Thaila-Jade Mason added a heptathlon gold medal from the South of England Championships to the two long jump silvers she had won earlier in July at the English Schools Championships and the Schools International.

Thaila started the Championships with an emphatic win in the hurdles(12.34s) and followed it with a magnificent 5 cm personal best in the high jump by clearing 1.63m – equal first in that event with Epsom and Ewell’s Estee Norman. Estee took the lead in the shot by throwing 10.16 m to Thaila’s 9.11m, to leave Thaila trailing in second place by 21 points. However, a second emphatic win in the 200m (26.24s) saw Thaila reclaim the lead by 98 points.

The second day battle commenced with Thaila leaping an outstanding 5.86m into the sand pit to extend her lead to an almost unassailable 346 points. Estee, however, was far from finished, fighting back to claim the last two events (the javelin and 800m). Thaila was in no mood to relinquish her lead. A throw of 22.56 in the javelin and a time of 2 min 38.76s in the 800m were sufficient to see her secure the gold by 94 points and with it a 200 point improvement in her personal best score to 4503 points.