A narrow victory over strong opposition by a holiday-affected young athletes’ squad was just enough to clinch the Eastern Young Athletes League title for the second successive year at Stevenage on Sunday.

The Havering Mayesbrook youngsters had lined up in second place in the table behind Bedford, level on league points with hosts Stevenage in third and with fourth-placed Chelmsford, with Sunday’s opponents Luton in fifth. 

The Under 13 Girls have been short-handed all season but there was an exciting new talent as Tia Telford-Dickson made an immediate impression with a sprint double in times which rank her in the UK top 10 and club all-time top 3 for this age group.  Another newcomer Rachel Forder also leapt straight into the club all time top 10 with her shot & discus efforts. Lydia Hallam & Francesca Smith had a 1500m double and Rebecca Fox won the B discus.

The Under 13 Boys  were the only team to win their age group.  Jordan Fox had a hat trick of wins with A string victories in the 800m and high jump and B string discus success.  Newcomer Alex Burr showed star qualities with shot & discus wins – his shot effort of 9.03m taking him to third in the club all-time top 10.  Harvey Ransome won the B 100m & long jump, Alex Hewitt won the B 200m and Lewis Middleton the B shot. Alex Law’s day was cut short when he strained a hamstring in the 100m after hurdles victory.

Both U17 teams were runners up, although h affected by absentees.

The U17 women scored seven wins. Holly Thomas contributed three of these with her 100m, hurdles & long jump treble, and Sophie Baggs added a double with A shot & B discus. Sam Hill returned to wining ways after a spell illness with a B shot win and Rachel Sadler was the 800m winner.

The U17 Men were missing familiar faces but scored well across the board. National finalist Jack Edgar-Hill coasted to a hurdles win and Massi Dendani was a comfortable 1500m winner.  Thomas Salmon produce a fine 400m B victory and Joseph Waked won the 800m B event.

In the U15 Boys’ competition Danny Wilson returned to club action after his national medal the week before and showed his class with another long discus winning throw, and Ben Thomson won the B.  Ryan O’Mahoney (1500m A) and Lee Jarrold (B javelin) also added victories.

Ricarda Chapman took top billing for the U15 Girls.  She won the long jump in a new PB and also smashed her 100m best in second.  Rylie Trott’s hurdles victory produced the only other maximum pointer in this age group 

The HMAC squad’s 10 point victory over Luton, who got the better of the hosts Stevenage, along with Chelmsford’s big victory over leaders Bedford in another fixture, meant that the league title went to Havering by just 6.5 match points over Chelmsford, with Bedford third, after the five-round season.