SOUTHEND'S AC's youngsters travelled to Braintree for the first of this season's Eastern Young Athletes League matches.

Full reults are not yet known but there were some bright performances for the seasiders.

Kyle Aldridge, the club's new webmaster, produced a lifetime's best 800 run of 2.15.5.

To make it a hat-trick of personal bests at this distance, Ben Austin produced 2.11.6 and Oliver Kyriakides 2.26.1 in the younger age group.

Liam Peoples improved his best-ever javelin throw by almost a metre with 38.16.

Mitchell Turffrey displayed a nifty bit of running when clocking his fastest 200 time of 27.1 while Tom Watts reduced his previous best to 25.2, more than a one-second improvement.

Over at the 1500, Joe Beard improved to 5:09.8. Harris Foster-Carter made a huge improvement, breaking the five-minute barrier for the first time with 4:56.5.

In the under-15 girls there was a win for Bianca Ashbrook in the 300 with a personal best time of 44.7, while Sian McCrory also beat her previous best with 45.5.

Summer Dann improved her discus to 14.53. Jessica Mead slaughtered her best 800 with a useful 2:30.0.

In the under-17s there was a double win in the 80 hurdles for Georgia Atkins (12.7) and Ellie Evans (12.6).