Two of Herts Phoenix most successful and dependable athletes signed off from their involvement with the English Schools Championships this weekend by winning their events and helping Hertfordshire take the relay gold medal into the bargain.

Live on SKY TV on Saturday afternoon the last hour of the championships brought a hail of medals for the Herts Phoenix contingent.

Stephanie Gaynor of Stanborough school, who has won medals at this competition every year since since her debut in 2004, but never the gold, brought down the curtain on a fine English Schools career by winning the 100mHurdles title with a fine run in 14.18s.  Steph. had won the heat the previous day in a wind assisted 13.87s and in the final, into a headwind, started well and slowly left the rest of the field behind in what was a closer race than expected.  She was extremely happy telling the SKY TV presenter that it meant everything to her to finally lift the gold medal on her last appearance.

Also in that race was Claire Humphries who was bidding to stand on the same podium as Steph for a third time at major events this season.  Claire had qualified in second place in her heat the previous day with a windy 14.42s and went into the final as fourth fastest.  She was the quickest out of the blocks and came through to record a new personal best of 14.45s, the same time as the athlete from Cleveland, Ashleigh Wood, but despite the TV commentators thinking she had won the silver on the dip, the judges awarded Claire the bronze medal after carefully studying the photograph.  Despite her initial disappointment Claire was very pleased to have taken an English Schools medal for the first time.  So, the girls again stood on the podium together and received their medals from dame Kelly Holmes.

Almost immediately after the hurdles Laura Wake, already selected for the European Junior Championships, stepped on to the track for her 400m final. Once again she ran a controlled race and showed how she has really taken to this distance.  She cruised through to win in 54.38s only 3 hundreths outside the championship record.

Laura, who won the 200m last year and has also claimed two relay medals in the past was very pleased to sign off in such an emphatic fashion,  However, almost before she could draw breath she was back on the track with Steph Gaynor, Claire Humphries and Stevenage colleague and friend Bunmi Awokoya for the final of the senior girls 4x100m relay.  Claire had come into the team this year and they hoped to go one better than last year and claim the title.

Steph led off and making a good start handed over to Laura just in the lead.  Laura, showing no ill effects from her 400m raced down the back straight towards Claire who set off as she approached and they completed a slick second handover with the lead now significantly increased as a result of Laura’s excellent leg.  Claire built on this and stretched away around the curve again completing a smooth handover with Bunmi who now had over 20 metres lead on the Essex athlete in 2nd.  However, on the last leg was the 100m winner from Derbyshire who were by now 3rd and a very quick Essex athlete.  Bunmi, also in her last year at the championships and a previous medal winner in the 100m and relays, maintained her form and stayed relaxed bringing the gold medal home in a fantastic time of 47.97s.

It was the perfect end for Steph., Laura, Bunmi and Claire and also the first time they had been reunited as a team since winning the English Schools Heptahlon title in Exeter 2 years ago.

In the field events there was another medal and the nearest of misses for the throwers.

Katie Grehan, now studying at Oaklands College Athletic Academy, having recently recovered from a broken foot sustained whilst warm weather training in Portugal, produced her best form at exactly the right time to throw successive personal bests and take the senior girls javelin Bronze medal with a throw of 41.38m.  This was a tight, see sawing, competition and another 30 centimetres would have taken the silver, but Katie was over the moon to win a medal at such a big event and after such a disrupted season.

The previous day Richard Humphries was denied a medal in the cruellest of circumstances.  Until 10 days ago Richard had never thrown beyond 55m but on Saturday sent out a series of the biggest throws of his career, 53m, 55m and then three times over 56m pushing himself into bronze medal position with his 5th round throw of 56.90m.  He then had to watch whilst his rivals threw in the last round and with 2 throwers to go saw Sam Ridgeway of Buckinghamshire throw 1cm further to steal the bronze medal away from him with 56.91.  Despite this he can be very proud of the way he threw in that competition and graciously accepted the disappointment.  With his performance here he should now be automatically selected for the UK School Games in Cardiff in September as the top thrower in the Eastern region.

Another stand out performer was Elizabeth Bird of Haileybury school who was a debutant at these championships.  Lizzy had shown how she can rise to the occasion with her personal bests at the South of England Championships and so it proved again.  Despite some bumping and pushing she qualified comfortably from her heat, conserving her energy for the final on Saturday.  In the final she stayed in the hunt for a medal right up until the last 150m when the sprint for the line really started.  Lizzy stayed with the pack as long as she could and eventually came in in 6th place in yet another personal best of 4.40.34 seconds showing her rapid progress and potential at the event.

Also taking his first steps at the championships was Courtney Clay who took a super 4th place in the high jump with a new personal best leap of 1.81m  his performance in these circumstances in front of a big crown was coolness itself and he will have benefited hugely from the experience.

Another finalist was Hannah Lloyd who qualified comfortably in second place in her 300mHurdles heat on Friday evening.  Up first the following morning Hannah ran a full second faster with 45.58s but in a race of real quality she was unable to match the pace of the winners and came 7th, disappointed but determined to improve for the National Championships in a months time.

Also taking 7th place was Eloise Meakins in the intermediate girls Javelin.  Eloise threw below her recent best recording a furthest throw of 38.08m to ensure she made the top 8 for the second year running.

Frances Slater received an unfavourable draw in the 200m finding herself up against two of the favourites in her heat.  Despite this she recorded a good time of 25.49s and ended up missing the final by one place, being 9th quickest overall.

Finolla Frederick and Prince Richman in the junior high jump and 100m respectively couldn’t make it through their qualifying to their finals but will be better for the experience of attending such an event for the first time and determined to repeat the trip in future years.

Finally, Danielle Currie also bade farewell to the championships after attending for the last three years in the triple jump.  Danielle has been struggling all year with a recurring foot injury and after a first round jump of 10.26m, well below her best this year of 11.08m, she was unable to continue.  A sad farewell but she has represented the county with distinction for the last three years and will have fond memories of attending the event with her friends and county colleagues.

Jon Humphries