HANNAH KENWRIGHT and Oliver Gould of Pershore High School and The De Montfort School (Evesham) respectively starred at the Hereford & Worcester Schools’ County Track & Field Championships which were held at Nunnery Wood in Worcester.
Schools’ County Athletics Championships took place throughout the country on the same weekend and the Hereford & Worcester event saw top athletes from schools across the region compete having qualified to represent one of eight districts.
In the intermediate girls’ competition Kenwright won both the 100m (13.2secs) and 300m (43.2secs).
Gould won the intermediate boys’ 200m in 23.3secs and finished second in the 100m in a time of 11.8secs.
As well as aiming for medals and the opportunity to claim the title of county champion in their event, athletes were also hoping to impress the selectors to take them forward to the Mason Trophy competition – an inter-county schools’ event – which was subsequently held the following Saturday at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham and brought more success for Gould.
The annual event featured ten counties and the Hereford & Worcester Schools’ Athletics Association team had been chosen following solid and impressive performances at school, district and then county competitions.
The Mason Trophy also serves as an indicator for selectors to choose their team for the final and main event in the schools’ athletics calendar – the ESAA (English Schools’ Athletics Association) National Track & Field Championships – which are being held in Gateshead next month.
In the intermediate boys’ category, George Elliott of Prince Henry’s High School won a silver medal in the javelin with a throw of 50.54m.
There was success for Vale athletes in the 4x100m relays as Gould was part of the intermediate boys’ team which won bronze in 44.8secs and Florence Ikpeme of Prince Henry’s starred for the junior girls’ team which finished sixth but, like the intermediate boys’ team, ran inside the ESSA standard with 51.6secs.
The best age category performance for Hereford & Worcester came from the intermediate boys who finished third out of ten counties. Hereford & Worcester finished eighth overall.