RSA ACADEMY Arrow Vale’s Tayla Mullings triumphed at the Hereford & Worcester Schools’ County Track & Field Championships which were held at Nunnery Wood in Worcester.
Schools’ County Athletics Championships took place throughout the country over the same weekend and the Hereford & Worcester event saw top athletes from schools across the region compete having qualified to represent one of eight districts.
Throwing specialist Mullings beat her own junior girls’ record of last year in the hammer as she took it from 19.23m to an incredible 32.95m to claim victory.
As well as aiming for medals and the opportunity to claim the title of county champion in their event, athletes were also hoping to impress the selectors to take them forward to the Mason Trophy competition – an inter-county event – which was held the following Saturday at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.
The annual event featured ten counties and the Hereford & Worcester Schools’ Athletics Association team had been chosen following solid and impressive performances at school, district and then county competitions.
The Mason Trophy also serves as an indicator for selectors to choose their team for the final and main event in the schools’ athletics calendar – the ESAA (English Schools’ Athletics Association) National Track & Field Championships – which are being held in Gateshead next month.
Mullings finished seventh in the hammer competition with a throw of 29.67m.
Turning on the style for Hereford & Worcester was Josh Pearson of St Augustine’s High School who won intermediate boys’ 400m bronze in 51.42secs and also secured a bronze medal as part of the intermediate boys’ 4x100m relay team which clocked 44.8secs.
Chris McLeod, of Woodrush High School, won a bronze medal in the intermediate boys’ 3,000m as he clocked 9mins, 16.60secs.
The best age category performance for Hereford & Worcester came from the intermediate boys who finished third out of ten counties. Hereford & Worcester finished eighth overall.
