THE success story of Braintree Bowmen junior duo Sydney Strugnell and Imogen Newby continued with further titles for the youngsters at the Southern Counties Championships in Colchester.

Strugnell came into the competition hot on the heels of becoming junior national outdoor under-12s champion and was shooting a Metric V round at the Southern Counties.

Despite nerves in the early stages and blustery conditions, she soon settled down and secured a personal best (PB) of 318 at the 30-metre distance.

Her scores fell at 20m, but Strugnell returned for the 15m shoot in determined mood and got herself back on track and while she missed out on a PB score, she added another prestigious title to her growing list of achievements.

She said: “Going into final round, I was six behind my PB so really focused.

“After several good ends, I had a couple in the red and fell short by six so overall I was 12 off my PB, but I now have the Southern Counties Junior Ladies Under-12 Metric V champion to add to my junior national title.”

There was also a title for her Braintree Bowmen clubmate Newby, who had missed the nationals due to chickenpox.

She was competing in the under-14 junior ladies category and knew it would be tough after her illness, but Newby showed her pedigree by making a confident start at 40m.

That continued into the 30m round and improved further for 20m, with another strong showing at 10m giving her a score of 1,350 that smashed the Essex county record by 26 points, set a new club record and gave her the Southern Counties Under-14 Junior Ladies title.

The only frustration for Newby was the knowledge that it was a score that would have secured her the national title had she been fit to compete the week before at Lilleshall.