Over 2000 young athletes took part in the Greater Manchester Junior Run at a cold and wet Heaton Park.
The races were divided into 3 age groups for boys & 3 for girls and were held on a hilly 2 mile road course.
In the Under 16 race Colin Daly won by 24 seconds in 10.28. He was followed by Xavier O'Hare in 3rd place in 11.14 & Seb Patrick 13th in 12.23.
In the Under 13 event, Alex Bailey ran well to finish 5th in 12.34.
Louie McCormack returned from injury to place 3rd in the Under 11 race in 12.30. He was closely followed by Tom Bentall in 4th in 12.36.
In the same race, twins Owen & Nathaniel Morgan finished 13th & 38th with Zak Gardner 29th.
Trafford's only girl taking part was Katie Daly who ran well in her debut for the club to place 44th in the Under 13 race.
The top 3 in each race were presented with their trophies by Wilson Kipsang, Olympic medallist & ex-holder of the World Record for the Marathon.
Meantime, back in the city centre, Jamall was continuing his fine early season form by winning the 150m B final by a large margin

After such glorious weather in April it was inevitable that the first YDL Lower match of the season would be met with less than perfect weather. A blustery day, with rain always threatening, saw us make the short journey to Stockport. One of the main spectator sports of the day was trying to guess when our gazebo would blow away in the wind and where it would land.

This years the league is made up of 7 teams, we're joined by Stockport and Warrington along with the more familiar, Wigan, West Cheshire, Lancaster & Morecambe and Crewe & Nantwich (who, having won last years league, decided against taking promotion). It proved to be a very competitive days athletics, with most events having their full compliment of athletes.

The Trafford team was made up of 47 athletes, of whom 19 were making their YDL début; so a good mixture of new and old.

u13g - Provided one of the best events on the track in the 1200m were Sammy ran to a fine first place and Amelia was pipped narrowly to take 3rd.

u15g - Only had one empty slot in their team, a second Pole Vaulter. Great to see so many taking part, particularly Francesca, Jasmin and Stephanie getting to grips with the throws. Jameelah had a fine victory in the hurdles. Anna, on debut, had a good run in the 800m, with good support from Holly.

u13b - As last year, the sprints are very competitive, and with Jamall up against Ben from Warrington, it's going to be a great spectacle all season - not many matches will have two of the countries top 10 sprinters in their age group going head to head over 100m and 200m. Jarrell, another on début, had a fine throw in Javelin to finish second.

u15b - A win for Dean in the Pole Vault, Guy on début making good progress with the throws and, once again, three new PB's for Cian.

Provisional results show us having finished 3rd overall, which is a great testament to everyone who competed and played their part. Jamall already has a grade 1 performance for the season in his 200m (26.1) along with a grade 2 for his 100m (13.1). Cian's High Jump of 1.65cm is also a grade 2.
There were 51 PB's for Trafford athletes on the day - which is outstanding! Well done to all.

Results can be found here on the UKYDL site, or on Power of 10

A special thanks also to those who helped officiate, Peter (Timekeeper), Rachel (Track Judge), and the field team lead by Scott, with Lucy, Chris, Juliette and Byron. Without a full complement of officials, these competitions wouldn't be able to take place - so parents - this is where you can help contribute, no experience necessary and we have plenty of experience on hand to guide.

The next match is on May 30th at home at Longford Park.