Walton AC athletes representing Surrey at English Schools, Gateshead

Five Walton AC athletes were selected to attend the English Schools National Championships which is the 4th largest athletics event in the World and the Championships that nearly all the UK Olympic Athletics team members have competed

Gateshead weather was once again on form with strong winds and rain of course

Charlotte Vaughan made her debut at the Championships in the Junior Girls 800m running 2.18.79 in her heat and was also selected for the 4 X 100m Surrey Relay team which made it to the final with the fastest qualifying time

The nail biting final saw two teams disqualified and the Surrey team finishing 4th

The other four Walton athletes were all throwers

Intermediate Girls Nicola Bell was up next in the Javelin having to cope with injury in a very tough competition as a first year threw 38.07m to just miss out on the qualifying mark finished 10th in a pool of 21 athletes

Also competing for the first year as an Intermediate,Tait Jones competed in the Discus in adverse strong winds with a throw of 32.83m also missing the qualifying mark and all athletes down on their bests finishing 12th in a pool of 16 athletes

Sam Mace was up next in the Intermediate Boys Hammer also in his first year in the age group with weight increases. Sam’s first throw was a two metre new personal best and went on to throw another new PB of 59.36m with 5kg Hammer to come 5th overall in a pool of 14 athletes and only a metre away from a medal

Finishing the day was Sophie Mace also competing in her first year as a Senior Woman in the Discus after a scary start with the winds blowing the Discus out of the sector Sophie threw 42.48m to secure the Silver medal with Gold only a metre away in a pool of 11 athletes

With the battling winds both Discus girls age groups were all way down on their performances luckily the wind had no effect on Sam’s hammer

Well done to all for being selected in a county that exceeds its quota for National Standard athletes with Surrey finishing overall second by 4.5 points

The Intermediate and Senior Surrey Girls were National Team Champions