Shamed sprinter's Olympic hope

Feb 4 2008 The Journal

DURHAM proved the strongest overall team at Saturday’s Schools Inter Counties match at Acklam Grange School, Middlesbrough, winning six of the eight team events.

The partial closure of the A66 due to adverse weather caused the withdrawal of the Cumbria team, but North Yorkshire contested this annual fixture after a lengthy absence.

In temperatures that barely rose above zero, Northern Under-17 silver medallist Philip Hurst, of Durham, won the senior boys’ race, holding off Cleveland’s Russell Best.

Northumberland’s Stacey Smith, the 2006 English Schools Intermediate 800m silver medallist, competing in her first cross country race for nearly two years, again showed her excellent finishing speed, pulling away in the final 400m of the senior girls’ event, from team-mate Gina Rutherford and Helen Gertig of Durham.

Durham’s Jack Moore won a hard-fought intermediate boys’ event from Northern Under-15 silver medallist Michael Priestley of Northumberland.

Kate Avery of Durham (intermediate girls) and Mark Shaw of Cleveland (junior boys) were untroubled in repeating their 2007 victories in their respective events.

Northumberland’s Rachel Denton easily won the junior girls’ race, while Robbie Loraine and Sophie Forster dominated the minor boys’ and minor girls’ races respectively.