From Start to finish Croydon Harriers were in Magnificent form against some of the country's finest young athletes.

A terrific performance left Croydon Harriers tantalisingly short of glory in the McDonalds Young Athletes Auxiliary Final at Stoke on Saturday.

After taking the lead early the team fell behind but fought back to finish a close third with 405 points just 6 points behind winners City of Stoke.

Star under-17 pole vaulter Cameron Johnston won the McDonalds field event athlete of the competition award for outstanding field events with a 4.30m clearance.

Eleven B-String victories came Croydon's way in a medal tally of 34 which featured two maximums.

Both of these were in the long Jump, Phil Greenland (5.86m) and Bernard Yeboh (5.85m) could hardly be separated and in the discus Stephen Bates threw 34.65m and Joe Penfold 29.58m.

Bates had a brilliant afternoon with a further gold in the shot put (12.51m) and silver in the hammer (44.67m).

In the 400m hurdles, Jon Price got bronze in the A-race with 58.95, and Jake Elsworthy got a personal best of 60.31 in the B to take silver. He later went on to excel in the B pole vault with 3.10m, his first time over 3m for a well-earned bronze. High jumper Darryl Gheerwo took gold with a neat 1.90m.

Betram Mnamyere took bronze in the A long Jump with a personal best of 5.83m.

Ugochi Anomelechi was the under-17s only 'A' winner when he ran the 100m as ever for injured Aidan Syeres in 11.64sec.

Kibine Tavaras won a string of B Medals, with gold in the 400m (53.41), silver in the 200m (23.64), silver in the triple jump (12.39m) and Bronze in the long Jump (5.50m).

David Micallef threw well in the hammer, his 40.69 effort earning an 'A' silver.

The sprint was again a productive event for Croydon, with 41 out of 48 possible points.

Under 15's Romain Henry took silver with 11.89 in the 100m and Wesley Howe won the B convincingly in 12.4.

The under 13s' Joshua Findlater got a bronze in 13.23sec, and Solomon Preddy won gold by a margin of 0.1s in the B race.

In the under-13 200m Atub Swaibu ran 26.95 for a personal best and bronze medal, and Preddy took silver with another best of 27.03. Both under-15 runners scored personal bests too, with Ovie Koloku taking silver (23.96) and Chris Merles taking gold with 24.83.

The 400m had a few surprises , with last minute B replacement Romain Henry Clocking an astonishing 56.62 to take gold on his debut.

Long distance runner Hassan Ahmed took bronze with a determined 4.35.16 in the 1500m.

For the under 13s Joshua Findlater added long jump silver to his tally with 4.66m and late selection Ashley Hamilton acquitted himself well with a 4.32m best, missing silver by just 1 centimetre. William Marsdens 7.62m won him silver in the shot.

The under-15s piled up the points too, with Jesse Miller clearing 1.6m for B gold.

The under-13s set a new Croydon Record with their performance in the 4x100m relay. The team of Ashley Hamilton, Ayub Swaibu, Joshua Findlater and Solomon Preddy finished in 51.74sec.

The under-15s team of Wesley Howe, Chris Merlese, Ovie Kokoku and Romain Henry finished in 46.68sec for 1^st place.