Congratulations to the six Harriers selected to represent Northamptonshire & Cambridgeshire Schools in the English Schools National Championships, taking place at the Birmingham Alexander Stadium on July 11/12th. English Schools remains the most prestigious UK Track & Field event for school age athletes to aspire to compete in and the event is truly a world class competition, and for many this will prove to be a career highlight.
Three athletes from the Middle distance Squad will be heading to Birmingham, and it’s the new generation of athletes from the U15/ U17 AG who are leading the way, and with plenty of other athletes making strong progress this summer, some will hope to be challenging for ES places in a year or two.
U15 Marianna Owen, who won her first England XC vest in March, is unsurprisingly leading the way with a series of sparking performances leading to a 13 second improvement in her 1500m time since joining the Harriers last August. This will be Marianna 2nd English Schools Championship, but her first representing KTH, and she will be hoping to go one better than 2024 and make the final in the Junior Girls 1500m. Owen secured selection with a fine run at the Inter-County Mason trophy, where she won a Silver medal finishing behind UK ranked 9th Olivia Lee, just pipping highly ranked Martha Blower to the line, with both athletes recording an identical time. Owen followed this up with a 3 second PB in the Watford Mid-week open to surge to UK ranked 12th with 4:36.60 an English Schools National Standard time.
Marianna Owen (57) with her second successive ES selection, seen here winning Silver at the Mason Trophy 1500m
U15 Clara Booth, the U15 England Athletics Indoor Bronze medallist, will have her first tase of elite outdoor championship racing, competing in the ultra-competitive Junior Girls 800m. Booth made a breakthrough in 2025 at the U15 EA Indoor Championships where she set her PB of 2:15.92, and she has improved her 800m time by 9 seconds from summer 2024, winning the Gold at the Inter-Counties Anglian Trophy for Cambs. Booth is hoping she will run an outdoor PB in the Championships, having recorded an outdoor best of 2:16.45 in late May at Loughborough. Clara is UK ranked 31st
Clara Booth with her first ES Championships, competing in the Junior Girls 800m
U17 Peyton Almond, will be competing in her 2nd English Schools Championship over 1500m this year as a bottom year athlete. Almond has twice set the ES standard this year in April, with 4:44.58 set at Watford her best this year, and was also close to setting the a qualification time in the 800m. Almond secured selection with a brilliant performance at the Inter-Counties Mason Trophy, to win the Gold medal in a tactical race in 4:46.38. Peyton is UK ranked 83rd.
Peyton Almond with a brilliant win in the Mason Trophy 1500m, securing her 2nd selection for ES
It was also the younger generation leading the way in the Sprint Squad, with two Junior Boy athletes making their English Schools debuts.
U15 Harry Smith has made a tremendous improvement this season improving his 300m time from 39.5 in 2024 to 37.60 when he set the English Schools Qualification time at the Corby Open meeting in May. Smith also won a superb Silver Medal at the prestigious Mason Trophy with a terrific performance, again setting a ES standard time with 37.94. Harry is UK ranked 19th.
Harry Smith Silver Medal and another ES quali time at the Mason Trophy, selected for his first ES Championships
U15 Aaron Ampofo has made excellent progression this season, especially in the 200m, improving from 25.7, to an electronically timed PB of 24.40 recorded at the Mason Trophy. Ampofo has run very close to the ES Qualification standard on two occasions with hand timed clocking’s of 24.1/ 24.2 and is UK ranked 74th.
Aaron Ampofo has made great progress in the 200m this season and this will be his first ES Championship
The final place secured for English Schools was from the Throws Squad, with U17 George Mills competing in his 2nd ES Championships. Mills competed in 2023 as a top year U15, finishing in a fine 11th place. Mills has been getting to grips with the new style 700g javelin, and has made consistent improvement in every competiton this season increasing his distance from 42.64m to 49.89. Mills set 4 succsive PB's while winning the Northants County Championships, and winning a fantatic Bronze medal in the Midland Counties Championships, culminating in his SB performance at the Mason trophy where he he finished just out of the medals in 4th place. George is UK ranked 20th.
George Mills a Fine PB and Bronze Medal at the Mason Trophy securing his 2nd selection for ES
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Many other athletes from all the squads who were credibly close to setting the standard, and hopefully with continued hard work and dedication to the sport their time will come in future years.
Congratulation to all six athletes representing KTH and Northants Schools at this world class competition.