MATT Wood is the top 14-year-old 800m runner in Great Britain.

On Sunday, he won a stunning victory in the Under15 AAA's Championships at the Don Valley Stadium in Sheffield to beat the best from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

It was a victory made even sweeter by his unfortunate experience at the English Schools' Championships last month when he fell in the final after being the fastest qualifier.

There were no problems this time though for Blackburn Harriers' rising star as he safely negotiated a heat and semi-final on a windy Saturday as an entry of 42 was whittled down for Sunday's final.

Alex Felce, who had won the English Schools' 1500m by a massive eight seconds set a strong pace, but the bunch caught him with 200m to go before Matt kicked of the bend to open a winning gap.

His time of 2:00.97 was just half a second off his best and a second behind the fastest in the country this year.

He is the second AAA's Champion to have been produced by Harriers' Senior Coach Arthur Almond -- the other being Jason Lobo who went on to compete in the 1999 World Championship also at 800m.

Matt was also assisted by Harrier Andy Farnworth who works for Nike.

World Champion Hicham El Guerrouj helped to develop a track shoe with a new spike configuration and a batch of just 20 pairs were made.

Andy was able to secure a pair for Matt which he used for his winning run.

Matt goes to Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School in Blackburn, and the school also produced a bronze medallist in Mark Fletcher.

Mark, from Chorley, was entered in both long jump and shot, but found they were on at the same time. He plumped for the long jump and was rewarded with a leap of 6.08m.

Chorley AC's Lee Pursglove won fourth place in the Under 15 high jump with 1.75m, while Laura Finucane of Pendle AC was sixth in the Under 17's 800m in 2:17.86. Both athletes peaked at English Schools where they won medals.

Louise Dickinson of Park High School AC bounced back after recent injury to take sixth in the Under 15's 200m. After creeping into the final as the slowest qualifier, she improved to record 25.91.

Ahead of her were the Scottish Champion, the English Schools' 200m Champion and their 100m Champion.