SWINDON Harriers chairman Bryan Clinton has paid tribute to young athletes Hannah Lewington and Amy Warre after they both won medals at the England Athletic Championships in Bedford.

Lewington took centre stage with a brilliant gold after winning the under 15 girls’ javelin while 14-year-old Warre finished runner-up in the under 15s triple jump.

It is believed to be the first time that two Harriers’ youngsters have won medals at this event, which attracts the cream of young athletes for the end-of-season finale.

“It is absolutely brilliant,” said Clinton.

“I would say this is the best result the club has had at the nationals for many, many years. I don’t recall us winning two medals before and it is a fantastic achievement for them both.”

Lewington’s success certainly came as no surprise after the 13-year-old rookie won a silver medal with a personal best on her debut at the English Schools’ Championships in July.

Even though she was the youngest thrower in the field at the weekend Lewington, who is now coached by Tom Dobbin, again showed her temperament for the big occasion as she conjured up yet another PB of 40.98m to secure her first national title.

“The story has gone down in club folklore really that when Hannah turned up for a young athletes’ league match she actually wanted to run the 1500m but agreed to throw the javelin to win some points for the team,” added Clinton.

“She threw it 20 metres and looked an absolute natural. Since then it has been a case of polishing that potential and she is now in the safe hands of a national level coach so is being well looked after.

“She is so talented that her medal didn’t come as such a big surprise whereas Amy’s definitely came out of the blue. Excuse the pun but she has made a big leap forward this year working with coach Tony Jackson.”

Warre, who is a student at Bradon Forest School, put down a marker in July when she recorded a PB of 11.70m to go top of the UK Rankings but with few competitions for this age group it was difficult to gauge the strength of her rivals though it was the girl who was just behind her in the rankings, Trafford’s Halle Ferguson, who lifted the title with a big PB of 11.91m.

“Amy has been working diligently in the background with Tony at this new event and has got her rewards,” said Clinton.

“It is so nice to see the club winning medals on the national stage and is vindication of the hard work at the club and in the coaching structure we are trying to build.

“Hopefully there will be more Hannah’s and Amy’s coming through who will be inspired by their achievements.”

Another Wiltshire athlete to impress was Thomas Holmes, who is a member of Marlborough & Junior AC plus Andover AC.

Remarkably in his first competition of the year Holmes threw a personal best of 66.69m to win the under 17 men’s javelin event.