HAYLEY Kitching has broken a record which had stood for 31 years.

The Coffs Harbour runner broke the record running in the 19 Girls 800m event at the NSW All Schools Championships in Sydney.

The 17-year-old broke the longest standing record at the NSW All Schools Championships, beating the old record of 2:09.91 with a time of 2:09.60.

Kitching said she wasn’t 100 percent heading into the event.

“I wasn’t actually feeling the best going into it, so I was just like I’m just going to do what I can, run the first lap as hard as I can and then see what I can do, and I was really excited that I broke it,” she said.

“It was amazing to break it, as I wasn’t in the best shape at the time, so I was really happy with the outcome.”

Her record-breaking performance comes on the back of a stellar year in which she finished seventh in the 800m final of the World Junior Athletics Championships in Columbia.

She reflected on her achievement of making a world championships final.

“It was pretty amazing, and I couldn’t be happier really, it’s not first or anything like that but just like what I’ve done I know that I was at my peak, I did my personal best time, and I couldn’t ask for anything else,” she said.

Kitching is off to the US next year to attend Penn State University as part of the school’s track and field team.

She said competing at the US college level would lead to bigger things.

“That is going to lead to bigger goals like the Olympics, it’s just kind of a stepping stone that I think is really going to help me,” she said.

By Aiden BURGESS