Croydon Harriers’ junior team made a solid start to their UK Youth Development League Premier Two campaign with a third placed finish at Newham on Sunday.

The newly promoted squad were in runners-up spot all afternoon before just being edged out by Stevenage & North Herts in the final events of the six-club fixture.

There was much cheer on the field for the Harriers, with a clean sweep in the discus a highlight thanks to Omar Reid (43.99m) and Giacomo Spagnoli (32.22m) taking the A and B U20 event honours, while Bradley Sims (38.16m) triumphed in the U17s.

The girls followed suit in the same event courtesy of Saskia Navratnum (29.77m) and team captain Tamara Reid (27.32m) ensuring A and B wins. Reid also took the spoils in the women’s shot with a throw of 9.34m.

David Olajiga opened his season in the U17 men’s shot with a club record breaking throw of 14.55m to put him sixth in the UK for his age group.

Fellow U17’s Emma Fossett (javelin, 35.53m) and Reegan Boyce (long jump, 5.63m) enjoyed wins.

On the track, English Schools hopeful Ashleigh Clarke notched a sprint double in the 100m (12.45 seconds) and 200m (25.54secs).

Further sprint success came in Edwin Miles (U20 men’s 200m, 22.49secs) and Daniel Luke (U17 men’s 200m, 22.24secs). Marcelle Rowe bagged the 400m U17 men’s event in 52.89secs.

In the middle-distance events, Patrick Lucas (U20M 800m, one minute 57.48secs) and Peter Chambers (U20M 3,000m, 9:56.85) crossed the line first with commanding performances.

Final result: Enfield & Haringey (690), Stevenage & North Herts (587), Croydon (575), Basildon Beagles (523), Harrow (353) and Chelmsford (338).

In parkrun action, there was one victory and a further five podium finishes on Saturday.

Jake English won for the seventh time at Crystal Palace in 18:21.

Runners-up spots went to Glenn Barden (Grovelands, 19:43), Alex Penfold (Nonsuch, 17:35) and Atlanta Dummond (Lloyd Park, 24:04).

Third places came from Sam Clayton (Lloyd, 19:24) and David Chambers (Banstead, 18:09).

Wimbledon Times:

Rob Spalding

Wimbledon Times:

Emma Fossett

Wimbledon Times:

Robert Sakala