Flying flag for North

May 29 2007 By Bill Mcguirk, The Evening Chronicle

North East athletes showed true grit for the second day in a row to produce a string of excellent performances at the Inter-Counties Champ-ionships in Bedford.

Atrocious weather conditions made it difficult for everyone, but the small team representing the region did extremely well, with the women's squad picking up the Essex Shield as the top overall county.

Teesside's Johanna Jackson picked up maximum points when she won the 3,000 metres walk for the third year in a row and, while she was the only North East female athlete to finish in the top three on the second day of the championships, there were many more creditable performances.

Victoria Barr, winner of the 200m 24 hours earlier, finished fourth in the 100m final in 12.07 seconds - after recording 11.96s in the semi-finals - while Sara Todd also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles.

Shildon's Melissa Carr, who earlier finished in bronze medal position in the long jump, cleared 12.22m for sixth place in the triple jump, with Julia Straker (12.07m) in eighth.

Rabah Yusif recorded the fastest 200m time of the day (20.85s) but unfortunately it came in the semi-finals.

In the final, as the conditions deteriorated, he was edged into second place in 21.07s.

Teenager Richard Kilty, making his debut in the championships, finished sixth in the 100m final in 10.91s.

Morpeth's Chris Sampson, who picked up a bronze medal in the steeplechase, contested the 5,000m and clocked 15min 15sec for 10th place.

The men's team finished in fifth place overall.