Orion Harriers Junior athletes Jermaine Hamilton, Georgia Tuckfield and Kyal Palmer-Francis suffered mixed results at the English Schools Track and Field Championship in Gateshead.
Following a strong performance by Hamilton at the UK School games, where he gained first position and a games record, he went into the 200m final as favourite.
However, due to heavy rain, the timetable was delayed and he was forced to run his leg of the 4x100m relay, just 30 minutes before his final.
The relay team went onto collect gold but Hamilton could only manage a silver medal in the 200m.
In the final, he was out of the blocks well and ran a controlled bend. However, rival Thomas Somers pushed on in the last thirty metres as Hamilton started to feel the effects from the relay and had to settle for second place.
Despite his finishing position, Hamilton was delighted to gain his first England vest and made history for his club by being the first sprinter to make the England team.
He will now go on to represent England in the schools international on the July 21.
It was Palmer-Francis’ first English schools event and he ran a superb third leg of the 4x100m relay to help the side to gold.
In the 100m event Palmer-Francis ran a strong first heat and took first position in a time of 11.13.
In the semi-final he got off to a slow start and couldn’t make it up in the final stages, eventually crossing the line in fourth in 11.21.
Tuckfield was in action in the 1500m inter girl’s event. Her target was to make the final, which she knew was in her capabilities because of her personal best metres of 4.38 .
In the heats, Tuckfield started strongly and ran well for the first three laps. But she couldn’t maintain her pace and was disappointed with her finishing time and not to make the finals.
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