The meteoric rise of Invicta East Kent AC teenager Bobby Clay has continued as she landed the crown of World Schools 1,500m champion in emphatic style in the Czech Republic this
week.

The 16-year-old Wingham runner was the class of the field in the 1,500m in Sokolov on Monday, having to set her own pace and storming to victory in a time of 4mins 19.39secs – just a second outside of the championship record which she had coveted and almost 11 seconds clear of the runner-up.

Coach Peter Mullervy said: “Bobby was slightly disappointed not to have broken the record she set out for but she didn’t get any help – nobody could race her.”
The following day, Clay celebrated her success by being named in the Great Britain & Northern Ireland team for the World Youth Championships in Ukraine next month, where she will again run the 1,500m.

Mullervy added: “The world youths are an even higher level but we go over there not really knowing what to expect.

“When you have the African nations competing, you never really know what the standard will be or who is going to turn up. It makes it difficult to set targets.”

He added: “When we sat down in February or March to plan the summer, we didn’t think UK Athletics would be sending a team to Ukraine so we were aiming for the European Junior Championships, which we thought would be the only championships open to her this year.

“However, UKA said they would send a team and that they wanted Bobby to go through the development of her own age group.

“We’ve had to put her up an age-group so she was able to run times fast enough to qualify for these events.”

Meanwhile, Clay’s training partner and fellow IEK member, Rebecca Weston has been invited to participate in a race at the prestigious Diamond League event in Lausanne, Switzerland, on July 4.

The 18-year-old has been invited to take part in a junior invitational 1,500m midway through the start-studded event, which attracts crowds of tens of thousands.

Weston will fly out to Italy two weeks after Switzerland to join the GB team for the European Junior Championships in Rieti where she will contest the
5,000m.