AL Virgilio defied the torrential rain at the weekend to deliver a superb double victory for Swindon Harriers in the Regional Final of the UK Youth Development League at the County Ground.

Once again underlining what a terrific season the English Schools’ 800m finalist has enjoyed, Virgilio clipped 0.35secs off his PB to win the U15s 300m with 38.09secs. He also landed the 800m in 2:07.59 before anchoring the team to third in the 4x100m relay.

“I was pleased with that, although in better conditions I think I could have gone under 38 seconds,” said Virgilio.

Other good results in the U15 boys included a second for Oakley Hogan in the shot, third places for both Josh Steward and Harry Burdekin in the 1500m, plus a third spot for Elliot Cox in the 80m hurdles.

There was a notable double in the U15 girls hammer from Holly Scott (41.63m) and Evie Wilkins winning the B (24.01m), while Scott was also third in the 75m hurdles and fourth in the shot.

Lucy Bull had a good day winning the javelin and claiming second in the discus.

The club’s talented group of U13 sprinters impressed again with wins for Jayden Messiah in the B 150m and Jody Lloyd-Owusu in the 75m hurdles.

Ethan Bryon suffered his first defeat of the season in the U13s 75m (10.05secs) and was also second in the 150m, clocking 19.61secs, just 0.1secs off his PB.

Jesse Bryant was runner-up in the U13s 800m, while in the 1200m, Finley Byrne clocked a PB of 3:54.99 for third in the A race with James Mayneord second in the B.

In the U13s javelin, Ellie Charlesworth and Elsie Scrase threw 26.91m and 22.07m, respectively, for maximum points with Charlesworth also third in the shot and Lottie Harding runner-up in the B.

On the track, Scrase was third in the 800m while Freya McMeeking was runner-up in the B. But in only her second attempt at the distance, Charissa Griffiths-Clack was third in the 1200m.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as we would have liked, and there are many reasons for that which we will look at over the next few weeks,” said Martin Smith, who is joint team manager with Craig Scott and Gemma Scott.

“We cannot fault the commitment of all the athletes, officials, coaches and parents who turned up to compete in that weather!”