North Somerset Athletic Club youngsters win medals

North Somerset Athletics Club competed in the South West Indoor Championships at the weekend and came away with a clutch of medals.

The early session competition at Cardiff on Sunday was the first opportunity of the season for the young people to test their skills in a higher age-group and for others it was a chance to stand on the medal podium or claim an area title.

A squad of 18 NSAC youngsters took part and in his first competition, Michael Bakare, of Backwell School, took home a full set of medals, winning gold for the high jump, silver for the shot put and bronze in the 60m sprint. 

His younger sister Emma Bakare also claimed a trio of medals with second place finishes in the high jump, and 60m and third in the long jump.

Another athlete taking away three medals was Euan Campbell, of Churchill Community School.

His day started with a second place in the 200m followed by second place in the 60m hurdles and another second and a new personal best in the long jump. 

Tom Godfrey, of Gordano School, added a bronze in the same long jump event.

There was plenty of success in the Under 17 women's category too. 

Tom's sister Hannah Godfrey who is also a pupil at Gordano claimed gold in the 60m hurdles and a bronze medal in the triple jump. In the same jump event, 

And fellow student Laura Statham claimed silver and also took bronze in a very tough long jump event. 

There was a third place finish in the 60m sprint for Sophie Thomas, of Worle Community School, who was competing in her first event at U17 level. 

Dani Fisher, another Worle student, narrowly missed a podium spot, finishing in fourth in the shot put.

In the Under 15 girls category, the star performer was Ada'ora Chigbo, Bristol Grammar School. 

She claimed gold in the high jump equalling her personal best in the process, and set a new best mark on her way to gold in the shot put. 

In the same shot event, Brioney Cox, of Backwell School, picked up bronze with Katie Parker, also of Backwell, impressing in her first competition at Under 15 level, finishing in fourth. 

Backwell School's Pippa Reilly was impressive in the longer sprints, claiming a gold medal in both the 200m and a silver in the 300m event. 

Fairing less well in the 200m was Sarah Smith, of Gordano, who struggled with the tight, inclined bends. 

However Sarah more than made up for it with a very impressive run in the 60m sprint, taking gold and the south west title in 8.4 seconds.

In their first events at Under 15 level, Abigail Roach, of Churchill, ran well in the 200m equalling her outdoor personal best, and Rosie Owens, of Red Maids School, competed consistently but finished outside of the medal positions.

Sofie Andersen, of Gordano, showed persistence in training is also starting to pay dividends, and she ran brilliantly to finish equal third in the 60m hurdles.

In the Under 13 hurdles, Caroline Walder, of Backwell, and Sophie Parker, also of Backwell, gave a master-class in hurdling. 

The top three were separated by just 0.1s, with Caroline taking gold and Sophie claiming the bronze. 

Despite being early in the season, their times should see them both ranked in the top ten at the end of the year. In addition Caroline excelled in the long jump setting a new personal best and claiming silver at the same time.

Named development club of the year by Athletics Weekly NSACis a self-funding group which was set up in 2004 by coach Chris Millard, of Clevedon.

It has grown in size and now has more than 300 competing members aged from eight years.

Training takes place at schools and leisure and sports clubs throughout North Somerset including Ashton Court, Backwell, Clevedon, Churchill, Nailsea and Weston-super-Mare.

In 2010 NSAC launched its £400,000 Back The Track Campaign Appeal to raise money towards the funding, development and equipping of a indoor athletics and multisport training facility, incorporating an indoor eight lane straight track, field event practice areas, sports hall and gym together with ancillary facilities for changing.

Anyone who is interested in getting involved in the club should visit www.nsac.org.ukfor more details.