RHYMNEY Valley AC’s youngsters fulfilled their promise by winning the Les Davies Club Challenge.

The Hereford success represented the first piece of silverware for the club since it reformed three years ago.

And in triumphing in their final event of the season, they wrestled the shield from Brecon AC, who had won it for the last two years.

“In 2014, when we reformed the club, we entered the Les Davies Club Challenge and came last,” said chair Ruth Powell. “Three years later we’ve won it convincingly.

“It’s amazing how far we’ve come in such a short period.

“The club is thriving with around 300 athletes between the ages of four and 16 and we have a waiting list to get in.

“They’ve been winning medals in regional and national events all season but this is the first for the club as a whole, and the way they celebrated en masse showed just what it meant to them.

“It’s a real landmark for us.

“We also have an army of more than 50 volunteers, including 28 qualified coaches, plus fundraisers, administrators and organisers, and this victory was as much a reward for them as it was for the athletes.”

Among the most notable performances of the day was Ben Mattey’s victory in the U15 boys’ 300m in a new league record time of 37.43sec – and he made it a double by winning the 200m in 24.86secs.

There was also a new league record for Cerys Radcliffe in the U11 girls’ long jump with a leap of 4.09m.

Meanwhile, in the U15 boys’ shot put, George Powell won with 10.49m with team-mates Thomas Llewellyn, Samuel Gill and Cameron Cox in second, third and fourth respectively as Rhymney Valley AC swept the board.

Powell added: “The movers and shakers in track and field talk about needing to revamp the sport to attract more people but they could start by coming to see what we’ve done at Rhymney Valley AC.

“There’s a real determination, both among the kids and their parents, to make this succeed and this trophy proves it is. What’s holding us back are the lack of facilities we have.

“We’re operating from Blackwood High School, training on a short 200m track painted on grass with no proper throwing and jumping facilities.

“At the moment we’re succeeding on the back of great coaching but we know we could be doing so much more with proper facilities, not only to help these talented young athletes develop further but also to take in more children from the Rhymney Valley who really want to get into athletics who we simply do not have space for.

“We’re not blessed with great facilities in this community. Many of these youngsters wouldn’t be in athletics at all if it wasn’t for the club.

“But the club benefits the whole community by helping our youngsters develop as individuals and giving them a positive focus and healthy outlet for their talents and energy.”

Les Davies Club Challenge result: 1 Rhymney Valley AC 1,075pts, 2 Brecon AC 886, 3 Newport Harriers 750, 4 Hereford & County AC 745, 5 Blaenau Gwent AC 671, 6 Cwmbran Harriers 665, 7 Rhondda AC 189, 8 Aberdare VAAC 57.