Two Thetford Academy pupils took their places in the most prestigious athletics event in the country and the largest schools athletics event in the world – the English Schools Track and Field Championships.

The event took place at Alexander Park in Birmingham, the home of British Athletics, and the stadium which just a week before was hosting the likes of Adam Gemili and Dwain Chambers in the British Athletics Championships.

Both Jessica Norkett and Aiden Try, both Thetford Athletics Club members, had achieved the challenging qualification times demanded by the event in races during the weeks leading up to the championships with both athletes qualifying to represent the Norfolk Schools team and race in the 800m within their respective age groups.

Jessica Norkett took to the track first in the Junior Girls 800m race. She came fourth in her heat, recording a time of 2:20.26, but missed out on a place in the final. Aiden Try also missed out on a start in the Intermediate Boys 800m final, having been drawn the fastest of the four heats, racing to seventh spot in his first round heat with a time of 2:01.41.

However, Aiden Try was then given a spot in the Norfolk Schools 4x100m relay team who gave a great showing of themselves, finishing third in the first heat. However, their time of 45.59 was not quite good enough to see them through to the final, missing out on a place by 0.7 seconds as the ninth fastest team after all of the heats.