Cheltenham & County Harriers U17/U20 team travelled to Yate for the 2^nd Upper YDL match in the league. In typical Bank Holiday style they were subjected to outbursts of rain but it didn't dampen their spirits.

In the first field event of the day, the Hammer, Skyla Turbard took 2nd in the A string, with Zoe Arrenberg winning the B. Mary Nasilasila finished 2^nd in the A string Shot, with Charlotte Smith taking the B win. Oliver Risborough and Mark Nasilasila enjoyed a brace of 2nds in the Shot, with Mark later winning the B string Discus, supporting Billy Buxton's 2^nd place finish in the A competition.  We continued our throws success in the Javelin with Mimi Davis taking the U20 win with 38.68m and newcomers Rosie Mullard and Molly Woodcock taking a pair of 2nds in the U17.

Sulaiman Ouiles took 2^nd in the U20M Javelin, finishing off a great day for him, having opened the day on the track with a huge PB of over 3 seconds in the 400 Hurdles, finishing 2^nd in 61.22; moving to a very wet High Jump and clearing 1.85m to finish 2^nd and racing straight to the sprint hurdles immediately after. Again, Sully narrowly finished 2^nd with another PB of 15.10.

Still in the Hurdles, Ellis Woolley ran a huge PB to finish 3^rd in the 300 Hurdles in 50.73, and Jayden Campbell and Robin Nishimura ran PBs in the 100 Hurdles of 15.40 and 16.32.

In the sprints, Pablo Cox-Sonora ran his fastest 100m yet with 10.88 and followed this up with another huge PB in the 200 of 22.67, breaking 23 seconds for the first time. Lucas West also PB'd with 23.88 in the same event,  Jayden Campbell with 11.96 in the 100m and Oliver Marchant enjoyed a double-PB with 11.74 and 23.76. Georgia Howell, Charlotte Smith and Ellis Woolley also ran PBs of 26.93, 28.06 and 28.29 in the 200m.

Freddie Coombe finished a close 2nd in the u17 400 A race, with Lucas West taking the win in the B race. 

In the distance men's events we were slightly depleted due to injuries, but Isaac Henderson stormed to victory in the 3000m, running a controlled 2000m before a blistering 2.35 for the final kilometre, to finish 40 seconds clear in the U20 race in 8.36.51. Rhys Haines, running his maiden 3000m took 2^nd in the U17 race with 10.02.74 in his first of 4 events of the day. 4 women ran the 3000, with Erin Musty the first Harrier home in 10.41.23 on her debut at this (slightly short for her) distance. In the same event Izzy Watt ran a huge PB with 10.44.75 for 2^nd U20A and Harriet Smith ran close to her PB for the win in the B race. Blue Heath-Smith ran an incredible 2.24.55 in a tightly fought 800m A race to take maximum points and Jess Sheppard finished 2^nd in her debut Steeplechase.

Over to the jumps, where the rain made for challenging conditions, but Isobel Burfitt jumped a fabulous 9.53m PB in the Triple Jump, with Milly Foster securing the B string win, also with a PB of 8.03m. Having earlier won the Long Jump with 5.60m, Oliver Belbeck went on to win the U17 High Jump clearing 1.65m, with Tom Curneen achieving the same height for the U20 B win. Isla Pain also won the Long Jump and High Jump double with 4.76m and a comfortable clearance of 1.60m.

A phenomenal outdoor PB of 4.05m in the Pole Vault saw Bexley Turbard take 2^nd in the U20s on countback, with James Pound in the U17 category clearing 3.00m for the first time - a massive 30cm PB - also for 2nd.

With most athletes taking on maximum events to boost the points, we had some very tired legs in the relays but we secured 2 solid seconds in the 4x400m U17M race and 4x300m U17W race.

Once again a great team spirit on the day, with many taking on events outside of their comfort zone, which once again saw us clinch 2^nd place to the mighty conglomerate of Team Avon!

We look forward to the final event of the league at the end of June in Newport.