IT'S NOT every day you get to stand shoulder to shoulder with athletics world champions Phillips Idowu and Jessica Ennis.
But that honour fell to Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow AC athlete Lawrence Clarke on Saturday, when he was named U20 Male Athlete of the Year at the Sportswriters Annual Dinner.
Idowu and Ennis took the male and female senior awards for their golds at the World Championships, and that Clarke should share the limelight with gold medallists is a mark of his meteoric rise in the sport in 2009.
In the summer the youngster stormed to gold in the European U20 Championship, eclipsing the UK Age Record of former double World Champion Colin Jackson. He is mentored by Jackson's former coach, Malcolm Arnold.
Meanwhile, Saturday saw plenty of success for WSEH at the Berks, Bucks and Oxon Cross Country Championships.
Nathan White led the medal charge with double gold in the men's senior race, while Ian May beat Charlie Coleman to the race for the bronze as WSEH clinched the team award, too.
The U17 men's team were hit hard by call-ups to the English Schools Championship, so for them to retain their title won last year was a fine achievement. Nathan Ditton and Alex Goodall took silver and bronze.
The U13 boys took team silver led home by Gus Cockle's individual bronze. Their feat was matched by the U15 boys.
The girls too got in on the medal haul, Charlotte Firth finishing second in the senior women's race, the U15 girls landed bronze.
