FOUR Ceredigion athletes achieved gold medals at the Welsh Athletics Junior Track and Field Athletics Championships, held at the Newport athletics stadium.

Over two warm days, nearly 500 club runners from all over Wales competed in the Under 13s, 15s, 17s and 20s age groups, in front of a good sized crowd.

After a quiet start to the Saturday, the competition heated up on both the track and field, with the Ceredigion athletes delivering for Carmarthen Harriers.

Osian Roberts of Ysgol Bro Pedr, Lampeter was in action first in the high jump, and he claimed a superb victory, with an impressive new personal best of 1.45m.

Osian’s sister Beca Roberts, also of Ysgol Bro Pedr, was participating in the under 17s women’s triple jump. Having jumped over 10 metres in all of her six attempts, it was no surprise to see her clinch the gold medal by a comfortable margin. Her best jump of 10.74m, which was a personal best, came in the second and third rounds.

The first day of the Championships ended on a fantastic note over at the javelin run way as Ysgol Aberaeron’s Cordelia Walker also showed her terrific potential.

Throwing the 400g implement, Walker threw the two best throws, with her longest of 32.16m coming in the third and final attempt. This not only won the Welsh Championship gold by nearly five metres, but also broke the Carmarthen Harriers’ club record which had stood since 2004.

Sprint hurdles started off the day’s programme on the second day of track competition, with Osian Roberts returning for his second event of the two-day meeting.

He impressed once again by securing his second Welsh title with another strong performance over the hurdles, winning the Under 13s boys’ final in 13.30 seconds.

Lili Church competed in the Under 17s women’s high jump on the Sunday lunchtime, and the Ysgol Aberaeron pupil was back to top form following her injury, which had left her out for a few months.

She cleared 1.55m to collect another gold medal for her growing collection, having shown great consistency throughout.

All four athletes are coached by Harriers’ Dorrien Thomas and Ralph Siggery.

In total, Carmarthen Harriers saw 27 of its members make the trip up the M4 East to Newport and came away with 17 medals and 24 new personal bests in total.

Pembrokeshire Harriers was also represented, with sisters Lucy and Ella Wintle stealing the show. They both broke records in the Under 13s 800m (2.27.03) and Under 15s 200m (25.87) respectively.

They won three gold, seven silver and two bronze for the Haverfordwest club.

The athletes look forward to the Welsh Schools Athletics Championships in Cardiff, the Welsh Schools NASUWT Cymru Wales Cup and Plate Final in Brecon and the Inter Regional Championships later this year, before another busy campaign of indoor fixtures gets going in October.