Athletics

Alex Ireland recognises the benefits of increased training time due to the fewer numbers of athletics meets and the positive impact this had on performances later on in the term.

With an uncertain season ahead for the athletes, training began in the sunshine, and allowed us plenty of time to establish good baseline fitness and techniques. With the promise of more relaxing of lockdowns, we prepared to have our first meeting at Dauntsey’s. We had a fabulous afternoon of athletics. With lots of very promising performances, including hurdles by Emily Weeks and Benji Pugh, Long Jump. Personal bests from Skyla Cannon and Emily, as well as triple jump personal bests from Emily and Jenna Coverdale. On the track Felix Mornement ran a great 200m, Araminta Wakelin a fast 800m and Anya Evans a very fast 1500m. In the throwing events there were great performances by Millie Venner-Coombes, Hayley George, Tom Jones and Toby Phillips.

This inspired some positive training back at school leading up to the county championships. These were held over two weekends this year, with the Seniors and Inters on the first weekend.

With a much lower number of athletes competing, the standard was very high across all of the events. We took 21 athletes in 26 events, most of whom recorded either a personal or season’s best performance. There were 3 county champions - Oliver Luck in the triple jump, Toby Phillips in shot and Tom Jones in the discus, all of them in their last year of school athletics.

On the track there were very strong performances by Anya Evans in the 1500 steeple chase, James Black with a very fast 800m race finishing 2nd, Lily Innes, Florence Carter, Felix Mornement and Hugo Walker all ran PBs in the sprint events, and Max Palmer ran his first competitive 3000m in a new personal best time. Louis Farrell entered his first ever county championships coming 2nd in both the triple and long jump, with Jenna Coverdale jumping a personal best in the triple jump to finish 2nd. Skyla Cannon competed in both the high jump and long jump gaining huge personal bests in both events.

The midweek competition saw the 3rd and 4th Form combining for the English Schools Cup Team event at Millfield. This is a different event whereby places are not relevant but times, distances and heights result in points gained for your team. The afternoon began with some fantastic performances from Leo Cao, throwing 10.85m in shot, and Hayley George a personal best of 23.09m in discus. Louis jumped an incredible 11.61m in triple jump, another personal best after Saturday’s county performance and Emily Weeks jumped 4.56m in long jump.

This left both the boys’ and girls’ teams in 3rd place after the field events. The track began with a bang with both Emily and Benji Pugh winning their hurdles race and Hugo Walker running really well for a third place, but with a quicker time than heat A! Both the girls and boys middle distance runners ran well, with Anouska Loveridge and Lucy Duval scoring good points in the 1500m and Charlie Galpin and Max Palmer having a fantastic race to finish with good points.

The sprinters performed very well scoring in mid to high teens. Araminta Wakelin and Harriet Vallings had a very competitive 800m race between them finishing on equal points, with Henry Heggarty running very well for 19 points in his 800m. The relays, which are not necessarily the fastest 4 sprinters, but those who hadn’t competed in a second event, performed their changeovers very well, to score good points.

Overall, the Inter girls scored 338 points finishing 4th and the boys a fantastic 344 points finishing 3rd. The athletes really enjoyed this event and the team effort and encouragement of their teammates was very pleasing to see.

The final event of the season was the Junior County Championships. With both hurdlers, Emily and Benji, performing very well we had a good start to the day. Toby threw very well in the javelin and discus with personal bests. On the track Charlie ran a strong 1500m, with Coralie, Alex and Minty all running well in the 100m, 200m and 800m respectively. Emily jumped a PB in the long jump and Minty throw a very good javelin over 20m. For their first competition at this level all of the juniors performed very well.

Inter-House Preliminary Sports Days

Due to the restrictions in place this year, we ran sports day preliminary rounds for every year group. This ensured that everyone had the chance to perform in athletics and find events which may suit them for the season.

This started with the 4th Form. The atmosphere was full of energy and enthusiasm, helped by some musical beats provided by Mr Stainton! Notable performances on the track for the girls came from Skyla Cannon, Lily Innes and Ellie Grieve in the sprint events and Anouska Loveridge and Lucy Duval in the middle distances. The relay was won by Wellesley, in a tightly fought race. The boys had fantastic races in the sprint events, with Will Hawkins winning the 100m and Mats Sander the 200m. The distance races were dominated by Max Palmer, winning both the 800m and 1500m. Lyon won another closely contested relay.

In the throwing events, there were some great throws by Leo Cao to win both the shot and discus, and Mats throwing over 20m in the javelin. The jumps were dominated by Louis Farrell who won all 3 convincingly, setting up a promising season for him. Georgia McDade threw an incredible Javelin throw, over 24m with Ellie Grieve winning the shot and Hayley George the discus. Wellesley controlled the jumping events, with Skyla Cannon winning both the long and triple jump and Niamh Wright the high jump. Special mention must go to the boys in Lyon who competed in every

event between just 4 boys! A tiring but impressive effort by them all.

The final results were:

Girls Boys 1st - Priory 1st - New 2nd - Arion 2nd - Lyon 3rd - Wellesley 3rd - Blackford 4th - Old

An enthusiastic energy accompanied the Sixth Form to Farr Field for their afternoon of sports. An incredible race started the track events with Sam and Issac in the hurdles, followed by some fantastic sprints, involving Ollie, Felix, Aiden, Sam and Will. The 800m was won by Peter and Luca and Archie ran personal bests for a very close 1500m race. In the field Wellesley’s Millie and Pip dominated the throwing events winning all 3 between them! Rowan nearly got a PB in high jump in the first competition of the year on grass! Ollie jumped over 11.40 in triple jump and Sam jumped 5.50m in long jump. The girls high jump was contested between Kitty and Issy, with Jasmine winning the triple jump and Emily the long jump. The relays should have been close to a school record, were it not for a poorly executed baton change, leaving New House to run in for the victory. The girls race was much closer with Wellesley coming in just ahead of Priory. The seniors also ran a whole House egg and spoon race over 800m - a fun and interesting end to the day, won by Old House.

The final results were: Girls Boys 1st - Wellesley 1st - Old 2nd - Priory 2nd - New 3rd - Arion 3rd - Blackford 4th - Lyon

A sunny afternoon greeted the 3rd Form for their first athletics competition at King's. Again, the atmosphere was lively, with the Lyon house Lyon being carried around for support! The hurdles were won convincingly by Benji Pugh and Emily Weeks, both demonstrating text book technique throughout the race. Priory dominated the girls track events, with Coralie Smith, Lucy Duval and Araminta Wakelin winning all the events from 100-1500m! The boys event was much more even, with Alex Scott winning the 200m, Henry Heggarty the 300 and 800 and Charlie Galpin the 1500m. Toby Farragher achieved a first place and two seconds in the throws, beaten by fantastic efforts by Harry Bishop in the Javelin and Ronnie Frost in the shot. Araminta, Emma Sheldon and Ruby Andrews won the girls throwing events, with lots of personal best performances. In the jumps, Emily Weeks won both the long and triple jump with Belle Rundle a close second. The relays were won by Priory and New House.

The final results were:

Girls Boys 1st - Priory 1st - Lyon 2nd - Wellesley 2nd - Blackford 3rd – Arion 3rd - New 4th - Old