DARTFORD Harriers’ Gemma Brown had a weekend to remember at the English schools championships in Birmingham where she won gold in the junior discus with a throw of 35.05m.

The Alan Champion-coached athlete won bronze last year but she almost missed out of qualification for the final eight from a field of 18, which included the current UK number one.

However her third effort of 35.05m, a national standard mark, ensured her place in the final and the gold medal.

Another Kent athlete, Nicola Gregory from Bexley AC, took silver medal with a throw of 33.98m.

Alex Bell, 16, making his debut in the English schools, was delighted also to come away with a medal as part of the silver medal-winning Kent inter-boys 4x100m team.

Their time of 42.57s achieved the national standard and although Bell was disappointed to finish the 200m heats in fifth place (23.06s), he is looking forward to next year.

Samantha Brown, Gemma's 16-year-old sister, was struggling with injury but still did well to reach the finals of the inter-girls 300m hurdles, where she was seventh in 45.96s.

Natalie Hickmott, 16, was competing in her fourth English schools and maintained her record of reaching the finals of her event.

She was sixth in the 300m sprint in a national standard and season’s best time of 39.99s.

Hickmott also ran in the Kent 4x100m relay team, which was unfortunately disqualified for a faulty change.

Another athlete struggling with injury was senior man Tim Billings, who had to settle for eighth place in the shot with 13.28m.

He was fourth in the event last year as an U17 competitor.