Southend AC's 17-year-old long jumping star Mitchell Wilkin travels to Belfast this weekend to compete in the Northern Ireland Junior Championships.
He was invited to join a small party from Scottish athletics that will represent their country in these championships, having impressed the Scottish coaches both at their warm weather training trip to Portugal and with his early-season form that has seen him rise to second in the Scottish senior rankings for 2003 with a personal best of 7.01m.
The Scottish officials are treating the trip as an opportunity for their young athletes to gain further Championship experience and aid their preparation for the AAA U20 Championships at Bedford two weeks later.
The championships also give the athletes a further chance to gain qualifying performances for the European Junior Championships, World Youth Games and European Youth Olympics later in the year.
Mitchell's high position in the Scottish rankings has prompted him to enter the Scottish Senior Champion-ships in July where he is likely to face the Scottish International jumper, Darren Richie, who finished fourth at last year's Commonwealth Games.
The Southend Athletic Club females are looking for a lift for their current lowly Southern Women's League participation in Division Three North.
They're hell-bent on promotion and currently stand second overall with 278 points after two fixtures.
The only club above them are Barnet on 377 and it was the North London club who beat the seasiders at Hendon in the latest fixture.
As so often, it was the under-15s who flew the flag highest for Southend with both Amy Chitticks and Zoe Young producing outstanding multi victories.
Amy won both sprints, the 100 in 13.3 and the 200 in 27.9, while Zoe's triple glory came on the field with a shot put of 10.07, javelin throw of 29.38 and personal best shot (10.07).
Basildon's female athletes continue to find life tough in the higher echelons of the Southern Women's League.
Despite hosting their latest Division One clash, they could only finish fourth out of five on 148 -- league leaders Windsor and Eton winning on 223 -- and they are in 22nd position from the 25 competing clubs.
Published Friday, June 13, 2003
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