured their places.