LAURA Finucane and Chris Hart have been selected to make their England debuts after becoming English Schools Champions last weekend.

Representing Lancashire Schools at the Harvey Haddon Stadium in Nottingham, both athletes set personal best times in their finals as 15-year-old Laura won the Intermediate Girls 800 metres title and Chris,16, was the victor in the Intermediate Boys 1500m steeplechase.

After finishing third last year, Laura was forced to turn down an invitation for the Home International in Northern Ireland because she was already committed to running in the European Catholic Schools Championships.

This time round she will manage to squeeze in both events as the Home International is in Glasgow. It means that she will compete in Scotland this Saturday then fly out to Malta for a week on Sunday morning.

The Colne athlete had a busy schedule at Nottingham too having to navigate her way through a heat and a semi-final both of which she won.

She admitted to feeling very nervous before the final but ran shoulder to shoulder with Hayley Beard for 600m before sprinting clear to win by over three seconds in 2 minutes 07.44 seconds - three seconds faster than she has run before.

Chris went into his race with the fastest time in the field after breaking Dave Lewis' 24-year-old Lancashire Schools Record at Blackpool recently - and then he improved by another seven seconds.

Tracking his greatest rival Alex Feltz, he kicked away in the closing stages to log 4:19.85.

"I had a lot left at the end and felt I could have gone faster if I'd needed to," he said.

Chris, who is from Brierfield, only started running two years ago.

He realised he had a talent when running in Inter-Schools competitions in Burnley and joined Burnley Athletic Club.

This winter he will run cross country for Trafford AC but he has also established links with Blackburn Harriers where he trains under Arthur Almond.

In only two months with Arthur he has improved his times by 13 seconds.

"Arthur has taken me to the best in England," said the grateful athlete.

He hasn't decided whether he will stay with the steeplechase - he first ran it in a Young Athletes League meeting because he "fancied a go" - but he thinks his technique still needs a lot of work.

Laura also gives credit to her coach Terry Wilkinson. For the last two years she has trained three times a week under him at Pendle Athletic Club.

Like Chris she has yet to decide where her future lies. She is looking forward to running 400m next season - at the moment as an under 17 she runs 300m instead.

Louise Dickinson of Pendle Schools finished fifth in the Intermediate Girls 200m and still has a year left in the age group.

The Park High School AC athlete clocked 25.27 seconds to erase memories of last year's Championship when she suffered serious injury after her spikes got caught in the track.

High jumpers Lee Pursglove and Colin Bailey were also on song. Lee, of Chorley AC, cleared 1.90m for sixth in the Intermediates while Burnley ACs Colin made 1.98m as he finished seventh Senior.

Hyndburn's Caroline Smithson qualified for the semi-final of the Junior 100m and fellow junior Ben Rusius of Pendle AC, who was representing North Yorkshire Schools, beat his 1500m PB by six seconds.

Unlucky Danny Whittaker suffered cramp while leading his heat in the Intermediate 200m and failed to progress, but at least the Rossendale Schools athlete can look forward to a week in Malta with English Catholic Schools Team.