WILTSHIRE sprint ace Will Kennedy took full advantage of the helpful conditions to claim an impressive sprint double in South West Inter-Counties Track & Field Championships staged at the Exeter Arena, writes KEVIN FAHEY.

The 18-year-old Matravers School student clocked blistering season’s best times of 10.92 seconds and 22.18 seconds for victory in the under 20 men’s 100m and 200m events respectively.

However, his 100m time was assisted by a following wind of 3.2m, while his 200m was helped by a 2.1m wind.

Another sprinter to impress was Southwick’s Zoe Mattacks. The 17-year-old John of Gaunt School student blasted to victory in the U20 women’s 100m in 12.53 seconds, just a fraction outside her PB of 12.46 seconds but again was assisted by a big following wind measuring 4.4 metres per second - Mattacks was also third in the 100m hurdles.

Imogen Dawe-Lane from Devizes raced to a notable double in the U17 women’s 80m hurdles and 300m hurdles events. The 15-year-old Wiltshire champion looked strong in the 300m hurdles clocking 44.50 seconds to just miss her PB by an agonising 0.04 seconds.

In the 80m hurdles she dipped inside her best of 11.85 seconds with a sparkling time of 11.55 seconds but the wind was just over the legal limit.

Bradford on Avon’s Jenna Blundell had an eventful day. The 15-year-old St Laurence School student, who is a team-mate of Dawe-Lane at Team Bath, started by winning the long jump with a big leap of 5.35m.

She then went straight to the 80m hurdles, where she was vying with friend Dawe-Lane for the lead when she hit a hurdle badly and fell. Gamely she got back up to finish last.

Blundell then went to the high jump where she finished third with a jump of 1.53m, well below her PB of 1.65m and behind British number one Natasha Smith of Gloucestershire on 1.70m and training partner Renee Jelf, who cleared 1.58m, which was just one centimetre below her PB.

Sheldon School’s long jumper Jake Burkey soared to a personal best to claim the U12 men’s title at the South West Inter-Counties Track & Field Championships staged at the Exeter Arena.

Burkey jumped 6.52m, smashing his previous furthest jump of 6.33m which he did at the South West Schools’ in June.

Sadly the following wind was over the limit of two metres per second, used for record purposes, at 3.2m for the 16-year-old but it will lift him from second to joint top of the South West Rankings for under 17 men – and into the top 20 in the UK.

Wiltshire took second place in both the men and women’s categories – Devon claiming victory in both.