A SUMMER of travelling for Kendal’s young athletes has paid off with the club finishing second overall in the Cumbria League.

Starting in April, the league consisted of four events, with each athlete’s best three results counting towards their overall position.

The final weekend of the season saw many of the Kendal team returning with individual medals and trophies - an achievement all the more remarkable because every league event has been in Whitehaven or Carlisle.

In the U11 boys, Matt Paxton’s consistency saw him take gold in the long jump and silver in the 70m sprint, while Ben Cudby took bronze in the 600m and Adam Tirvengadum secured bronze in the long jump.

Stephanie Driscoll has dominated the U11 girls long jump throughout the series, and a personal best of 3.82m ensured her gold medal. With a silver in the 600m and bronze in the 70m, Driscoll was also awarded the County Shield for the top overall U11 girl athlete.

Kendal’s boys and girls notched up enough points to take the County Shield as overall winners in the U13 age category.

Five boys were responsible for Kendal’s share of the U13 medals. Currently ranked at number 22 in the UK for U13 800m, Cole Blaikie took gold, Joshua Hayes ran a PB in the final 150m race of the league to take silver, while consistent results in the 80m and long jump ensured two more silver medals for him. Alex Birkett took silver in the 800m and Jack Cunliffe scored another silver in the shot. Finally, Dan Abbott’s 80m PB at the July event was enough to give him bronze overall.

Seren Parkman and Amy Wood demonstrated consistent high results throughout the summer in the U13 girls. Seren had two PBs at the July meeting which contributed to her silver medals in the 80m and 150m, while Amy’s dominance in the jumps gave her a gold at long jump and silver at high jump.

Connor Ollis had a strong season at both track and field in the U15 boys. His 100m PB of 12.5 seconds at the July meeting contributed to his overall gold medal, backed up by a bronze in the 200m. Ollis finished the season with a massive PB of 7.24m in the shot, increasing his previous distance by more than 0.6m. Meanwhile Robbie Sproul took silver in the 1500m and bronze in the long jump.

With good results in the Cumbria Schools and Inter-County Championships earlier in the season, Sarah Thompson dominated the league’s U15 girls’ 1500m, taking gold ahead of Erin Proctor’s bronze. Proctor secured bronze in the shot with a PB at the July meeting. Katie Woof showed her versatility by taking gold in the U15 long jump, bronze in the 200m and sharing bronze in the 100m with Lily Abel.

Ben Abbott showed astonishing consistency in the U17 men’s 100m, with three runs within 0.1 seconds of each other enough at different meetings to give him a silver medal to accompany his gold in the long jump. Meanwhile, Tom Norton continued to lead the throws, with gold in javelin and shot and silver in the discus.

With all these medals, Kendal were comfortably ahead of Copeland AC to take second place of the nine clubs in the league.

Seaton AC won the Cumbria League.