HILPERTON'S Howorth brothers took full advantage of the early season sunshine to produce a set of sizzling personal bests at the Yate Sprints and Hurdles Festival.

John Howorth may not consider himself as a sprinter but he showed a fine turn of speed in Sunday’s meeting to smash his previous personal best of 27.41secs, albeit set four years ago, over 200m with a sparling mark of 24.00secs.

He then carved two-and-a-half seconds off his 2016 best in the 400m with a time of 52.24seccs that points towards the potential of a very fast 800m and 1500m later this summer.

Not to be outdone twin Robert also scorched to a best over 200m with 24.83secs and also recorded an outdoor best of 54.74secs in the 400m, though he has run quicker indoors (53.84secs) this winter.

Younger sibling Rory Howorth smashed his personal best in the 400m clocking 53.08secs to eclipse the 53.49sec he recorded during the indoor season. Rory’s firs sub 53seconds time surely won’t be long in coming.

Rory also ran 15.38secs on his debut in the 100m hurdles.

The brothers were fortunate in that all their marks were legal bests on an afternoon when blustery conditions means many marks were assisted by following winds over the legal limit of two metres per second.

The early sprints certainly had super favourable conditions with Melksham Oak School’s Jordan Earley blown to a best of 7.15secs in the 60m thanks to a following wind of 4.5mps.

Southwick teenager Joel Mattacks was unfortunate to be sprinting into a slight headwind but still managed to record an electronic best of 12.93secs to easily beat his previous mark of 13.85secs, though earlier this month he was credited with a hand-timed 2.6secs in Eton.

He also had a slightly wind-assisted best of 7.99secs in the 60m while older sister Zoe ran a season’s best of 12.89secs in the 100m but also had a headwind.

Sarah Long had a busy day running a personal best of 60.65ses in the 400m, smashing her outdoor best of 61.80secs, and also posting times of 12.99secs and 26.54secs in the 100m and 200m respectively.

Jake Burke’s astonishing start to the new season continues apace as the 17-year-old Sheldon School athlete notched up his fifth personal best in a week.

The Team Bath sprinter achieved a landmark on Sunday as he broke 23 seconds over 200 for the first time with a legal mark of 22.91secs, easily eclipsing his previous electronic best of 24.31secs.

For good measure he also added a PB of 11.40secs in the 100, again inside the legal limit, so that adds up to six personal bests over three meetings in eight days.

Sheldon School’s Femi Akinbobola was also in good form clocking a PB of 7.32secs in the 600m and outdoor bests – he has run quicker indoors this winter – of 11.85secs and 23.64secs in the 200m.

Devizes-based athlete Imogen Dawe-Lane followed up her debut of 68.25secs in the U20 women’s 400 hurdles the previous weekend in the Lee Valley Open with a solid 69.37secs in blustery conditions.

She also clocked 15.12secs in her first attempt at the 100m hurdles.