WITH the Olympics in full swing, it’s a great time to focus on the younger athletes at Tavistock Athletic Club and how successful the Club’s training regimes have been in nurturing natural talent to national level.

In July, TAC’s junior hammer throw athletes took part in three national competitions over successive weekends at the Commonwealth Games stadium in Birmingham.

The first event was the English Schools Athletics Association (ESAA) track and field championships, where athletes were selected to form part of the Devon (or in one case Somerset) team based on achieving a particular standard.

U15 hammer thrower Hazel Stead triumphed by winning a gold medal in the junior girls hammer and Phoebe Milburn, who has already claimed two ESAA medals at junior and intermediate level in previous years, won a silver medal in the senior girls’ category.

Last year’s ESAA junior champion Tegan Brown, who has just moved up to the intermediate girls age category just missed out on a medal by coming 4th.

Also competing in the hammer event were Ella Patterson, who finished 7th and Louisa Hess, finishing in 9th place. In the boys’ hammer competitions, Owen Fileman finished 8th in the Intermediate event and George Brown, making his debut at a national competition, finished in 13th place in the Juniors event.

TAC athletes from other track and field disciplines also took part in the ESAA championships. Orla White finished 14th in the intermediate discus, Evie Palmer finished 12th in the intermediate javelin, Katelyn Milburn came 13th in the intermediate triple jump and Joe Wake ran in the 100m heats.

The England Athletics age group Championships took place over the two following weekends. Tegan Brown excelled, setting a new personal best throw of 52.61m to take the U17 Championship title.

Tegan Brown - gold medal winner at the EA age group Championships
Tegan Brown - gold medal winner at the ESAA age group Championships (Contributed)

Hazel Stead won bronze in the U15 category and Owen Fileman finished 8th in the U17 boys. In the U20 age category, Phoebe Milburn took the bronze medal whilst fellow throwers Ella Patterson and Louisa Hess finished 10th and 12th respectively.

Also taking part in the Age Group Championships was Caleb Gifford-Groves who, having got through to the 800m final, finished in 8th place.

It's a matter of great pride to the club that Hazel Stead, Phoebe Milburn and Tegan Brown, coached by Elaine Fileman, are each currently ranked third in England in their age categories.

Through its qualified coaches, Tavistock Athletic Club delivers training to prospective track and field junior athletics and, should they be so driven, supports their competitive ambitions from local to national levels. If the Olympics has inspired anyone to give track and field events a go, they should make contact via our website – tavistockathletics.co.uk – and come and give it a go.