It was a long haul to Gateshead for the Devon Schools Track and Field team on their way to the English Schools Championships held over two days last Friday and Saturday.

Sidmouth’s Byron Fitzgerald was part of the team which travelled up on the Thursday, and were billeted at Newcastle University not far from the stadium at Gateshead.

Sidmouth College student Fitzgerald, had a place in the Finals of his specialist event, 400m hurdles, as his prime objective.

It’s is a demanding event and although physical, it requires a great deal of concentration on stride patterns between hurdles, and tactics are pretty well limited to running as fast as you can without hitting too many hurdles.

Byron’s current streak of good form though, continued and a second place finish in his heat gave him automatic entry and a good lane for the final.

The line up for the final next day was an impressive one, with all eight capable of running in the 54/55 second range for the distance.

The introductions on Sky TV were duly completed and they were off. A few hurdles were clattered on the way, but there was not much between them on the last bend.

The first two were both given the same time in a photo finish and then the rest were within half a second of each other. Fitzgerald took sixth with a personal best time of 55.53 and was very satisfied with that.

As always, the championships were well organised and the intense competition all afternoon provided great entertainment for those watching it live on TV, as well as for those at the stadium.