BEN Westhenry came away with a silver medal in the under-17 men’s 1,500m steeplechase at the prestigious Southern Track & Field Championships.

The event in Ashford, Kent, was only Westhenry’s second ever attempt at the notoriously arduous discipline.

And the second-placed finish was all the more impressive as Westhenry, at 15 years of age, suffered a major fall at the last water jump.

All athletes seemed to have problems with the barriers and Westhenry nearly came to grief on more than one occasion, losing him vital seconds. One competitor came to a complete stop at one barrier, causing those behind to pile into him and allow the leader, experienced steeplechase runner Matt Nicholson, to open up a healthy advantage.

Westhenry pushed up to second place with 700m to go and looked like he might catch the early pacesetter when Nicholson stumbled at the water jump on the last lap.

However, Nicholson recovered quickly and Westhenry himself slipped on the barrier, narrowly avoiding serious injury.

Soaking wet, and bleeding from his hip and knees, Westhenry picked himself up and ran as best he could to the finish to claim a well earned runners-up spot in 4mins 38secs, which puts him seventh in the under-17 UK rankings.

Westhenry’s injuries had healed in time for him to take part in the Poole Festival of Running.

The Weymouth St Paul’s Harrier produced a strong effort to take silver in the under-18 men’s 5km event.

And his time of 16mins 10secs was just three seconds short of 17-year-old team-mate Frank Bailey.

Their other team member, Adam Sloan, made it a clean sweep by taking third (16mins 52secs).

Earlier in the day, Ben’s younger sister Hannah, who is showing improvement with every race she enters, had put in a fine effort in the 10 to 11-year-old girls’ one mile event, finishing mid-table in just over eight minutes.