WILTSHIRE’S athletes utterly dominated the 2017 South West Inter Counties Track & Field Championships at the Exeter Arena.

The county’s representatives scored a massive total of 529 points to finish over 100 ahead of Devon’s 398 with Avon trailing them by another huge margin, finishing third on 282.

“It was a truly fantastic day for Wiltshire athletics, beating the odds and torrential rain to win the Inter County team title,” said delighted Wiltshire team manager Alison Phillips.

“Wiltshire topped the table by scoring an amazing 529 points. We won both the overall male and female competitions by coming top in every age group except two, which is absolutely outstanding.

“It was fantastic watching our medal winners on the podium, but as the scoring system could not give a team result as the event went on, although we could tell we were doing brilliantly we did not know we had actually won until the day was over.

“I am absolutely delighted, and it’s all down to some stupendous performances by the team – we won 35 gold, 28 silver and 26 bronze medals.

“Ten athletes, Tye Leo-Stroud, Jessica Kinneir, Gregory Herring, Gabrielle Kirkham, Megan Galpin, Gabriella Holt, Oscar Hennessey-Leach, Thomas Holmes, Femi Akinbobla and Joseph Collins all set new championship records.

“And who could fail to be amazed by the success of our steeplechasers? We had six runners across the age groups and they finished with four gold medals and two silvers, in races run in what were definitely the worst conditions of the day, with driving rain so heavy they had to abandon some of the field events altogether because it was not safe.

“That was such a shame as some people had only come for one event and it was cancelled but it was the right decision.

“I’m so proud of them all; people had even finished holidays early and flown over from France so they could take part.

“Even though this is an elite event, where athletes are doing events they specialise in, there were still people willing to do their best for the team by substituting on the day, when we were hit by a rash of late withdrawals due to injury and a nasty virus that seems to be going round Wiltshire.

“We’ve had a county selection policy for a couple of years of offering automatic entry to this event to all the gold medal winners from the County Championships and encouraging other athletes to aim to boost PBs so we could run two athletes in lots of events, and I think it has really paid off.

“There is always the danger that the distance some of our athletes have to travel means this is something of a ‘home match’ for the teams from further down the South West, but the fact that we’ve improved our result here year on year for three years, from fourth to third and now first, shows the depth of talent and commitment there is in Wiltshire athletics at the moment.

“Congratulations to everyone, athletes, parents, coaches, supporters and the event organisers who did a great job on the day to keep things running despite the storms.”

Galpin's record throw came a day after she had won the Welsh Junior Championships U15 javelin crown in Wrexham. The 13 year old Warminster School pupil from Tidworth threw 37.72m in north Wales.

Overall teams: 1 Wiltshire 529 points; 2 Devon 398; 3 Avon 282; 4 Cornwall 253; 5 Dorset 233; 6 Somerset 225; 7 Gloucestershire 133.

Gold medal winners U13G 100m: Delleah Belgrave 13.61; 200m: Delleah Belgrave 28.29; 800m: Harriet Hillman 2.27; HJ: Jessica Kinneir 1.41 (CBP); LJ: Edie Noble 4.77m; SP: Issy Imeson 8.47m; Discus: Edie Noble 19.17m; Javelin: Jessica Kinneir 17.48m; 1500m: Freya Buglass.

U15G 800m: Eleanor Webster 2.20; 1500m: Lavinia Rai 5.02; SP: Molly Hole 11.88 (CBP); Discus: Maya Short 21.84m; Javelin: Megan Galpin 39.07m (CBP); LJ: Gabriella Kirkham 5.09 (CBP).

U17W 2000SC: Catriona Edington 6.10.74.

U20W 800m: Alexander Mundell 2.20.07; 2000SC: Caitlin Wosika 5.40.76; Hammer: Gabriella Holt 39.89 (CBP).

SW 2000SC: Emma Clarke 5.54.32.

U13B 100m: Tye Leo-Stroud 12.28 (CBP) & Shot: 7.88 (CBP); 200m: Tye Leo-Stroud 26.48; 80H: Oscar Hennessey-Leach 12.90 (CBP); Javelin: Edward Low 25.47; 1500m: Lukas Bailey 4.51.99; U15B 800m: Gregory Herring 2.05.34 (CBP); 100H: Joseph Collins 13.98 (CBP); PV: Jack Horne-Smith 3.10m; Javelin: Thomas Holmes 49.36 (CBP).

U17M 400 hurdles: Joel Mattacks 66.54; 2000SC: Henry Dix 5.13.48; 100H: Femi Akinbobola 14.57 (CBP) U20M 400m: Will Crisp 50.82; 800m: Will Crisp 1.58.44; 110 hurdles: Sam Roberts 16.13.

SM 400m: Scott Gunning 52.50; 800m: Simon Dill 2.00.30; 2000SC: Andy Holmes 5.06.06; 1500m: Simon Dill 4.14.44; 5000m: Michael Towler 15.47.12.