by Matthew Kiernan

Croydon Harrier Omar Reid took a huge step towards representing Great Britain in the discus after winning the World Youth Trials at Bedford last weekend.

The 17-year-old threw 53.62m to claim the gold and finish nearly five metres clear of his rivals.

He now faces a nervous wait to see if he has been selected for the World Youth championships in Donetsk next month, with the selections announced on Monday.

Also at Bedford, Elliot Safo competed in the England Athletics U20 championships and claimed silver in the long jump, falling an agonising three centimetres short of gold.

The 19 year-old leapt to a wind-assisted 7.61m, his second furthest jump of the season just shy of overall winner Birchfield’s Feron Sayers (7.63m).

Martyn Rooney and James Dasaolu meanwhile will be representing Great Britain at the European Team Championships in Gateshead this weekend.

Dasaolu will run the 100m and the 100m relay, while Rooney will be in the 400m relay having finished sixth in the Diamond League in Oslo on Thursday in 46.11 seconds - almost a second slower than the 45.28 A standard required to qualify for the World Championships later this year.

In Southern Athletics League Division Two South, Harriers finished as runners-up at their latest fixture in Brighton - a result that will likely see them slip from first to third and out of the promotion places.

It was the women's team that proved most successful on the day, winning eight A finals. Stevie Lawrence won the 800m (two minutes, 22.5 seconds) and high jump (1.40m), and Tamara Reid won both the shot put (9.67m) and discus (32.17m).

Other winners were Ashleigh Clarke in the 100m (12.5), Zoe Fossett in the triple jump (10.19m), Anieshka Mido in the hammer (32.69), Emma Fossett in the javelin (31.54m) and the 1000m relay team (52.3).

There was only one A race winner among the men as Patrick Lucas won the 800m in 2:01.7.