Last Friday saw a new format for the junior presentation evening at Leighton Town Football Club. There were a new selection of trophies awarded for competing, training and commitment to the club through both the Track and Field and Cross-country season.

The evening was combined with a quiz night in order to help attract as many people as possible and it was fantastic to see over 70 people in the hall, including some support from a dozen senior members. The awards were presided over by Nick and Mandy Clay in conjunction with our Chairman Jon Hull. Following her gold medal at the European Masters championships, our president Gail Duckworth was invited to present all of the prizes.

Track and Field – On the girls side, the runner-up having competed in three out five events was Mathilde Sammons with a total of 65 points. However, competing at four events and gaining personal bests at both the 600m and long jump, the winner was Jade Lindars.

For the boys, Lloyd Millikin was third overall with an excellent 90 points having competed on many occasions and gained PB's at lots of different events. He was pipped to second place by Jordan Clay who also gained numerous PB's and competed at every single scoring event to total 100. However, the eventual winner was Joe McGarry who managed a total of 110 points, having also competed at every single event and gaining PB's in 800m, 200m and high jump.

Cross-country – The winter months saw the juniors competing very successfully at league and championship fixtures all over the region. There were two girls who achieved a total of 65 points from three league races to finish joint second in the cross-country table and they were Beth Tippite and Alison Gosbee. Having competed at all of the league fixtures, Mathilde gained 75 points to take the overall title for the cross-country.

The boys award saw an extremely close competition with many of the lads competing in five or more races over the season and so there was only 15 points between the top six. With just 5 points seperating the top three, second place went to Jordan Clay who also qualified to represent Bedfordshire at the National schools event the following day. However, having competed at all of the events and consistently improved their results throughout the season the boys joint winners were Billy and Charlie Mead. Like Jordan, Billy was due to compete the following day at the national schools.

Other Awards – To recognise the commitment to the club of an ever increasing number of athletes, awards were also given to juniors who have consistently represented the club. In addition to all of the ones listed above, Izzy Bidlake-Hull, Patrick Clay, Jamie Stancombe, Jake Irvine & Brian Foulger were given these awards.

The final award of the evening was assessed on attitude and commitment to training throughout the last year. Having missed very few Tuesday or Thursday sessions and always working extremely hard and arriving on time, the winner was Jade Lindars.