A HEREFORDSHIRE athlete came away with a silver medal from his first international competition.

Patrick Morgan represented England in the Combined Events Championships in Northern Ireland last weekend.

Competing in the under-20s category in the decathlon Morgan, who trains at the Hereford & County Athletics Club, amassed a total of 6,712 points.

Taking place in Belfast his points total was enough for a final second place behind fellow English athlete Oliver Adnitt who won with 6,857 points.

Morgan’s achievement was made even more remarkable by the fact that Herefordshire lacks the same indoor and outdoor facilities that are found elsewhere in the country such as London, Manchester and Birmingham.

Hereford & County Athletics Club are now in their 60th year after being founded in 1962.

The club train on Tuesday & Thursday evening from 6.30pm to 7.30pm for anybody aged from nine to 69 or older.

The club compete in a range of athletics league including the Welsh U15 League (u11-u15); Youth Development League (u13-u17); Youth Development League (u17-u20); Midlands Men and Womens League (u17 upwards) and Aviva Sportshall League (u11-u15)

At the Welsh Junior Championships in Newport recently two of the club’s young athletes competed.

Livi Harwood added to her Welsh Schools 400 metres title by adding the Welsh under-20 age category title.

The following day she added a silver medal in the high jump. In the under-20 1,500 metres Matt Brunnock took gold.