The athletics season has begun and City of York Athletics Club are making an impact in leagues for every age and ability group, writes Nicky Proctor.

More than 30 CoYAC athletes competed in the Yorkshire Championship meeting at Cudworth.

Striking gold medals were Josie Parry in the under-15G 75 metres hurdles and Helen Garner for senior women’s 3,000m.

Josh Schofield won gold in the U15B 1500m and Daniel Cheeseman took gold and silver, for the U20M 800m and 1500m respectively. Adam Robinson took silver in the U17 100m hurdles. Throwing displays were also dominant led by Chris Cambridge, who won the U15B 400m and also the hammer competition with a throw nearly 20 metres further than the silver medallist.

Scott Lincoln took gold in U20 men’s shot; Iain Swall threw the discus 40.19m for bronze in U20s; while Sam Blain took gold for the U20 hammer with a throw of 53.54m – almost 15 metres further than the other competitors. Sam Beavers gained bronze and Paul Allsopp threw 61.55m to win the U23 javelin competition.

In the under-17 girls’ competitions, Rachel Parker struck gold with a hammer throw of 36.41m while Sarah Graves bagged bronze.

Becky Tunnicliffe threw the javelin 33.60m for a silver medal.

Three City of York U15 athletes were in the medals in the Humberside Championships.

Georgie Fenny achieved gold in the javelin and silver in the shot put, while Chelsea Walker took gold for 800m and 75m hurdles. Matthew Richardson was a golden winner in triple jump added to by a silver in the long jump.

In the Young Athletes League, athletes aged from ten to 16 faced strong teams from Leeds City and hosts Wakefield.

But notable grade 1 performances were given in the hurdles from Josie Parry (Under-15) and Rachel White (U13), and from Chris Searle (U15) in the 100 metres grade 2 class.

Wins were bagged by young sprinters Alex Botterill (U13) in hurdles and Rachel White (U13) in 75m, while Ash Hart (U17) won the 400m.

Kate Harris (U17) and Nicole Grenier (U13) won in the 800m, while Katy Wood headed the U17 3,000m and Zoe Robson the 1500m.

Rachel White, Georgie Fenny and Becky Tunnicliffe all won their age group shot competitions and with Tunnicliffe taking maximum points in the javelin competition.

The U17 and U20 age group athletes travelled to Middlesborough in the National Junior Athletics League to produce some great team and individual results.

City of York AC finished fourth out of six teams with 332 points.

The day saw a great run by Ash Hart in the 100m, fighting all the way to first spot in a new personal best time of 11.6 seconds.

Sam Blain won the hammer throw with 53.60m, while Chris Parsons managed to get a pb in the javelin and a comfortable second place with a throw of 42.08m.

Emily Haigh ran the 100m in 13.3 seconds despite blistered feet.

The home under-11s quad event gave the club’s youngest athletes the opportunity to get a feel for competing.

Four events – 75m sprint, 600m run, long jump and 1kg shot put – offered points for the 40 athletes taking part.

First, second and third place winners respectively were: U9 boys: Sam Gough, Harry Colvit, Henry Thomas, U9 girls: Flora Bannister, Abigail Young, Hanem Kassab, U11 boys: Tom Watkins Hargan, Barney Baker, Elliott Hutchinson, U11 girls: Chelsea Dawson, Ruth Aber, Abi Smith.

For more details on the club visit www.athleticsyork.org.uk or phone Paula Bird on 07761 530931.