Junior and Senior Athletics Champions 2023

In my thirty six years of teaching I have never been quite so blown away by so many outstanding athletic performances in one competition, especially when you consider the rain that we faced for the first three weeks of the summer term which forced us to cancel so many athletics clubs and fixtures. We were so concerned that the students would lose their enthusiasm for athletics as they were facing so many disappointments. It is a true reflection of their unbelievable talent and passion for athletics that we won both competitions by such a large margin. Here are some highlights from the day:-

In the junior team the following athletes were placed first and are the District Champions in their event, Flo - 100m, Beth - 200m , Sophie - long jump, Poppy – high jump, Eugenia – discus, Rosie - javelin and the 4 x 100m relay team consisting of Flo, Beth, Evie and Holly. Phoebe ran an outstanding 1500m in the sweltering heat to come second, Kaya also came second in the shot and has the most fantastic throwing technique. High drama surrounded the relay team. Having won the heat by a good 25m the team took to the track for the final with no real competition to concern them. Everything was going so well until a muffled changeover at 3 saw the baton being dropped and many people calling for a disqualification. Thankfully the Creaney/Newman combination stepped in to quote rule 24. Point 6.3 from the UKA athletics rules book and the team were reinstated and calm amongst the Langton team ensued and they were awarded first place. Flo was a marvellous captain throughout that day and set a fine example to her team with the way she conducted herself. The team had an overall score of 98 with QES in second with 70 points – they simply ‘smashed it’.

The senior team saw Cotie win the 100m, Layla the 200m, Jenny and Emma the 800m and 1500m consecutively, Lola the long jump and Jess third in the discus. The 4 x 100m relay team consisting of Francesca, Cotie, Qi-Chi and Layla won by a significant margin. Daisy came second in the javelin, Tilly fourth in the shot and Amelie second in the triple jump. A special mention must go to Qi-Chi who is an outstanding athlete. She of course won the high jump (her PB is 1.71m) choosing to ‘come in’ with her first jump after everyone else in the competition had been knocked out. Qi-Chi is English Schools Champion in high jump, national indoor triple jump champion and is also ranked no 1 nationally in the under 17 girls triple jump. She is one of the most modest and unassuming students that you could ever wish to meet and played a special role on the day ‘looking after’ some of our younger athletes whilst they were competing. The senior team won the competition by 25 points and were led to victory by our wonderful captain Cotie.

The excitement is starting to build for Sports Day and there will be some extra training sessions after school for the students over the next couple of weeks.

A huge thank you to Zoe and Esme (Year 10 Sports Leaders) who helped run the competition alongside Mrs Newman. They were utterly fantastic on what was a long and very hot day, remaining calm and efficient when put under so much pressure!