A BOYS' athletics team from the region has done its school proud in a national competition.

The junior boys team from Laurence Jackson School, in Guisborough, beat competition from hundreds of other schools to represent the region at the Sky Sports Track and Field National Schools Cup Final at Basildon, at the weekend.

By the time the track events had finished, the boys had put in such an outstanding performance that they were leading the competition.

But the strength of the other schools in the field events meant that the team ended up in eighth position, out of the 12 schools competing.

Individually, Scott Allison won the 100m and Arron Motson won the 400m. Teammates Scott Dixon and Carl Glass improved their best times in the 1,500m and 800m events respectively.

Physical education teacher Les Thomson said yesterday: "Overall, the team has done very well to finish eighth nationally in a competition that began with an entry from 600 schools."