Bridgnorth Athletic Club get county call
Four members of Bridgnorth Athletic Club will be representing their county next month on one of the biggest stages available to young athletes in Britain.
The English Schools Championships are held on July 8 and a handful of Bridgnorth AC stars have made the grade.
Lucy Elcock (junior girls, 200m), Oliver Carvell (junior boys, 1,500m) and Beth Loveday (intermediate girl, long jump).
And Adrian Lloyd Davies (intermediate boys, 800m) have all secured the ES qualifying standard and can look forward to competing.
Jess Hibbert (intermediate girls, high jump) is on the reserve list and will learn her fate later on in the build-up to the event.
The five, alongside nine other members of the Oldbury Wells School and RAF Cosford-based club, gave their qualifying hopes one final boost.
They represented Shropshire in the Mason Trophy at the Alexandra Stadium in Perry Barr, Birmingham. Members of Bridgnorth who also competed at the Inter-County competition.
They include Molly Andrews, Evie Cashmore, Hannah Cashmore, Elle Humphries, Ellie Shotton, Harriett Thompson, Kieran Clarke, Andrew Sutcliffe and Matt Yates.
It proved a memorable meet for 15-year-old Idsall School student Davies, who equalled the competition record as he stormed to victory in the 800m intermediates in one minute 52.4 seconds.
Carvell, 14, of Bridgnorth Endowed School, was unfortunate to finish second in the intermediates 1500m, running his rival very close in a competitive outing, timing 4:06:8.
His time was the second-fastest recorded for the age in the UK this year, behind the eventual winner. Both athletes broke the meeting's previous record – which had stood since 1983 – by more than four seconds.
In the long jump, 16-year-old Loveday, who also attends Bridgnorth Endowed, landed third spot with her distance of 5.39 metres.
The three, alongside team-mate Elcock, 14, of Idsall School, and possibly 15-year-old Idsall student Hibbert, will be part of the Shropshire side heading up to the North-East next month.
Other athletes that have performed well over the qualifying races can be added to squad list this week.
But, with a relatively low population in comparison to some rivals, Shropshire will take one of the smaller squads to Gateshead.
