Samuel Clarke earns first national title at the England Athletics Under-20s & Under-23 Championships

Samuel Clarke scooped a first national title at the England Athletics Under-20s & Under-23 Championships.

The Cambridge & Coleridge AC 400m hurdler won a gold medal at Bedford, and there were also bronzes for team-mates Tom Bridger and Conall McGinness and silver for former C&C athlete Adelaide Omitowoju.

Clarke ran the fastest qualifying time of 53.52 and repeated the feat in the final of the under-23 event.

The last 100m proved crucial as he dipped on the line for a personal best of 51.98 to seal his first national title. It was also a club record.

Omitowoju won silver in the under-23 women’s triple jump with a leap of 12.22m.

Bridger was third in the under-20 men’s 3,000m steeplechase in a personal best 9min 38.45sec, while Conall McGinness was third in the under-23 3,000m steeplechase in 9.13.18.

C&C’s Tom Keen was fifth in a season’s best 3.42.32 in the the under-23 1,500m, and that was the same place occupied by Kristiaan Winkel in the under-20 discus (46.01m) and William Newcombe in the under-20 3,000m (8.45.70). George Keen was 11th in the under-20 1,500m (4.00.40) and Adam Cross was seventh in the head of the under-23 100m (11.11).

Ellie Loosley scooped a gold medal at the South of England Championships.

The Cambridge & Coleridge AC member was taking part in the under-17s 3,000m in Bedford.

She clocked a personal best of 10min 2.39sec to win the gold medal in only her second race over the distance.

She was three seconds ahead of Olivia Martin, who pipped C&C’s Jenny Leggate – Loosely’s training partner – to the silver medal by 0.62sec.