GREAT Britain junior international Gemma Fergusson was in brilliant form as she broke two records in the North-East Track and Field Championships at Shildon.

The 18-year-old Tynesider, who now runs for Manchester club Sale Harriers, defied the blustery conditions to clip 0.45 secs off her own under-20 100m hurdles record with a winning time of 13.88 secs.

And she then went on to claim the scalp of 100m junior women's record holder Titi Ameobi - sister of Newcastle United striker Shola - though it took a photograph to separate the two runners.

Fergusson got the verdict in a time of 12.25 secs - 0.66 secs better than the record set by 200m victor Ameobi at Gateshead International Stadium last year.

Now Fergusson, who qualified for last year's World Junior Championships in Jamaica, hopes to wear a Great Britain vest in the European Junior Championships in Finland this summer.

She said: "I am using the flat races to bring my hurdles times down.

"Last year I only ran 12.6 secs for the 100 metres so I am very pleased with my early season form."

Fergusson, who was second in the AAA senior women's indoor championships and is coached by hurdles expert Joan Mills, added: "My aim this year is to qualify for the Europeans - I am not quite race fit yet but I am pleased with the way things are going."

The other records to fall were all in field events and one of the most drastic improvements was in the junior men's triple jump, where Gateshead Harrier Graham Jackson, the reigning English Schools and North of England champion, leapt a massive 14.21m, bettering the ten-year-old record by a huge 48cms.

University of Northumbria undergraduate Kristine Ritchie, from Belfast, set a new women's javelin record with a throw of 38.53m, an improvement of over three metres, while the under-20 pole vault record was also broken by former Gateshead Harrier Mark Christie, now with Sale, who cleared 4.51m, an improvement of one centimetre.

Gateshead's Emma Foster threw 36.39m to better her own under-20 women's hammer mark by an impressive 11.25 metres, and Birtley's Katy Wilson recorded 10.65m to increase the under-15 shot record by 36 cms.

Local girl Karen Johns, now competing for Gateshead, had a hat-trick of victories in the senior 400m, 800m and 1500m, while Morpeth's Nisha Desai was victorious in the same three events at under-20 level.