22 Jul From track to tractor – SDAC athletes excel wherever they go!
Athletes from South Devon Athletic Club excelled across a wide range of events in their latest round of races.
Young members of the Paignton-based club came home with an impressive haul of medals, personal bests and records from two prestigious track meets.
Meanwhile, their senior clubmates took on the undulating lanes of the Chudleigh Classic, with chairman Colin Peters completing the course disguised as a tractor.
The club enjoyed a great day at the Inter County Championships at Exeter Arena, having qualified by achieving set times or distances just to get there.
In the high jump Isobel Foley performed well but just missed out on a podium, finishing in fourth place. Fynn Perry had a great race in the 75m hurdles to finish second with a new personal best time.
Isla Perry, who only last week claimed a new national record in the 300m to place her top of an honours board containing Olympians and world-ranked athletes, continued her winning streak.
She won the 300m with a new championship record and finished the day with a second gold in the 200m final.
Fin Cull just missed out in the long jump and finished fourth after a tough competition, while Lauren Carr returned to racing after a year out for A-levels and almost secured a personal best in the 100m hurdles, settling for a season’s best and silver medal.
A number of SDAC juniors also took part in the ACE Academy Olympics, a competition taking in 17 schools at Exeter Arena.
Jacob Levett secured gold in the 400m and bronze for the long jump, while Faith Levett also bagged gold in the 400m as well as in javelin and long jump.
Georgina White took first place with a strong performance in the 800m and Theo Green won the 400m with a fine, controlled run
SDAC athletes Ava Green, Thea Gillard, Solomon Synnott and William Crisp also put in sterling performances.
Meanwhile, at the Chudleigh Classic, chairman Colin Peters arrived at the starting line wearing a home-made cardboard tractor outfit, most of which made it back to the finish of the five-and-a-half-mile course intact.
James Spalding was the first club runner home in 48m 30s, followed by Vince Langdon (52m 04s), Farmer Peters (57m 11s) and Alison Ford (62m 55s).