Heatwave conditions in Birmingham as the “kids’ Olympics” celebrates its centenary

On a sweltering day at the Alexander Stadium, the English Schools class of 2025 mingled with some of the champions of yesteryear as the track and field championship marked its centenary. As temperatures soared to 30C and beyond, this might prove the hottest edition of the event since it was first staged in 1925.

Such sizzling conditions led to six championship records being broken on the first of this two-day meeting. There are likely to be even more on Saturday, too, as similar weather is expected and more finals are scheduled to take place.

In addition to around 2000 athletes from 46 English counties taking part, a visiting team from the United Arab Emirates is in Birmingham as guest competitors. Given the weather, they will feel right at home.

An Alexander Stadium which was rebuilt for the 2022 Commonwealth Games is a grand venue for the English Schools Athletic Association to celebrate its centenary year. Certainly, everyone is looking forward to the annual Olympic-style ‘parade’ of athletes with their county flags early on Saturday afternoon.

Current competitors aside, more than 100 former winners are poised to join in the parade. These include Jon Ridgeon, the World Athletics chief executive and former hurdler, along with his mother, Margaret, 85, who won sprint hurdles gold in 1954, and his son, Noah, a 400m runner representing London at these championships.

Donna Fraser, a six-time sprints winner, is also set to take part, together with hurdles great Alan Pascoe, father-and-daughter pole vault duo Andy and Sophie Ashurst, plus Warwick Dixon, a discus champion from 1954 who is now 90.

Not surprisingly, late on Friday, organisers were tweaking plans for the parade to ensure the older ex-champions are kept in the shade to protect them from the heat of the midday sun, but certainly not out of the spotlight.

Emeka Udechuku is a five-time winner and went into this weekend’s championships as inter boys record-holder in the discus. He was a proud dad on Friday, too, as his daughter, Adanna, won the junior girls’ shot put by two metres with a championship record of 14.08m.

"I love the English Schools," said Udechuku Snr. "I'm glad it's still going and that people see the worth in it. It's great to be here."

Daniel Emegbor produced arguably the performance of the day, though, when he smashed Bernard Yeboah’s championship record of 7.47m in the inter boys long jump with 7.80 (-0.8).  "It was fantastic, a new PB," he said. "After jumping 7.80m I began feeling a bit of cramp so I decided to pull out there and concentrate on the rest of the season."

This will include, he hopes, the European Under-20 Championships in Tampere where he'll hope to make his mark against the best in the continent.

Daniel Emegbor of Herts leaps 7.80m (-0.8) at the English Schools in Birmingham to beat Bernard Yeboah's inter boys long jump record of 7.47m from 2002. pic.twitter.com/mtg70CKLmB

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 11, 2025

There were some gusts of wind on Friday. At one stage some placards and small tents were blown over close to the finish line. But Emegbor’s result was all the more impressive given the fact his best jump was into a slight headwind.

Further records to fall included Leila Newth with 12.59m in the inter girls triple jump, Isla Perry with 39.18 in the heats of the inter girls 300m, a splendid 40.55 by Essex in the senior boys 4x100m and 43.33 by Surrey in the junior boys 4x100m.

Elsewhere, Lawson Capes, the grandson of shot put and strongman legend Geoff, kept up the family tradition of excellence by claiming his fourth English Schools gold with 17.51m.

"It was not a distance I wanted but to win four times, I can't really complain, especially in these conditions," he said. "The temperature was not nice."

Lawson Capes, grandson of shot put legend Geoff Capes, wins English Schools title No.4 at a red- hot Alexander Stadium with 17.51m in the inter boys event. pic.twitter.com/JlF98WCixb

— AW (@AthleticsWeekly) July 11, 2025

In the junior boys’ discus Kent took a sweep of the medals led by Kendrick Onolememen with 50.11m.

Ella Brooker was one of the first winners of the weekend as she took the junior girls pole vault title with 3.45m for Kent.

John Hancock of Northamptonshire, winner of the inter boys hammer with 58.84m, was awarded his medal by Gareth Cook, a double winner of hammer gold in the 1980s.

We can look forward to more of this on Saturday with the past masters congratulating the champions of today… and hopefully tomorrow.

Full results here.