A HOST of Croydon Harriers' young athletes kicked off their 2013 track & field campaigns at the prestigious Crystal Palace open meeting last Sunday, with six victories on the day.
Four wins came from the sprinters, with Marcia Sey (13.86s, U13 girls' 100m), Eleanor Smith-Hahn (12.71s, U17 women's 100m), Ashleigh Clarke (26.24s, U17 women's 200m) and Damien Powell (11.39s, U17 men's 100m) topping the standings.
On the field, and Omar Reid threw 41.87m in the U20 men's discus to take the spoils. The 16-year-old now travels to the Loughborough International fixture in a bid to reach the 53.50m qualifying standard for the World Youth championships.
Emma Fossett was the club's other victor in the U17 women's javelin, with a 31.55m effort.
Saarah Nawaz was fourth in the U13 girls' 800m race overall, while in the Dave Clarke U20 men's race, Patrick Lucas was sixth (four minutes and 30.74secs), Dom Nolan eighth (4:35.27), and Ben Savill 12th (4:47.99) in the 16-strong field.
Meanwhile, Stevie Lawrence won the U17 women's 1500m in four minutes and 54 seconds.
A quintet of Croydon Harriers tackled the Streets Ahead Croydon half marathon, with four of them making the top 100 out of the 500-plus finishers. David Brown led the Croydon challenge in 27th place, 18 places higher than his position in this race 12 months ago.
Virgin London Marathon hopeful Neil Aikman crossed the line in 32nd and ninth M40 in 87:24. Mark Maginn made his debut over the distance in an impressive 92:10 for 63rd.
Another London Marathon hopeful, Mohsin Harhara, finished 90th in 95:06 nearly eight minutes better than his previous best on the same course 12 months ago.
Club stalwart Norman Hemming finished in 1:46:21 for 218th, but runner-up in the M60 category.
In the pick of the ParkRun action, Atlanta Drummond was the first female finisher home at Lloyd Park in a new PB of 24:33. Laurence Johnston was fourth in the men's race in 19:15.