STRATFORD-upon-Avon Athletic Club under-15 athletes Will Hovell and Joel Ledgard represented Warwickshire as part of a four-man team at the Midlands Regional Schools Combined Events Championships.
Held in Mansfield, the Stratford duo competed against athletes from Derbyshire, Oxfordshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire and the West Midlands.
Both Hovell and Ledgard achieved five personal bests (PB’s) each competing in running, throwing and jumping events with the former an impressive third and the latter seventh in his first competition at the level.
Hovell’s third-place finish means he will go forward as an individual athlete to the English Schools’ Athletic Association Combined Events Championships after Warwickshire finished second behind Derbyshire.
He ran the 80m hurdles in a PB time of 13.40 secs, cleared a PB of 1.50m in the high jump, leapt a PB of 5.29 in the long jump, threw a PB of 9.33 in the shot put, achieved a PB total of 2,441 points in the pentathlon and also completed the 800m in 2 mins 9.7 secs.
Hovell said: “It was a very good and strong competition and I got PB’s in most of my events.
“In hurdles I came third in my heat and ran 13.4 seconds. In shot put I threw 30cm over my old PB, my new PB is now 9.34 and I was very happy with that.
“In long jump I jumped 5.29 which is also a PB by 30cm and finally breaking the five-metre barrier.
“In high jump I jumped a new PB with a height of 1.50 improving my PB by five centimetres.
“In 800m I didn’t run a PB but got the fastest time out of all the junior boys, I managed to beat a boy who has just qualified for 800m in the English schools.
“I qualified for English schools multi event champs and placed third overall so I had a very good day and was really happy with how things went but there’s a lot more work to do before September.”
Teammate Ledgard finished the 800m in a PB of 2 mins 19.3 secs, the 80m hurdles in a PB of 14.3 secs, cleared a PB of 1.44m in the high jump and a PB of 4.84m in the long jump.
He also achieved a PB of 1,888 points in the pentathlon and threw 6.06m in the shot put.
