THE heavy rain held off as pupils battled for victory at the Hereford and District Schools' Minor Championships.

Competition was fierce, especially in the girls' distance races as the Aylestone duo of Jade Williams (2min 42) and Clara Evans (5min 19) forced the pace to win their respective 800m and 1500m races.

John Kyrle's sprinters were in excellent form. Sam Griffiths was a comfortable winner of the 100m (13.2sec) with team-mate Lucy Hickman second (13.8sec) and Fairfield's N Lordin a close third (13.85sec).

Over 200m, J Probyn (JK) held off the late challenge of Abi Whiteman (Cathedral). Olivia Wilding (Bishop's) was a comfortable, smooth winner of the 75m hurdles (12.9sec) with Charlotte Prosser (Fairfield) second.

In the field events, high-jumpers Lucy Hickman (JK) and Kate Whiteman (Cath) both jumped personal bests of 1m40 and 1m35 respectively, as did Sarah Jones (Cath) in the long jump pit (4m50).

Stephanie McNally (Aylestone) and Jess Hastings (Kingstone) continued their run of successes in the shot (8m20) and discus (19m59) respectively, while Olivia Major (Bishop's) claimed her first district victory in the javelin with a respectable 21m27.

Shaun Bowden produced another personal best to win the boys' 80m hurdles in 12.8sec.

Will Parnell (Bishop's) had a narrow victory over Ben Wood (Aylestone) in the 100m, as did Josh Wilding (St Mary's) in the 200m (28.0sec). Wilding had a superb day, with comfortable victories in the shot (10m 18) and long jump (5m).

Kingstone athletes dominated the 400m and 800m races. Team-mates J Hale and J McDonald sprinted for victory over 800m with Hale dipping first to win in 2min 28sec, whereas Jack Bruton eased to victory in the 400m (61.6sec) and Henry Eastman (Bishop's) led from gun to tape in the 1500m (5m12).

Kingstone's S Cameron and Cathedral's Michael Poulton managed to overcome St Mary's domination of the field events by winning their respective high jump (1m35) and discus (20m97) events.

J Upham (St Mary's) launched the javelin 30m71, while team-mate J Macquire just managed to hop, skip and jump ahead of Aylestone's Lyle Smith.

A large squad of athletes have been selected to represent the district at the Hereford and Worcester County Minors Championships.