Scholarships available for talented youngsters

More than 150 scholarships are available to help talented young athletes in the South West to fulfil their sporting potential.

The scholarships are being offered by the South West Talent Development Centre, a joint initiative between the University of Bath and Sport England.

The scholarships help young athletes, typically aged from 12 to 22, to access advice from experts such as sport nutritionists, physiotherapists, strength and conditioning coaches, lifestyle management advisors and sports psychologists.

More than 40 young athletes from the South West are currently benefiting from the scholarships, which are available to people in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire and the former Avon area.

These athletes have come from a wide range of different sports including athletics, badminton, basketball, canoeing, cycling, fencing, football, golf, hockey, netball and surfing.

"Our goal is to help more people from this region to get on to world- class programmes and to go on to maximise their potential," said Paula Jardine, regional manager for South West Talent.

West athletes looking for further information can download a registration form from http://www.teambath.com/what-we-do/sports-development/south-west-regional-talent-centre.

● Jon Wills and Charlie Coffey were the top man and woman respectively in the Bridge Inn 5k race with Ben Morley, of Great Western Runners, clocking a personal best of 16:09.

Bridge Inn 5k – men: 1 Jon Wills (B&W) 15:13; 2 David Green (B&W) 16:01; 3 Ben Morley (GWR) 16:09 (PB); 4 Gary Hope (Sev, M40) 16:14; 5 Tom Room (unatt) 16:25; 6 Allister Sheffield (TBAC) 16:36; 7 Stephen Francis (Bris Uni) 16:54; 8 Phil Lucker (B&W) 16:57. M50: Jon Goodland (B&W) 17:24. M55: Dave Bedwell (B&W) 18:07. M60: Tony Jefferies (WH) 19:43. Women: 1 Charlie Coffey (B&W) 17:24; 2 Katy Livingstone (Bath Uni) 18;28; 3 Vicky Tester (B&W) 18:49; 4 Sophie Voller (WH) 18:51.

● Westbury Harriers' Robert Hingston clocked 1hr 31mins 55secs for 74th place in the Coventry half. There were 1,977 finishers.

● Great Western Runners' Terry Sherwood was 49th (75:00) in the Weymouth 10-mile road race.

● Running in the Abingdon Half- marathon, Portishead Running Club's Tim Haysom set a new PB of 1hr 29mins 53secs, while Charlie Hurcum clocked 1:43.02.

● From Hogweed Trotters, there were recent personal bests for John Curtis (1:27.39) and Pat Curtis (1:31.39) in the Cardiff half-marathon, while Michelle Edgell clocked 2:12.52.

Chris Lewis ran a PB of 3:38.30 in the challenging Dartmoor Vale Marathon.

A large contingent from the club tackled the Stroud half, with Will Gray leading the way with 1:22.38 ahead of Chris Martin (1:29.40) and Nigel Burford (1:32.38). Amanda Richardson was the club's top woman in 1:36.25.

● Southville Running Club's Eloise Colman was 135th in the Stickler Three Peaks race in Dorset, covering the 10-miles and 1,500ft of climbing in a time of 1hr 30mins 48secs.