DURHAM Schools were the most successful North-East team in the English Schools Championships, with the region's only gold medallist in junior high jumper Anthony Hogg.
But North-East athletics enthusiasts in the sun-baked venue had to wait very late in the day to cheer a winning performance, with the 14-year-old Jarrow and Hebburn all-rounder coming out tops just two hours from the end of the championships at Gateshead International Stadium.
Hogg, however, is no stranger to success, having won a string of titles this year, ranging from 60m, hurdles, high jump, long jump and shot put, and a week earlier he had travelled to Doncaster to win the North-East Schools under-15 pentathlon championship.
At Gateshead, he cleared 1.87m, a new personal best by ten centimetres to take him to the top of the UK under-15 rankings, leap-frogging Bedfordshire's Josue Conroy, who cleared 1.84m to take the silver medal.
Durham won six medals, with Shildon's Cameron Boyek finishing runner-up in the senior boys 1500m, his second English Schools medal after taking intermediate 1500m bronze at Birmingham last year. There were bronze medals for senior discus thrower Alan Toward (48.28m), Scott Lincoln in the senior shot (15.48m), Lucy Turner in the under-15 75m hurdles (11.33 secs) and double North-East champion Michael Bleasby in the intermediate 1500m (4:05.25).
Cleveland were the second most successful North-East team, with two silver and one bronze. Charlie Myers cleared 3.55m to finish second in the junior pole vault, Mark Shaw ran a personal-best 8 mins 21.78 secs to finish second in the senior 3000m, while Jack Crosby - in athletics for only 11 months - was a creditable third in the intermediate 200m (22.06 secs).
The host county, Northumberland, won only one bronze medal, with junior boys' shot-putter Brad Sansom throwing 13.92m. But Genevieve Perrins was desperately unlucky to finish outside the medals in the junior javelin, beaten for bronze by only one centimetre. And hurdler Rebecca Liddell, who had won her heat in the senior 100m hurdles, was unable to take her place in the final through injury.
Northumberland gained some consolation for taking only one individual medal by winning the junior girls' relay from Hampshire after winning their heat.
Selected results - Senior Boys: 3000m 1 M Brown (Beds) 8:18.45, 2 M Shaw (Cleveland) 8:21.78, 3 J Grace (Surrey) 8:22.85; 1500m 1 C Grice (Sussex) 3:53.70, 2 C Boyek (Durham) 3:54.32, 3 R Charles (Middlesex) 3:54.53; DT 1 N Fox (Staffs) 50.50, 2 A Damadzic (Hereford) 50.46, 3 A Toward (Dur) 48.28. SP 1 M Halton (Cornwall) 16.64, J Edwards (Cambridgeshire) 16.41, 3 S Lincoln (Dur) 15.48.
Intermediate Boys: 200m 1 R Ejiakuekwu (Manchester) 21.71 secs; 2 M Hudson-Smith (West Mid) 21.76; 3 J Crosby (Cleveland) 22.06; 1500m 1 W Paulson (Glouc) 4:02.94; 2 J Lameswood (Humberside) 4:04.26; 3 M Bleasby (Dur) 4:05.25.
Junior Boys: HJ 1 A Hogg (Dur) 1.87m, 2 J Conroy (Beds) 1.84, 3 E Paynes (South Yorks) 1.84; PV 1 A Hague (South Yorks) 3.75m, 2 C Myers (Cleve) 3.55m, 3 J Weller (Herts) 3.45m; SP 1 K Jones (Midd) 17.06, 2 H Sutherland (Bucks) 14.47, 3 B Sansom (Northumberland) 13.92.
Junior Girls 75mh 1 S Irving (Surrey) 10.85, 2 M Howard (Essex) 11.27, 3 L Turner (Dur) 11.33.
* Depleted Gateshead Harriers lost their place at the top of the British Athletics League when they slumped to seventh and second bottom in their second match at Kingston, London.
The Tynesiders, who were without star sprinter Richard Kilty, finished 83 points behind Windsor Slough and Eton with the third placed home club, Kent AC, second in the first match at Copthall, taking over at the top and Gateshead slipping to fifth in the table.
Gateshead's winners included European Under-23 Championships-bound Niall Flannery in his specialist 400m hurdles (51.40 secs), David Riley in the 400m A (47.67 secs) and Graeme Level in the discus A (51.93m).
Match result: 1 Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow 311 pts; 2 Liverpool 281; 3 Kent 278; 4 Belgrave 260; 5 Harrow 257; 6 Crawley 231; 7 Gateshead 228; 8 Blackheath and Bromley 226. Standings after two matches: 1 Kent 13 pts; 2 Liverpool 11.5; 3 Belgrave 11; 4 WSEH 10; 5 Gateshead 10; 6 Harrow 8.5; 7 Blackheath and Bromley 4; 8 Crawley 4.
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