RORY Howorth’s long wait to make his debut for England will finally end this weekend.

The 14-year-old, from Hilperton, was called up for the national team almost three months ago when he won the bronze medal at the English Schools’ Combined Events Championships in Exeter.

This weekend, he finally gets his reward for that achievement as the England squad fly to Ireland for the British Schools’ Championships held indoors at Athlone, west of Dublin in the centre of the country.

“Now the event is almost here I am starting to feel a bit nervous,” said Howorth, who is a student at St Augustine’s.

“But my training has been going really well. I took a couple of weeks off after Exeter to recover from the season then started back into training to prepare for Athlone.

“I have learned a new technique with Bath coach Ken Holmes to throw the shot and have also been working hard on my speed because the 200m has replaced the high jump on the indoor programme.

“Paul Weston (another Bath-based coach) has been advising me on the long jump, Adrian Clover has been focussing on my 800m and Julie Alexander has co-ordinated it all.”

Being so early in the indoor season Howorth, who is a member of Team Bath AC, has only had one warm-up competition at Lee Valley, London, where he recorded personal bests over 60m (8.13secs) and the long jump (5.69m) which augurs well for his international debut.

“I have no idea how it will go this week and I am trying not to think about it,” added Howorth.

“I will just give it my best but to win a medal would be amazing.”