Torbay's rising stars shine as summer athletics season comes to a close

Leon Snell ended his already superb season by setting a new U13 boys Mile record - 5:12. Mac (Adam) Holland ran well for a PB of 6:27 and Keaton Quinn ran a fabulous 7:01 mile in U11 age group and he is still only nine.
Ella Richards u15F (10:48) and Gwilym Lewis u17M (11:06) both ran PBs in the 3k graded runs at Exeter and Theo Glew ran a solid 9:47, showing he is back to full fitness after a shoulder injury following a cycling accident earlier in the season.
From track to Fells - on Saturday it was the last of a ten race series organised by the SW Fell Runners. The race involved a 10k loop from Belstone (370m climb) involving five tors Belstone, Oke, East Mill, Winter and back to the village green via Belstone Tor. There was a tough head wind out to Oke tor, a brutal climb up East Mill and quite a bit of bog before crossing back to Winter Tor. Hayley Ratcliff was 2nd V50 (11th female overall) and was 3rd female in the whole ten race series .
For the junior races the course was shorter but still very hilly. U13 Marlow Kirby was 2nd in his race but was winner for the whole series coming first in 6 or the 7 races.
Based on recent races and training sessions the club is looking forward to a very promising Westward League cross country series, which starts next week.
The club youngsters recorded seven personal bests and two club records at the Yeovil Open Meeting.
At Under-13 level, Annalise Little showed her versatility with PBs in both 100m (14.90 sec) and 800m (2:38.81), plus 4th in long jump with 3.74m. Freya Stewart placed 2nd in the long jump with 3.87m and 3rd in both 100m (15.20) and 200m (32.02).
There were some quality performances from the club’s Under-15 girls. Frankie Skelly jumped out to a new PB (4.61m) in the long jump for 3rd, having the best series of jumps of the summer.
Ella Richards ran a hard 800m and was rewarded with a new PB (2:23.79), while training partner Paige Quinn also improved her PB with a quality run of 2:15.99, also a new Club record.
Keeley Little recorded the fastest female 100m time on the day with a swift 12.49, which was a warm up for her main race later in the 300m. Displaying some aggressive discipline sprinting from the start in still wind, Keeley set a new PB and new Club record, as well as propelling her up the UK rankings to 5th, a remarkable time with no serious competition.
The two boys performed well, Aaron Smith won the Under-17 triple jump, setting a new PB with 12.38m and 2nd in a highly competitive 200m in 23.78 sec. Under-20 Sam Barnaby had a hard race in the 800m, just losing out on the line to finish 2nd in 2:04.15.