Barking & Dagenham's A Olukaga was second in the 200m Pic: Ray Lawrence/TGS

Schools’ athletes turn on the style

Barking & Dagenham Schools’ athletes picked up two silver and three bronze medals at the Essex Schools’ Championships.

The borough’s team found the going tough at the event, staged in Melbourne Park, Chelmsford, which is the highlight of the Schools’ athletics calendar.

Blustery headwinds played havoc with athletes’ attempts to post qualifying times for the English Schools’ Championships, but it was in the Intermediate Boys section where the borough enjoyed their best success.

In the 200 metres, A Olukaga grabbed second place in a time of 23.55 seconds, while in the 400m the borough grabbed another silver when O Edubor clocked a time of 52.02.

The Junior Boys picked up a couple of bronze medals with S Sesay finishing third in the junior 100m in a time of 12.48, while S Loveday filled an identical position in the discus with a throw of 30.25m.

The only girl from the borough to win a medal was N Ede, who finished third in the Intermediate Girls discus, with a throw of 24.38m.

In the boys’ team results, Barking & Dagenham finished 11th in the Junior Boys (under-15s) event with 16 points, with their best placing coming in the Intermediate Section (under-17s) when they picked up 22 points to finish 10th.

While the girls’ teams finished 11th out of 13 in the Year Seven section, with six points.

They filled an identical position in the Junior section with five points and were bottom of the Intermediate category, with 12 points.

Results: Essex Schools’ Athletics Championships - Barking & Dagenham athletes (finals only): Junior boys, 100m: 3 S Sesay (B&D) 12.48.

Discus: 3 S Loveday (B&D) 30.25m.

Javelin: 5 O Anselen (B&D) 33.34m.

Intermediate boys, 100m: 8 D Ezeoreji (B&D) 12.14.

200m: 2 A Olukaga (B&D) 23.55secs; 6 T Ademule (B&D) 24.35.

400m: 2 O Edubor (B&D) 52.02secs.

High jump: 6 D Smith (B&D) 1.69.

Shot: 8 M Ogunwole (B&D) 10.57m.

Year 7 girls, shot: 4 L Saunders (B&D) 7.89m; 8 Z Musa (B&D) 6.75.

Junior girls, discus: 4 S Enguake (B&D).

Intermediate girls, 200m: 6 J Kyereemateng (B&D) 30.09.

Shot: 6 S Akaka (B&D) 8.60.

Discus: 3 N Ede (B&D) 24.38.