CONSIDERING many of Vale Royal's athletes were experiencing track racing for the first time, their Cheshire Track & Field Championships was an extraordinary success.

In all, the club brought 14 medals home from the meet in Ellesmere Port – eight of which were golds to go with five silvers and a bronze.

While most of the under 13s were performing on this kind of stage having not done so before, many of the older athletes had the chance to put their training to good effect.

Patrick Griffith and Eva Jha both won two gold medals each in middle and long-distance running.

Racing in the under 17s age group, Griffith was victorious in the 400m and the 800m – the latter race also saw clubmate Dylan Carney take silver in what was a Vale Royal 'one-two.'

Jha secured top step on the podium over both 800m and 1,500m in the under 15s age group and on both occasions, teammate Sophie Harding was the silver medallist.

Vale Royal's other gold medals went to Sam Stephens and Charlie Argyros in the under 20s age group and Hope Smith in the under 17s.

Stephens won over 800m while Argyros was successful in the long jump and Smith in the 3,000m.

Sam Marley (boys' under 13s javelin) and Raif Serif (men's under 20s 800m) also brought home silver medals while the solitary Vale Royal bronze medalist was Nathan Williams in the senior men's 5,000m.

Even outside of the medals, there were some excellent displays from those in VR colours, with 15 personal bests recorded overall