Athletics Sprinter Vanisa wins best performance accolade at Hereford

ROOKIE sprinter Vanisa Osazuwa's victory in the under-13 girls 75m in the second Youth Development League match was declared the best performance of the meeting at Hereford.

- Kevin FAHEY

Competing against athletes from eight clubs and across numerous events, Osazuwa’s time of 10.20secs was not only a significant personal best - she ran an electronic 10.55secs in the Avon League - but also put her third in the South West U13 Rankings and equal 13th in the UK.

It was a performance that, according to a points scoring system administered by UK Athletics, gave her 935 points, 15 points better than her closest rival, an U15 800m runner from South Wales.

More importantly, it was another indication Osazuwa is clearly a talented young athlete, who only made her debut for the club last month at that Avon League fixture. Indeed, the match last Sunday was only her second appearance for the club and, for good measure, she also finished runner-up in the B long jump.

There were numerous PBs from the young athletes who made the trip to Hereford with the club's young sprinters particularly impressing.

Tiwatope Adekola was third in the opening YDL match at Aberdare last month but he smashed his PB to improve to first in the U13s 75m, clocking 10.5secs to go third on the SW Rankings. He was also fourth in the 150m, again with a PB of 20.5, the fourth fastest in the region this summer, and to round off a busy day he was runner-up in the javelin with another PB.

Anthony Taphouse also notched up a PB for fourth in the B 75m and there were PBs for Zuzanna Smialek, Izzy Di Bartolo, Imogen Moon and Freya Blake in the U13 girls sprints.

Eseose Osazuwa ran a PB of 13.5secs to win the U15s 100m B string, and there was also a PB for Ashley May Findlay in the 200m B string.