Athletics

During a much-truncated athletics season some events were still able to go ahead, albeit virtually. We hosted the Virtual Foundation Sports Day, with our athletes competing at school, in clubs and in parks against our fellow schools ofthe United Westminster Foundation. Overall, our boys squad from Years 7 to 10 came second to Sutton Valence School and our girls squad came third overall.The outstanding performance of the competition came from Fleur (10DGA), who broke Georgie (L6HVW)’s intermediate girls’ 1500m record by 17 seconds with a time of four minutes 36 seconds. This was just the tip of the iceberg for Fleur, whose athletics season went from strength to strength as she ended the season coming second in the 3000m at the U20 England Championships.

Cross-Country – 2021/2022

Emanuel took 49 runners to compete in the Wandsworth Borough Cross-Country Championships. Our athletes performed exceptionally, with nearly a third (14) recording top ten finishes. The top performers were Fleur (11DGA) and Isaac (L6LAB), who won their races, while Harry (7EB) gained a silver medal, and Nahom (7JRS) won a bronze.

On Wednesday 3rd February 2022, Emanuel’s cross-country squad was in action again at the London Schools Championships. The usually inhospitable Wormwood Scrubs Park was strangely welcoming with mild weather and good conditions underfoot.

In all we took 34 athletes, each competing in races of approximately 100 runners, and we returned home with 15 medals. Individually, Fleur (11DGA) won the inter girls’ race and Daniel (U6HHM) came third in the senior boys’ race, both qualifying to represent London atthe English Schools cross-country championships. In the inter boys’ agecategory Harry (11DGA) and Hugo (10HJC) were both also selected forthe London Squad. There was also a third place for Harry (7EB) in the junior boys’ B-event. Our teams fared well too, with the inter boys’ and junior girls’ B-team both gaining silver medals and the senior boys squad won bronze.

This year saw our largest team of Year 7 and 8 pupils — 11 in all — representing Wandsworth at the Year 7 and 8 Inter-Borough London Championships. Harry (7EB) and Nahom (7JRS) did exceptionally well, coming 3rd and 7th, respectively, in the Year 7 boys’ race.

The end of the season is always rounded off by the most prestigious event,the English Schools Championships — this year held near Tonbridge.This year we had Fleur (11DGA) and Daniel (U6HHM) representing London. Unfortunately, illness prevented Fleur from running, but Daniel finished as the second runner from London in a highly creditable 111th place, out of 300 runners; he was a mere two-minutes-and-30-seconds behind the winner and just one minute away from the top 50 in the country.