WILTSHRE youngster Eleanor Webster shot to the top of the UK rankings for U13 girls after a superb performance at the Cheltenham Midsummer Open meeting, WRITES KEVIN FAHEY.
Running a mile on the track for the first time Webster, who lives in Alderton near Malmbesbury, clocked a time of 5mins 32.82secs to easily eclipse the previous fastest time of 5mins 36secs set by Cheltenham’s Molly Powlesland on the road in London in May.
It continues Webster’s fine form this summer which has seen her win the 800m at both the Wiltshire and South West Inter-Counties Championships and improve her personal best to 2:26.7 put her top of the South West rankings.
Meanwhile, Gemma Shepherd is enjoying a terrific second half of the season.
The Sheldon School student from Yatesbury had already won a silver at the English Schools’ Championships and then improved her best at the British Milers’ Club Grand Prix in Oxford to go eighth in the UK U20 rankings this month.
Shepherd underlined her excellent form by winning both the U20 women’s 800m and 300m at the final Youth Development League U20/17 match at Swansea, competing for the composite Team Avon outfit.
In the 800m she clocked 2.16.4, just a second outside her best and then won the 3000m in 9.47.0, the latter a massive personal best by almost ten seconds.
Marshfield’s Themis Bower won the U17 boys steeplechase B event in 5.19.0.
Team Avon finished second to the new Team Devon & Cornwall and now go into a paper match against the other second place teams in the country in the Premier League for a place in the Grand Final at Birmingham in September.
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