Athletes from the City of Norwich AC have been spreading their talents far and wide in the pursuit of success over the past week. Young athlete Michael Painter, accompanied by his father who also acts as his coach, made the long haul up to Grangemouth to compete in the 'Open' Scottish AAA's Championships.

Athletes from the City of Norwich AC have been spreading their talents far and wide in the pursuit of success over the past week.

Young athlete Michael Painter, accompanied by his father who also acts as his coach, made the long haul up to Grangemouth to compete in the 'Open' Scottish AAA's Championships. Competing in torrential rain throughout, he took the under-13 boys discus gold with a fine effort of 30m31, a distance that places him second in the UK ranking list. For good measure he moved the shot out to 9m22, a throw that was good enough to place him third.

Another star performance came from 18-year-old Rick Ward, who made quite an impression at the Crystal Palace on Saturday evening.

Competing in the 800m, he produced the best performance of his athletics career. On the pace at the bell, which he reached in 52.5secs, he forged ahead, leading the field until the final 15 metres when Swedish senior athlete Johan Klintskoj overtook him to secure a win by the narrowest of margins. However, his reward was a new personal best of 1min 50.95secs, a time that places him high on the UK ranking list.

At the same meeting, Mitch Goose produced his second impressive run of the summer over 1,500m. English Schools 3,000m track champion Goose, looking to break the 3min 50secs barrier, lost touch with the leaders mid-race but battled all the way to the line and was credited with a time of 3min 51.65secs.

Dani Nimmock continues to display good form in the 3,000m steeplechase. A novice at the event, she was the first junior athlete to finish in 11min 09.76sec, a time that gave her a new personal best.

In Coventry, four of the club's young athletes were representing the East of England in the UK School Games.

While none came away with medals, they helped their team to runners-up position in the overall standing when scoring marginally fewer points than the very strong team representing the South East of England.

James Senior competed in the 1,500m steeplechase and while producing a personal best time of 4min 32.99secs to finish in fifth place felt perhaps he should have done better.

English Schools champion Chris Baker, who contested the high jump, was also placed fifth with a clearance of 1m97, a height somewhat below his best.

Claire Pring, just back from holiday in Australia and trying to overcome the effect of jetlag, managed to finish seventh in what for her was the modest time of 10min 17.25secs.

Georgina Lake, while not producing her best, still cleared 2m45 in the pole vault to finish in eighth place.