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English Schools Championships: Everest runs to the max for gold
Max Everest (centre) clears the final 100m hurdle on his way to gold. Picture supplied
MAX Everest produced a perfect performance to win his first English Schools title at Gateshead on Saturday.
The Hinchingbrooke College pupil went into the championships ranked fourth in the country for the 100m hurdles but he again rose to the occasion to take gold, improving his personal best (PB) in all three rounds.
It was a performance that led to a first television interview on Sky Sports, but more importantly earned him an international debut at the British Schools International in Cardiff in two weeks.
The Peterborough Athletic Club member had taken bronze in these championships two years ago but this vastly superior display was in stark contrast to that meeting in Sheffield.
On that occasion he also improved his PB in all three races but had a little fortune to make the podium - one of his rivals fell in the dying stages and Everest took bronze in a photo-finish.
This time Everest knew as soon as he crossed the line that he’d won after a flawless display. He was quick out of the blocks, he hurdled superbly and once he came off the final barrier in front there was no catching him.
Everest went into the competition with a best of 13.48 but won his heat in 13.35 and was runner-up behind Sussex’s Jordan Auburn in his semi-final in 13.23.
He was drawn in lane six for the final - while the first two from the second and slower semi-final got the more favourable lanes four and five - but it mattered little as he produced the run of his life to win in 13.16 by 0.11 seconds from Auburn.
He said: “I couldn’t have asked for any more, a gold medal and a PB in every round.
“I knew I’d be up there and in with a chance of a medal but to win gold was fantastic. I just gave it my all and it came off for me.”
Everest had targeted the English Schools as his main target for the year as a three-week trip to do some conservation work in Malawi means he may miss the English Under 17 Championships.
He plans to keep fit by training on the beach and he’s due to land back in the UK on the day of the championships so he may make a dash to Bedford to compete.
Everest’s victory was the highlight of an excellent second day for local athletes.
Simi Pam’s bronze was the only medal for local athletes on a chilly opening day but as the temperatures rose on Saturday so did the quality of the performances.
Jonathan Edwards took silver in the senior boys shot, Charlotte Taylor was third in the senior girls 3000m and the final event of the championships - the senior boys 4x100m saw the Cambridgeshire quartet of Alex McNally, Ashley Watson, Ben Kelk and Ryan Palmer snatch bronze.
Edwards and Pam took the area’s tally in the shot putt to 13 medals from the last 11 English Schools Championships but both struggled to find their best form in the opening three rounds before stepping up a gear.
Huntingdonshire Regional College pupil Edwards, whose sister Chloe won five successive golds at these championships from 2001 to 2005, missed gold by just 25 centimetres.
The Hunts Athletic Club member said: “I’d only thrown 15.12m after the first three rounds but my dad (and coach, John) told me where I was going wrong and I threw 16.41m in the fifth round. We all seemed to take a while to find our best form.”
King’s School’s Pam, silver medallist last year, threw 12.38m for third place, missing second - and another international vest - by just four centimetres.
She said: “My best throw came in the final round and I think I may have got silver if we’d had another round. I was getting better all the time but I’m proud to have got another national medal.
“I don’t feel like I lost, it was more a case of being beaten by two good athletes.”
Spalding High School’s Taylor ran a personal best of 9.53.97 for bronze in scorching conditions in the 3000m.
As Surrey’s Emelia Gorecka blasted clear from the gun, Taylor and Cheshire’s Megan Huxley led the chasing pack.
Gorecka was already 10 seconds clear through the opening kilometre in 3.04.44 with Taylor leading the pack through 10 seconds later.
Taylor continued to run positively as she and Huxley pulled clear of the pack approaching 2k, but when the latter started to pull away it left Taylor on her own in third.
The Nene Valley Harrier took bronze by more than seven seconds, an excellent display considering she is in her first year as an Under 20.
The Nene Valley Harrier said: “I knew I had an outside chance of a medal but it’s fantastic to have got bronze. I had a couple of glances to check no-one was catching me in the closing stages but thankfully I had a good gap.”
Huntingdonshire Regional College pupil Palmer anchored Cambs to that bronze in the relay, holding off Middlesex who clocked the same time of 42.02.
The Hunts Athletic Club sprinter, who did well to reach the senior boys 100m final, admitted he wasn’t sure whether he’d held on but the verdict capped an excellent afternoon for Cambs.
Arthur Mellows Village College pupil McNally, who went out in the semi-finals of the 100m - where the winner appeared to have got a ‘flyer’ - ran well on the opening leg and handed onto Jack Hunt pupil and Peterborough Athletic Club team-mate Watson.
Watson admitted he was a little slow to accelerate but he responded well when coming under pressure and he handed on to Cambridge’s Ben Kelk, who had won the senior boys 110m hurdles.
He ran well to set up a keen tussle for second, third and fourth places and thankfully Palmer - in his fifth race of the weekend - held on for a medal.
Ken Stimpson’s Joel Grenfell, top of the UK Under 17 long jump rankings, was reduced to a spectator’s role after injuring his hamstring and he had to watch the event won in 6.88m - a distance he’s achieved four times this year.
Peterborough High School’s Georgie Ivens left the track in tears after pulling up injured just seconds into the senior girls 400m final.
Thomas Deacon Academy’s Darrellon Holding, who is still playing catch-up after a hamstring injury delayed his start to the season, went out in the heats of the senior boys 400m.
Bourne Grammar Schools Emma Hornsby jumped a PB of 5.13m for seventh in the junior girls long jump, Georgia Woods did well for sixth in the inter girls javelin and fellow Deeping Schools pupil Stephanie Williams reached the inter girls 300m hurdles final.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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