Charlotte storms to victory on her international debut

Charlotte Payne has won gold for the second successive weekend

JUST a week on from winning the intermediate girls hammer at the English Schools Athletics Championships, Charlotte Payne has struck gold again.

Newbury Athletic Club star Payne was competing for England at the SIAB Track and Field International at Grangemouth Stadium, Scotland on Saturday, in what was her first international competition.

The competition was full of talent and the top two throwers from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales were selected to compete in the hammer.

The hammer was the first event of the day and Payne was the first to throw with the whole England team looking on.

She rose to the pressure and produced a first-round throw that gave her a significant early lead.

And she went on to improve her winning distance to 61.87 metres – just 50cm off the championship record.
Her win was a huge six metres clear of England teammate Zoe Price in second place.

And it helped England to overall victory in the tournament with 540 points, ahead of Ireland (340.5), Scotland (273.5) and Wales (212).

Payne still has a number of important competitions to complete this season, including the National Championships and 2018 School Games.

She is targeting a strong performance in all of these tournaments as she prepares to move into the under-20 squad.