THE Mason Trophy Inter Counties Schools’ Championships at Birmingham saw six BUH&AC sprinters and jumpers swap the blue vest to compete in the orange of Greater Manchester.

In wet conditions, two new stunning PBs were set too.

For the U15s, Hannah Kelly powered to a new PB of 25.69secs for 200m (2), which now sees her ranked 14th in country. Lydia Hodgson, also in the 200m and a year younger than Hannah, lowered her PB to 26.54s (6) and Taiwo Taiwo clocked 13.27s (16) over 100m.

In the U17s, Georgia Lever leapt 5.16m (6) in the long jump, Anna Chadbond clocked 12.76s (8) over 100m and Hannah Stephenson ran 300m in 43.02s (11).

Meanwhile, Bolton’s U13 and U15 juniors did the club and team managers Mark Plant and Paul Rossington proud again at the third fixture of the Youth Development League (Lower) at Connor’s Quay in Deeside, finishing in second just 31 points behind Leigh’s 580.

BUH&AC (16) now lie second to Leigh (20) and ahead of Southport courtesy of a superior total of match points (tied on league points). Menai are fourth (14) in the NW3 division. The question of promotion will go down to the last fixture at Leigh

Performance of the day undoubtedly went to Kel Willock-Malin, whose gold in the U15 80m hurdles (13.3s) was just the beginning of what was to prove a fine day for the U15 athlete.

Come the high jump, he captivated the onlookers as first, the other competitors reached their limits at 1.48m, then he opted to keep pushing the bar higher.

Each clearance, with a pre-1968 scissor-kick technique, was met with applause and astonishment from the entire crowd, with an impressive 1.65m proving to be winning mark.

Holly Bentley was equally spirited and gets the fair-play award of the day.

After her fourth in the 75mH, she claimed victory in the U15 800m B race (2.49.2). She then decided to run a further 400m alongside an U13 athlete from Southport who was the sole entrant in the non-scoring 800m event.

The day had started well with Ciara Gettinby winning the 70m Hurdles in 12.2s to set a new club record in the process, whilst sprints over 75m and 100m saw particularly good turns from Hakeem Oguneye and Charlotte Plant.

Field events were well covered, with new PBs set; the boys put on a show of strength in the throws with Christopher Wright (first discus, second hammer), Aidan Tustin (second javelin), Ben Thompson (second shot, first javelin B) and Kehinde Taiwo (second shot B) for the U15s, and Aaron Tustin (first shot, second javelin), Ryan Wood (third javelin) and Matthew Morrison (first shot B) for the U13s.

The girls also threw well with Imogen Schofield, Katie Rossington and Emma Loftus for the U15s and Anna Quinn, Anna Shephard and Rebecca Weekes for the U13s. Besides Kel, heroics in the high jump were performed by Jessica Johnson, Ben Pickford and Lucas Schofield.

Relay teams were entered in all groups and distances to finish the day on a high – U15 girls 4x100m team Charlotte Plant, Lydia Hodgson, Emily Wood and Taiwo Taiwo yet again had a clear unbeaten victory. Credit goes to coach Allen Parkinson’s hard work and Sunday morning training sessions.