YOUNG athletes from Holmfirth Harriers bagged seven medals for Kirklees in the West Yorkshire Schools Track and Field Championships – including two gold.
These championships are a stepping stone to the prestigious English Schools Athletics Championships, where former British athletes such as Dame Kelly Holmes, Seb Coe, Steve Ovett, Steve Backley, Jonathan Edwards and Denise Lewis first came to prominence.
And Max Kaye, Jacob Hanson and Olivia Sykes have been selected to represent West Yorkshire at the England Schools showpiece.
Cold, blustery conditions at Princess Mary Stadium in Cleckheaton made it difficult for those wanting qualifying times for the English, but the Holmfirth contingent performed well.
Jake Richardson was their first gold medallist in the Senior Boys 2000m steeplechase, continuing his improvement with a fine time of 7min 30.94sec.
The other Holmfirth gold went to Jacob Hanson, who stormed home in the Junior Boys 200m heats before winning the final with a new personal best of 24.39sec.
In the Intermediate Boys, Edward Saxton took silver in the long jump, setting a season’s best of 6.10m.
At Junior Boys level, Aaron Kettlewell was in scintillating form to register 5.30m and pick up silver in the long jump – another encouraging display in a nail-biting Championship event.
Lewis Byram had a really good run in the1500m to take the bronze with a time of 4-31.21.
The Junior Girls 1500m final featured two Holmfirth athletes.
Olivia Sykes led from the gun, but found the strong headwind difficult down the finishing straight and was out-dipped by Molly Traviss on the line, edging her into the silver medal position.
Further down the field, Erica Byram finished sixth with a time of 5-22.83.
Lucy Byram ran the 800m final, crossing the line in sixth with a time of 2-35.08, while Sophie Spencer ran a strong last lap in the Intermediate Girls 1500m to win the silver medal in 5-08.7.
