WARRINGTON Athletics Club can this week boast two gold medal winners at the English Schools’ Championships for the first time since 1975.

Harriet Knowles-Jones from Lymm and Carys McAulay from Appleton were crowned national champions at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham at the weekend Knowles-Jones’ success came in the intermediate girls’ 3,000m, living up to her billing as the favourite.

She took the lead from the gun and pulled away relentlessly to win in 9mins 27.15secs.

Her run was a championship best performance and on the back of it she has gained selection for the England team in the Schools International Athletics Board Championships at Cardiff International Sports Stadium on Saturday.

There, she will have company from McAulay after her golden run in the intermediate girls’ 800m.

In the heat, McAulay followed the pace until entering the finish straight where she burst through to win in a personal best time of 2mins 10.89secs.

She adopted similar tactics in the final, producing a fast finish to storm clear and take gold in another personal best 2mins 9.93secs.

McAulay will face Jemma Reekie, the Scottish Schools’ champion, in a battle-royal in the Welsh capital this weekend.

In the junior boys’ 100m in Birmingham, Fisayo Williamson-Taylor ran a best time of 11.24secs in his heat, finishing second to qualify for the final.

He was unable to reproduce the time in the final, placing sixth with 11.43secs.

Daniel Evans qualified for the intermediate boys’ 1,500m final as the fastest loser as he finished in sixth place in his heat in 4mins 2.68secs. He was 11th in the medal decider in 4mins 9.66secs.

In the senior girls’ 1,500m steeplechase, Alysha Goddard, who was selected on the strength of getting under the qualifying time, justified her selection finishing with a personal best 5mins 18.77secs to place eighth.