Rothbury discus thrower achieves personal best and qualifies for the English Schools Championships

Ed Gardiner has qualified for the English Schools Championships in the discus. Picture: Peter Scaife

Having won the Northumberland Schools County Championships already, action moved to the Northern Schools Inter Counties Championships at Gateshead Stadium.

Difficulties caused by delays to the start and a rising headwind were further added to by all throwers being told they would only get a maximum of three and not the usual four attempts, but practice throws by Gardiner still looked good, and after two promising early efforts, the first of which saw him go straight into the lead, his final throw really flew, with the small but knowledgeable crowd already applauding.

He achieved a distance of 41.30 metres, his first over 40m throw and a personal best by nearly three metres.

The throw also saw him reach the qualification standard for the English Schools Championships at Birmingham’s Commonwealth Games stadium on June 29, where he will be ranked 11th.

The late qualification meant some further anxiety for the Rothbury-based Gardiner family, but his selection was finally confirmed at the start of the week.

The achievement comes after a very difficult winter, badly disrupted due to injuries which all meant little if any training could be done, as well as him moving up to the heavier 1.75kg weight for the first time.

The England Athletics U23 and U20 Championships took place on a newly laid track at Chelmsford, Essex, at the weekend with representative places in the European Championships at stake.

Despite some windy and wet weather, there were good performances all round, including that of Morpeth Harrier Rory Leonard, back in the country from study in America.

Leonard finished second in the Men’s 5000m in a time of 14:10.15 behind race winner Will Barnicoat, who clocked 14:09.20, with Josh Dickinson third in 14:11.04.

Closer to home, Morpeth’s Senior Men’s and Women’s Track and Field team were back in action at Shildon in Division One North East Premier of the Northern Athletics League, finishing fourth on the day with another determined display from their hard-working team.