The England Athletics Open U20/17/15 Indoor Championships took place in Sheffield over the weekend of 13th and 14th February with both Kyle Walton and Rachel Bennett hoping to build on their recent successes at the Northern Championships under the watchful eye of coach Darren Hirst.

Kyle was first up on Saturday morning hoping to emulate his recent gold medals in both the North East and the Northern U15 boys 60m.

In his heat Kyle qualified for the semi final in a time of 7.59 seconds where he again put on a confident performance, finishing in a superb 2nd place in 7.44 seconds to earn himself a well deserved final spot.

Kyle went on to show he can compete against the best athletes in the country and, despite a valiant and courageous effort, Kyle narrowly missed out on a medal finishing 4th in a new PB and club record time of 7.37 seconds.

Rachel was next to compete on Sunday morning in the U15 girls 200m.

In her heat she sauntered through to the semi-finals winning in a time of 24.46 seconds. Her semi-final turned out to be very competitive with Rachel showing superb fighting spirit, narrowly finishing 2nd in an excellent 25.59 seconds which earned her a new PB and club record and a place in a scintillating final line up.

With further words of wisdom from her coach, Rachel went into the race in a confident mood and this showed as she put on a remarkable performance, displaying both grit and a determination to succeed, which earned her 3rd place in 25.65 seconds and a bronze medal.

A club spokesperson said: “Both Kyle and Rachel should be proud of their achievements over the past month which have resulted in them both achieving a top five status at their respective events in the UK rankings.

“The club, their coach and parents are proud of them both and offer a special thanks to Darren for his commitment, dedication and enthusiasm towards not only Rachel and Kyle but all the athletes in the sprint squad.