THE REGION'S top young athletes get their final chance to win selection for the English Schools Championships in the annual inter-counties match between Durham, Northumberland, Cleveland and Cumbria at the Sheepmount Stadium, Carlisle, this afternoon.

Inclement weather at Jarrow last week saw several promising athletes just miss out on the required qualifying marks, including the current North-East and Northern under-20 champion James Deacon-Brown, who will be strongly fancied to win his first-ever schools medal.

The Wolsingham student was only 47 centimetres off the senior boys' qualifying distance of 54m, but he is certain he can throw better.

He said: "I have been throwing much further in training and it is just a matter of taking that into competition.

"If the weather conditions are favourable at Carlisle I'm sure I will get the qualifying distance.

"My coach has seen how far I can throw in training and he is not unduly worried that it's not happening in competition. He thinks that as soon as I throw a big one I'll start to get better and better."

Deacon-Brown, of course, has more reason than most to want to try his arm in the English Schools Championships.

Three years ago, when he was the leading junior in the UK, his name was accidentally left off the Durham team-sheet and even the intervention of South West Durham MP Hilary Armstrong failed to get the English Schools officials to accept his entry.

Last year, when he was favourite to win the intermediate boys' gold medal, he broke his ankle playing football and broke down in the warm-up at Sheffield.

Now he moves up into the senior ranks and if he can hit form at the right time he could well strike gold and make up for all his previous disappointments.

Another Durham competitor with a great chance of winning his event is intermediate boys' pole-vaulter Mark Christie.

The 16-year-old Sunderland schoolboy exceeded the 3.80m qualifying height by 60 centimetres in the rain and left the stadium to return his pole - provided by his club, Gateshead Harriers, to Gateshead Stadium, where the Northumberland Schools Championships were in progress.

The conditions were near-perfect and when Christie accepted an invitation to compete as a guest - later frowned upon by the organisers - he proceeded to clear a personal-best 4.60m.

The vault was the biggest by an under-17 in the UK this year and if the reigning AAA under-17 champion can reproduce the same form he could challenge the championship record set in 1995 by South Yorkshire's Christian Linskey.

* Morpeth Harrier Mark Hudspith has been selected for the Great Britain marathon team to compete in this year's World Championships in Edmonton.

Hudspith, who was bronze medallist in the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Canada, gets the call despite finishing 13 seconds outside the qualifying time in this year's trial, the Flora London Marathon in April.

But UK Athletics Endurance director Zara Hyde Peters said: "Mark ran very well in the London Marathon in difficult conditions, only missing the UK Athletics qualifying standard by 13 seconds.

"He showed he was returning to his best form and therefore fully merits his selection for the World Championships."

* Great Britain international Brian Rushworth will defend his senior men's title as he tries to lead Sunderland Harriers to another team victory in tomorrow's Newton Aycliffe 10K (10.30am).

Entries are accepted on the day and there is a two-mile fun run starting at 10am.