PERFORMANCES at the annual Hereford District Athletics Championships were not unduely affected by the gusty westerly winds.

Alex Homden (Hereford Sixth Form College) produced a superb display of sprinting to win the Senior Boys 100m with ease in 11sec, as did Sam Griffiths (John Kyrle), when winning the Inter Girls 100m (12.6sec) and 200m (27.31sec).

Inter Hurdlers Olivia Wilding (Bishop's) and Sean Bowden (Aylestone) sprinted smoothly to win their races.

Equally impressive were the gun-to-tape performances of middle-distance runners Tilly Jewel (St Mary's) in the Junior Girls 1500m (5min 39 sec), Aylestone's Jade Williams, (Junior Girls 800m/2min 47) and Clara Evans (Inter Girls 3000m/11min 22sec).

Naomi Prosser (Fairfield) achieved a similar feat in the Inter Girls 1500m (5min 29 sec), as did Nathan Crump (Aylestone) and Aaron Godfrey (Bishop's) in their respective 800m and 1500m races.

The Inter Boys 1500m was a close contest, as Henry Eastman (Bishop's) and Sam Machette (John Kyrle) battled for victory, with Henry dipping first, to win in 4min 50.

The Inter Boys 3000m was a family affair, with Rory Knight fighting off the close challenge of brother Jordan, to win in 11min 17 sec, although neither could match John Barnes, (HSFC), winner of the Senior Boys 3000m in 10min 13 sec.

In the field events, javelin throwers William Prothero (Kingstone) and John Pudge (Bishop's) produced impressive throws of 43.89m and 36m 56 to win their respective Inter and Junior Boys categories.

Josh Wildig (St Mary's) was a convincing winner of the Inter Boys shot with a putt of 11m 60, as was Jamie Combe (Bishop's) in the Junior Boys with a putt of 10m 77.

Throwing the discus into a strong wind is never easy, so Micheal Poolton's (Hereford Cathedral School) winning throw of 29m 13 en route to victory in the Inter Boys category, was easily the best of the day.

Stephanie MacNally (Aylestone) was also in fine form and produced a consistent display of throwing to win the Inter Girls shot put (10m 56) and discus (23m 46), The wind made jumping equally difficult.

Cathedral's trio of James Haywood (Senior Boys), Ollie Thomas (Junior Boys) and Harriet Jones (Junior Girls) overcame adversity (wind blowing the bar off) when heading for victory, as did Lucy Hickman (John Kyrle) who did well to leap 1m 45 to win the Inter Girls.

Distances in the long jump pit were affected by a strong head-wind, so, five metre-plus leaps from Aylestone's Stefan Cunningham (5m 8cm) and Jordan Sission (5m 16cm) when winning the junior and inter boys events were fine achievements.

A large team of athletes fom all the schools in the district have been selected to compete at the Hereford and Worcester County Championships at Nunnery Wood on June 13.