Eighteen of Paddock Wood ACs young athletes travelled to the first match in the Kent Young Athletes league. In a composite team with Folkestone RR, they were competing in both divisions 1 and 2. With the record temperatures everyone coped exceedingly well. In the U13 girls Jessica Penny continued her winning streak with a win in the 70m Hurdles (12.74s) a PB, another in the High Jump 1.30m and claimed a 2nd in the Long Jump with 4.14m a PB. Jess Rayner also claimed a PB in her 1200m (4m 31.13s) Joe Stone had equally good results in the U13 boys, winning the Long Jump 4.35m and the Javelin 24.41m. He ran (13.84s) in the 100m to claim an AA grade 4. Liam O’Neil also got a grade 4 and a PB in his 1500m race (5m 14.12s). He did the non-scoring Javelin 21.66m a PB. Harvey Fordham jumped 1.50m in the U15 High Jump to finish 2nd and came 3rd in the Long Jump 4.63m after leaving to run the relay. Alex Stone threw 28.31m a PB in the Javelin and came 2nd B string in the Shot7.76m. Alex ran in the 300m (45.84s) another PB and the 4x300m relay.
Charlotte Whiffen threw a PB in the U15 girls Hammer 33.42m – a grade 3 throw – to finish 2nd . Phoebe Rennie ran 13.98s in the 100m and jumped 1.20m in the High Jump. Rosie Elspass joined her, jumping 1.25m. Rosie jumped 4.01m in the Long Jump. Lauren Harker ran the 1500m in a PB time of (5m 40.04s). Poppy Jury did the 75m hurdles to gain some extra points (21.68s).
In the 2nd Division the club had some first timers introduced to the league and competition. In the U13 girls Charlotte Parker competing for the first time came 3rd in the 75m (11.43s), 4th in the 150m (23.30s) and 5th in the Long Jump 3.19m. Kiera Conrad-Pickles competed in the 70m Hurdles for the first time coming 3rd (15.78s) and she was joined by Emma Townend , also a first timer, who finished 2nd B string (16.22s). Kiera was 3rd in the B long Jump 2.80m and ran (12.74s) in the 75m. Emma had a strong run in the1200m (5m.02.04s) and ran (26.03s) in the 150m. In the U13 boys Felix Wright, in his first competition on the track, ran an excellent 1500m (5.43.76s) then ran (32.47s) for the 200m . Mathew Oakes jumped into 2nd place in the B Long Jump 3.02m and ran (15.91) in the 100m. Oliver Jury prefers middle distance but covered the sprints, running (16.6s) in the 100m and (34.37s) in the 200m. He came 3rd in the Long Jump 3.17m. Thomas Harker came 4th B string in the 1500m (7m 03.93s) jumped 2.81m in the Long Jump and threw the Discus 10.89m. U15 Liam Simms came out from team 1 to help gain points for the team 2, Liam ran the 100m (14.38s) and the 300m (46.53s) and jumped 3.77m in the Long Jump. Aiden O’Neil ran the 100m (14.36s) and did the Long Jump 3.34m.
