DELLEAH Belgrave and Tye Leo-Stroud made a big impact on their debuts at the England Athletics Indoor Championships in Sheffield last week.

The Swindon Harriers sprinters took full advantage of their first invite to take part in the two-day event to reinforce their growing reputation as two of the brightest young athletes in the west country.

Competing against some of the best sprinters in the country, Belgrave added another Harriers’ club record to her list of achievements while Leo-Stroud reached the final of the under 15 boys’ 60m.

“It was an unbelievable weekend and I am so happy for the pair of them,” said coach Tony Jackson.

“It was just a brilliant experience.”

Belgrave had already broken the Harriers 60m record for under 15 girls’ this winter with a scintillating best of 7.94secs.

And the Lydiard Park School student duly added the 200m record with a swift 26.15secs in the heats.

She couldn’t match that in the semi-finals – tiredness may have caught up with her having also run the 60m heats – placing fifth in a time of 26.71secs.

“Unfortunately, Delleah was drawn in lane one for the semis and indoors you will never win from there because the lanes are so tight it makes a huge difference,” added Jackson.

“But having run the club record in the heats when she looked really good, we cannot be anything but happy.”

Those best times also put Belgrave 12th and 20th respectively in the UK Rankings – and quickest at both in the south west region.

Leo-Stroud, a student at Lawn Manor Academy, opted to concentrate upon the 60m and successfully negotiated his way through the heats (7.57secs) and semis (7.49secs) to take his place in the final where he placed sixth in 7.54secs.

Jackson said: “The goal for Tye was to make the final and he did really well to achieve that.

“As I explained to him afterwards, he is now up there racing alongside the very best sprinters in the country.

“On that evidence he must now aim to make the final of the English Schools’ Championships this summer.

“They had all the extra pressures of warming up alongside their main rivals, waiting for their races to start and having TV cameras focused on them as it was being covered on-line.

“Yet they loved every minute of it, and they want more. It was a great learning experience.”