Millthorpe School pupil in International Schools competition

Budding athlete, Rowan Whittaker, 15, who is a student at Millthorpe School in South Bank, is set to run in the Home Countries' International Schools' Track and Field Championship to be held in Carmarthen, Wales.

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He has been selected to represent England in the 400m track event, after racing his way through several qualifying rounds.

Rowan said: “I’m so happy to be able to compete for my country in the 400m, wearing an England vest. More or less as soon as my race was over in Birmingham and I’d been awarded my medal, I was whisked off by officials to get fitted for my England kit – it was very exciting. I’m really looking forward to competing on Saturday. I know I’m going to be up against some amazing athletes but I’ll give it my absolute best.”

Rowan in Birmingham earlier this month (Image: Supplied)

Rowan’s mum, Elisabeth Horton, said: “I’m delighted that Rowan has got this opportunity to represent his country. He loves athletics, and to be honest most other sports, but he has trained particularly hard with his coaches at the City of York Athletics Association, to get where he is with his running. I’m very proud of him and will be cheering him on on Saturday.”

Rowan performed brilliantly in the initial rounds, firstly representing Millthorpe at the York and District Athletics event in June where he qualified to compete in the Inter Counties School competition in Gateshead later that month. Here, he represented Millthorpe in the 100m relay and won gold in the 400m.

His win in the 400m meant that Rowan went on to represent North Yorkshire at the English Schools Track and Field Championships in Birmingham last weekend where he won silver in the intermediate boys U17 400m with a time of 49.5 seconds. The first two placed athletes in each event now go on to represent England at the UK Schools National Finals in Carmarthen.

Rowan after winning silver in Birmingham (Image: Supplied)

Kavina Rothenburg, acting head teacher at Millthorpe, said: “Rowan is an absolute superstar, and we know how hard he works both on and off the athletics track.

"He thoroughly deserves this chance to run for England and we wish him all the very best for his England debut. We’ll be supporting him from afar and have no doubt that he has an incredible future ahead of him.”

Kavina Rothenburg, acting head teacher at Millthorpe (Image: Stuart Potter)