Cambridgeshire athletes in the medals at English Schools' AA Track & Field Championships

Conall McGinness had golden glory as Cambridgeshire youngsters enjoyed success at the English Schools’ Athletic Association Track & Field Championships at the Alexander Stadium.

And there was a silver lining for Charlie Knott, Alex Melloy and Joseph Purbrick as the team produced some top performances across the board.

McGinness won the silver medal in the intermediate boys’ category, but made the step up to the senior boys’ age group this time round, looking to go one better in the 2,000m steeplechase.

In a close race to the last water jump, McGinness adopted a new approach to jump the whole thing and it paid off as he broke clear to win in 5min 58.18sec.

The Perse School’s Knott took part in the intermediate boys’ high jump.

His clearance of 1.96m earned the silver medal and a place on the England team for the SIAB Track & Field International this weekend in Swansea.

Cambridge & Coleridge AC’s Melloy was also in the intermediate boys’ category, racing in the 3,000m.

At the bottom end of the age group, Melloy clocked a personal best of 8.37.21 to take the silver medal, and also secure his first England vest as he will be joining Knott at the SIAB competition.

Purbrick made it a trio of Cambs athletes heading for England duty by finishing second in the intermediate boys’ 100m hurdles.

He was drawn in the tricky lane eight in the final, but came through like a train to achieve a personal best of 13.11 to take the silver medal.

Among a raft of impressive individual performances, there were personal bests for Ayo Opaleye and Aimie Taylor.

Opaleye leapt to 13.26m for eighth place in the intermediate boys’ triple jump and, in the junior girls’ category, Taylor equalled her PB of 2.70m to finish 10th in the pole vault at her first English Schools’ event.

“Overall it’s been a fantastic weekend and everyone should be very proud of themselves,” said Cambs schools’ manager Siobhan Skinner.

“I know some were disappointed but as a county we are very proud of the athletes and what they have achieved.

“Just getting to the English Schools’ is an achievement and every event we do is a learning curve to help us become more experienced and better athletes.”