SWIMMING AND BIATHLON
SWIMMING AND BIATHLON REPORT I have been delighted to captain the swimming team this year, alongside Florence Wildblood, UVI, who gallantly took up the position of co-captain a short while into the season. September started with a new training regime at Downe House. As well as two free swims in the week, Mrs Jackman and Mrs Cocker have been employed to offer extra training in the evening, and an early morning session. More than 50 girls have taken up the opportunity to train in these sessions, resulting in an impressive 100 personal best times this year. In October, Charlotte Clover, UV, and Claudia Kandel, UIV, competed in the regional rounds of the British Schools’ Biathlon Championships. Charlotte’s result ranked her 20th in the country, while Claudia was 29th out of 207 competitors. The finals were held at the Olympic Park in March. Charlotte produced a strong run and a personal best in her swim to improve her position to 9th in the country - an outstanding achievement. In February, we hosted the annual Winter Swim Meet, with four schools competing in the U12 and U14 age groups. For the first time in a number of years, Downe House came out on top, winning the trophy for both the U12 and U14.
The final swimming match of term resulted in two School records being broken. Claudia Kandel broke the U14 25m Front Crawl record. Her time of 14.02 seconds beat the previous record set in 2003.The U12 medley relay team of Morgan Kandrac, Florence Hack, Lucy Skrine and Omolade Pearse, all Remove, broke a ten year old record by 2.5 seconds.
GYMNASTICS CAPTAIN’S REPORT
163
This year, many girls have been very enthusiastic about Gymnastics and members of the gym club have increased. The Senior and Junior teams both competed in the GISGA two-piece competition, which was the first experience of competition for some girls in the Junior team, all of whom did very well and are to be congratulated. Congratulations also go to the Seniors who achieved third place in the team competition and I was very pleased to achieve third place overall in the individual competition. Adetoun Karunwi, UVI, Gymnastics Captain
Outside of swimming matches, nine girls from Lower Sixth have passed their National Rescue Award for Swimming Teachers and Coaches (NRASTC). This is a nationally recognised life saving qualification. Congratulations go to Lauren Brolly, Hannah Goodyear, Sophie Larminie, Holly Parkinson, Lucinda Penney, Naomi Tan, Felicia Tchen, Hannah Simpson-Orlebar and Shuk Man (Sophia) Li. Natasha Seaton, UVI, Swimming Captain, and Mrs Paula Machin, Head of Swimming
DOWNE HOUSE MAGAZINE
GYMNASTICS
In May, Downe House played host again, this time for the Independent Boarding Schools’ Relays Gala. Ten schools arrived to compete with U13, U15 and Senior teams. Our U13 medley team of Helena Wormsley, LIV, and Morgan Kandrac, Lucy Skrine and Omolade Pearse, all Remove, won silver medals and Clementine Black, R, Kitty Shepherd-Cross, LIV, Sasha Percy-Davis, LIV, and Omolade Pearce, Remove, matched them in the freestyle relay. The U15 medley team of Claudia Kandel, Eloise Percy-Davis, Cecelia Kane, UIV, and Evelyn Graham, LV, achieved a bronze medal and the Senior medley team with Felicia Tchen, LVI, Grace Ingram, Rumbidzai Wasterfall and Charlotte Clover, all UV, finished second to gain silver medals. All the results were added together and Downe House finished second overall - only four points behind the eventual winners.