A group of young athletes have landed their first piece of club silverware.
The talented youngsters from Rhymney Valley AC won the Les Davies Club Challenge at Hereford on Saturday, September 9.
The shield was won in the last match of the track and field season, three years after RVAC was reformed by volunteers.
Among the most notable performances of the day, Ben Mattey won the U15 Boys 300m in a new league record time of 37.43s and made it a double with a 24.86s victory in the 200m.
Cerys Radcliffe set a new league record in the U11 Girls long jump with 4.09m.
Meanwhile, in the U15 Boys shot put, George Powell won with 10.49m; with team mates Thomas Llewellyn, Samuel Gill and Cameron Cox in second, third and fourth places.
Chair Ruth Powell said: “In 2014 – when we reformed the club – we entered the competition and came last. Three years later we’ve won it convincingly.
“It’s amazing how far we’ve come in such a short period. The club is thriving with around 300 athletes between the ages of four and 16 and we have a waiting list to get in.
“They’ve been winning medals in regional and national events all season but this is the first for the club as a whole and the way they celebrated en masse showed just what it meant to them. It’s a real landmark for us.
“We’re operating from Blackwood High School, training on a short 200m track painted on grass with no proper throwing and jumping facilities.
“At the moment we’re succeeding on the back of great coaching but we know we could be doing so much more with proper facilities – not only to help these talented young athletes develop further but also to take in more children from the Rhymney Valley who really want to get into athletics who we simply do not have space for.”
For more information, visit www.rhymneyvalleyac.co.uk.