The South of England Under 15 and Under 20 Inter-Counties Athletic Champion-ships took place for the first time at the Exeter Arena, following the success of the National Schools at the track in 1998.
The Championships, normally held in North London, display a wealth of talent from 16 counties but unfortunately was boycotted by five of these who felt the travel distance was too far. How shameful when Cornwall and Devon have supported the event every single year!
The timetable was disrupted as heats in most races became straight finals but those counties that did take part still provided the best junior competitions seen in the West Country since the National Schools Championships and should not detract from the magnificent result gained by the Cornish athletes who finished above the other South West teams for the first time and beat several of the larger counties.
Steven Green in the Under 20 Men and Michelle Hammond for the Under 15 Girls both produced winning performances, Steven in the 400m Hurdles in a new best time of 55.12s followed by a second place in the 110 Hurdles in 15.26s.
These two events were run as straight finals but Michelle had to contend with heats and finals races in both the 100m and 200m reducing her best 200m time to 26.48s with a determined finish to snatch a win right on the line.
There were several notable top three placings: Zoe Jelbert, returning from her Great Britain debut in Germany, ran the 800m and was just beaten by Devon's older Vicky Rolfo, recording 2:12.97, just outside her County Record. Adam Paulley was 'towed' to a fast 22.74s time in the final of the 200m by one of the country's best juniors to take the runner up spot. Laura Brown ran 12.79s in the 100m but declared her slight disappointment that the excellent second place had not produced a faster time! The consistant throwing of Kimberley Rawling gave her second in the Hammer competition with 34.88m and third in the Discus with 35.48m and Rebecca Bailey's Javelin throw of 36.47m earned her a second placing. Sharon Crowle gave the 100m hurdlers something of a large lead before pulling through into second best time of the season of 15.92s followed by a best ever Triple Jump of 10.66m for fourth and third place in the Long Jump with 5.01m. Shaun Sinden was one of five Cornish athletes offered places in the South West team to compete in Belgium next month after third place in the Long Jump with 6.32m and fourth in the Triple with 13.34m. Leah Harris ran her fastest 400m time of 58.65s for third place.
In the younger Under 15 age group, Catherine McGhee equalled her County Pole Vault Record of 2.30m for second. This being the first time that the event had been included for the girls. James Bellwood was rewarded for his spirited front running in the 1500m with second and a massive improvement on his previous best time with 4m:24.21s. The 1500m proved successful for the girls with Rebecca Gillespie taking third place in 4m:58.19s in a race which saw Zoe Jelbert's Championship Record of '98 beaten by Dorset's Charlotte Moore. Frazer Johns threw his second best distance in the Shot for a third position in 12.79m.
The high quality competition helped several athletes to their best performances including Kiri Wedlock (800m - 2:2.66s), Andrew Brown (LJ-5.20m), Chris Winfield (Hammer - 27.74m), James Knapp (TJ - 10.74m), Marc Hicks (Pole Vault - 3.30m) and Jonathon Saunter (Javelin -42.50m).
Usually, the teams finish outside the top ten counties but not even the absence of counties like Essex, Surrey and Bedford could account for the dramatic announcement that the Cornish Under 20 athletes were leading at the halfway stage or their eventual third place overall, 2nd in the Under 15's, also in their best ever position of 5th with Kent taking the winner's trophies in both competitions.