A HAT-TRICK of golds from Jordan Large and a superb new county record from youngster Katie Loach were the highlights from a strong Swindon Harriers showing at a very successful 2015 Wiltshire Track and Field Championships held at Tidworth Oval.

A record entry of just over 300 athletes plus glorious sunshine seemed to inspire those who made the trip and Harriers’ athletes plundered a total of 28 individual golds plus a further three triumphs in relay events.

Individually, Large asserted his dominance of the under 17 men’s throwing events as he romped to victory in the hammer, discus and shot.

Admittedly his opposition didn’t test him too severely but Large could only beat who turned up and three Wiltshire titles in a day is an admirable achievement.

Sister Zoe didn’t do badly either and was the club’s leading performer in the senior women’s events with golds in the hammer (26.37m) and discus (21.23m).

It was another Swindon female thrower who became the only record-breaker on the day as rookie Loach underlined her talent by not only winning the under 13 girls’ discus but smashing the previous county record by over four metres.

Her winning throw of 21.60m was a mighty effort that lifts her within touching distance of the top in the UK this summer.

For good measure Loach also won the long jump with a leap of 4.07m.

There were seven other double gold medal winners from the Harriers at the meeting. Ciaran Cooper is one of the best young runners in the West Country and he again showed that with an impressive double in the senior men’s 400m (50.79secs) and his speciality of the 800m (1:54.94).

Sprinter Dominic Waddell showed a clean pair of heels to his rivals in the Under 17 men’s 100m (11.57secs) and 200m (23.17secs) while Sam Waddell matched that in the Under 15 boys’ 200m (24.04secs) and 300m (38.16secs).

Jess Alexander also displayed good speed to lift the Under 17 women’s 200m (27.46secs) and 300m (44.21secs) crowns while in the same age group Abbie Miles dominated the long and triple jumps clearing 5.26m and 10.58m respectively.

Zoe-Ann Bishop showed her versatility with success in the Under 15 girls’ pole vault (1.79m) and hammer (26.05) events, which is not a combination one sees too often.

A broken ankle ruined Will Crisp’s winter season but he showed he has lost none of his renowned competitiveness as he was involved in arguably the best middle distance race of the day.

Crisp came up against the in-form Team Bath runner Will Stockley and in a tremendous duel Crisp just held on to win the Under 17 men’s 800 in a time of 1mins 56.89secs with his rival a stride behind in 1.57.42.

“Will has had to race sparingly due to exams and he wanted to get under 1mins 58secs as that is the qualifying for the English Schools’ Championships so we are delighted with that,” said coach Bryan Clinton.

Nyle Clinton was in a class of his own in the senior men’s 1500m – and also won a bronze in the 800m – while Neil Cox added gold in the 110m hurdles to his bronze in the one lap event. Other notable victories came from Johan Warensjo, Gamuchirai Dumbutshena, Joseph Castle, Alex Martin, Kate Jacobs, Hannah New and Charley Hall.

Meeting director Alison Phillips said: “It was a magnificent day, with lots of impressive performances and many athletes recording PBs, which was fantastic particularly as the heat made it a hard day for some, especially the track competitors.

“I’m glad the championships gave so many athletes the chance to show just what they can do, and all our medal winners deserved their reward.

“It was really good to see such a strong Quad Kids entry, and the youngest athletes were particularly praised by the organisers of that section of the day for their sportsmanlike and excellent behaviour throughout.

“I hope many of the medal winners will compete for Wiltshire at the South West Inter Counties event at Exeter in July. Thanks too to the volunteers who made this such a successful event, and to all the athletes and parents for their support.”