Ten Blackpool Wyre and Fylde athletes were chosen to represent the North of England in the Inter-Counties track and field championships, last weekend, with all ten achieving a podium position at the Costello Stadium in Hull.

Kirkham schoolgirl, Lucy Mansfield capped a highly successful season with a convincing win in the under 17 women's 300m in a time of 41.83 secs - a clear five metres ahead of runner-up Zoe Woodward representing Merseyside.

In the same age group, Declan O'Hara also struck gold in the mens pole vault competition with a clearance of 3.70m to snatch victory, on countback, from Lincolnshire's Jake Brittain who cleared the same height.

No less than six Blackpool athletes obtained silver medals at the championships with Lytham's Jono Prowse narrowly missing the senior mens "Blue Riband" 1500m crown, with a time of 4 mins 01.89 secs hot on the heels of Mersyside's Harry Harper who was a fraction ahead in 4 mins 01.89 secs.

Kirkham's "flyer", Laura Davies was a close second in the senior ladies 100m sprint with a time of 12.41 secs and the club's husband and wife team, Jon and Nia Rutter, did not disappoint with Jon striking gold in the triple jump with 12.05m whilst Nia took silver in the long jump with 4.99m.

James Davies was the busiest and unluckiest of the local athletes, missing the under 17 mens triple jump gold medal by a single centimetre behind the winner, Joshua Bones of Humberside who cleared 12.91m.

James followed this up with another silver medal in the long jump with 5.97m and for good measure, then went on to clear 1.50m for 7th place in the high jump.

Bethany Towers was the most successful athlete in the under 15 girls category with a silver medal performance of 12.07 secs in the 75m hurdles, whilst Bianca Pederson added another bronze medal to her fast growing collection with a strong performance of 2 mins 20.69 secs in the 800m, only two seconds behind the winner, Grace Rogers of Yorkshire.

Katy Wyper took a well earned bronze in the under 17 womens 200m sprint in a time of 26.32 secs and only missed a further bronze in the 100m by a whisker with a superb time of 12.71 secs which ironically would easily have won the bronze medal in the senior womens race.