Bradford University Athletics competed for the first time as a club in the BRITISH UNIVERSITIES AND COLLEGES three-day championships at Bedford this weekend.

Hannah Yates, the club president, was 11th in the discus final with 31.09m. Her tiny, slight build, untypical for throwers, shows the benefit of working with a top-quality technical coach in Ilona Melounova.

Ilona provides five sessions a week for students at the university and college, not only for athletes but strength and conditioning and speed work for boxers, netballers and other teams.

Estonian Dimitri Mosendz has been injured and was unable to compete in his favoured triple jump.

Nonetheless, he was not far from his best, finishing fifth in his 100m heat in 11.79sec.

In the 200m he was fourth in his heat in 23.13sec. At his peak he would have made the semis.

Leo Ricketts, meanwhile, pulled up at the end of his 100m heat.

Bingley’s Demetric Nelson, competing for Leeds Met University, won his 100m heat in 10.83sec and was second in his semi-final. He finished eighth in a top-class final in 10.87sec and third in a very strong Leeds team.

The final was won in 10.32sec, unsurprisingly, by British international star Adam Gemeli from the University of East London.

The BUCS Championships meant that both Bingley and Bradford-Airedale were decimated in their first NORTHERN TRACK AND FIELD event of the season.

Bingley finished bottom of their Third Division match at Grimsby, while Bradford-Airedale were fifth in their fourth division match at Cudworth.

Local pride was upheld though by an excellent performance by Skyrac in their Second Division match.

Home club Middlesbrough Mandale won, with Gateshead second. The four other teams were almost inseparable, with Skyrac pipping City of York for third.

As last year the competition will be fierce, with every team point counting to avoid relegation.

Adam Brooks won the 400m hurdles (A-string), while Bethany Thomas and Fiona Thomas scored well in the women’s throws, each winning an event.

The men won the 4x400m relay, typifying their overall strength.