ALEX Barbour clocked her fastest ever time for the 1,500m steeplechase when retaining her Berkshire Schools title at the weekend, writes Dave Wright.

And now the Wokingham athlete is setting her sights on a medal at the English Championships being held in Birmingham next month.

Twelve months after creating a county schools best best time of 5m 05.4secs, Alex lowered the record to 4:59.4 at Palmer Park, Reading, on Saturday.

“That was the first time I have gone below five minutes, so I am pleased,” the Holt School pupil told the News.

Her time was well inside the English Schools qualifying time of 5:18 and the national standard time of 5:10.

The 18-year-old, who is a member of the Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow AC, is coached by her mother, Shireen Samy-Higgins, who was a record-breaking athlete herself earlier in her career, at the same time as her twin sister Marina.

Barbour was one of four competitors to set new championship best performances at the Berkshire meeting with three of them representing the Wokingham area.

Charlotte West won the intermediate girls’ javelin with a throw of 41.45m, a lot further than the previous best distance of 32.14m and well over the England Schools qualifying distance of 37m and the national standard of 40m.

Emily McDonald lifted the senior girls’ pole vault mark from 2.70m to 3.20m, while another Wokingham vaulter, Peter Holt, cleared the bar at 3.60m to equal the highest ever recorded in the intermediate boys’ event.

“It has been an absolutely fantastic day for us,” said The Holt’s PE department head Anna Godfrey, who was in charge of the Wokingham team.

“We did really well on the track and in the field, winning lots of medals with some championship best performances. It was a great all-round team performance.

“I was particularly pleased to see Alex break her own record in the steeplechase as she is one of our pupils at The Holt.”

Miss Godfrey added: “Our team members had lots of first and second places. Particularly impressive was Sam Elwood who was fantastic in the (junior boys) 200m sprint, winning by quite a distance.

“It has been a good day all round and hopefully quite a few will be selected for the nationals.”

Berkshire will be taking their largest ever squad to the English Schools Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium on July 7-8.

Previously they were restricted to a team of 35, but a change in the way the groups are decided will enable them to take up to twice that number.

They will, however, be facing some of the largest counties in the country.

Berkshire Schools AA chair Lesley Ashton said: “In the past we had to disappoint many athletes who achieved the qualifying standard as we could only take a maximum of 35 to the national finals.

“So we are delighted that the method of selecting the groups has been changed and is now based on how well counties have performed at the nationals in recent years. We are now in the top group, enabling us to name a squad of up to 70.”

Berkshire deserve their chance alongside the major counties, having won a number of Group B trophies, including the overall award last year when they finished 64 points clear of runners-up Devon.

More than 50 youngsters had reached the qualifying standard before last weekend, with several more achieving it at the county’s 87th annual meeting on Saturday.

But reaching the required standard still does not ensure automatic selection to the Berkshire team, with the final choice being at the discretion of the selectors.

Dr Ashton, who handed out the medals and certificates, said on behalf of her committee: “We would like to thank the everyone who put a lot of time and effort into ensuring that the meeting went smoothly. Grateful thanks also go to the many track and field officials and teachers who gave up their time to help.

“Thank you, also, to the staff at Palmer Park for their help in preparing the stadium and M&M Medical Services for providing first aid.”