Double gold for Havering's young athletes as season end approaches

Stephanie Okoro and Jacob Blanc enjoyed their trip to the north west, each adding an England Athletics gold to their English Schools’ titles.

UK Number 1 - and odds-on favourite - Stephanie did not disappoint as she claimed the Under 17 Women’s 300m hurdles crown.

The 15-year-old comfortably won her heat on Saturday, before taking the lead early on in her final.

A couple of stutters at the early barriers were quickly brushed aside as Stephanie turned in a faultless display, culminating in a new PB of 42.82s for the teenager.

This time also represented a club record, and with two national competitions to come, Stephanie's best looks set to come.

It was also a hugely successful outing for Jacob Blanc, whose performance in the Under 17 100m sprint hurdles saw him top the leaderboard.

Despite blustery conditions, Jacob's second fastest time of 13.07s saw him win his first England Athletics gold.

The margin - almost four metres clear of the chasing pack - made this feat all the more impressive.

Elsewhere, Bobby Williams was unable to repeat his English Schools medal winning performance in the Under 15 Boys’ javelin as his 45.94m throw placed him fourth.

Al-Ameen Salaam also finished fourth after opting to tackle the sprint hurdles. Though he set a new PB of 11.50s in winning his heat, the youngster was edged into fourth in the final by one-hundredth.

Ayo Babatunde equalled his best in the 200m heat and clocked 22.51s in his semi-final - the sixth fastest time ever by a club Under 17.

Paris King was just outside her best in her Under 17 80m hurdles heat. Ridwan Salaam clocked 11.39 seconds in his Under 17 100m heat, while Dan Peters was timed at 2m 8.64s in a slow tactical 800m heat.

On the same weekend as the England Athletic Championships was a London Division Championship fixture at Kingston.

A Havering squad - depleted by holidays and other commitments - triumphed to secure a 50-point victory, making it three wins from three in this championship.

Chloe Williams - winner of the sprint hurdles and high jump - was also a member of both relay squads.

Training partner Flic Clarke was in the same boat, managing this alongside claiming victory in the 400m hurdles and second place in the B sprint hurdles.

The pair's relay partners were Emma Ramsden - who won the B 200m with a new PB whilst coming second in the A 100m - and Nina Brennan, winner of the B discus and B 400m runner up.

This quartet were sprint relay runners up and won the 4x 400m relay.

Under 17 Alice Brown won her discus speciality and was 400m A runner up while Adelaide Thatcher-Gray won the javelin.

Olivia Boachie won the B 100m and was second in the 200m A on her debut.

Tomi Sanwo was second in the triple jump and added shot and long jump points.

Molly Sweetman returned to club colours for second in the 800m, as Ginte Bailey season’s best placed her second in the B event, while Rebecca O’Rourke placed second in the A 1500m.

Teamwork was also the order of the day for the men.

Duane Jibunoh won both the discus and javelin in season’s best and was shot runner up and third in the B hammer.

Adam McCarthy made up for missing his 400m hurdles event on health grounds by scoring valuable points in the 200m, triple jump and high jump.

Karl Tucker came second in the hurdles and covered both 100m and 200m before joining Adam, Reece Harriott and Luke Williams in the winning sprint relay quartet.

Reece was third in the 400m, while pole vaulter Luke Williams equalled his season’s best for third alongside adding triple jump and B hurdles second places.

Hal Hutton won the B javelin and Graham Holder was second in the hammer, discus and javelin.

Ben Davis outkicked the opposition to win the 1500m as Louis Berrett was second in the B, as Kieran O’Hara ran well in the same event as a non-scorer and James Stewart was 3000m runner up.

The season concludes at Lee Valley on August 28 where all teams will be hoping for better turn outs to end this Covid-affected campaign.