ELY hurdler Jack Lines ran for Cambridgeshire in front of 8000 spectators in the English Schools Junior Championship in Gateshead at the weekend. Lines, who attends the King s School in Ely, was drawn in the strongest of the three heats and narrowly mi

ELY hurdler Jack Lines ran for Cambridgeshire in front of 8000 spectators in the English Schools' Junior Championship in Gateshead at the weekend.

Lines, who attends the King's School in Ely, was drawn in the strongest of the three heats' and narrowly missed out on fastest loser qualification to the finals by three 100ths of a second.

The 14-year-old later found out that a slower competitor qualified ahead of him by coming second in another heat.

Lines finished as the eighth fastest of the 21 competitors with a time of 12.01 seconds, which is well inside the English Standard, and a personal best without blocks.

His father said: "Despite the disappointing result it was fantastic for Jack to experience the Olympic style organisation of the event, complete with electronic timing, names up on the stadium scoreboard, and even a servant to carry his kit around as well as 8,000 spectators to watch the end of games parade."

Lines has now been entered for the AAA U15's National Championships in Birmingham in August where he will face many of the same field.