Athletics Report 2011
After a dry and mostly bright early spring the Athletics Season 2011 was under way. The start was a week later than usual with Easter being late, so skill development, training and preparation time for Sports Day was reduced. However, with the weather remaining dry, and with very good the track and field conditions, the athletes soon got into their collective strides and their performances developed. The fine conditions allowed athletes to take part in a range of events covering sprints and middle distances, jumping and throwing. Two sessions before Sports Day needed to be completed ‘indoors’ and provided the opportunity to develop technique in jumping events.
The main training sessions at breaktimes were met with the usual enthusiasm and good sporting manner. Competition was always at the core of proceedings but pupils enjoyed taking part in the success - both their own and maybe more importantly the success of others. Performances improved as the weeks passed and points for each Set increased as pupils achieved ‘standards’ in events. (A performance equal to, or better than a particular benchmark scores one point for the Set). In fact by Sports Day almost 470 points had already been won between the Sets. Heats and Sports Day continued the sense of keen competition with a number of good performances recorded. Heats, which also includes certain Finals, took place in late May. The top competitors in Sports Day events qualify from this competition. Preparations for Sports Day continued and we were able to work around the showers of the Friday before, to practice the Set Relays, the 400m Handicap races and the Set Dash. Sports Day itself looked showery but the rain kept off (although winter woolies were the order of the day!) and all was completed before the rain eventually arrived.
During the two days of Heats a number of athletes were in contention for medals. Some of the events were Finals on the day and others were for places in the Finals on Sports Day. In the Over 13 section Alex, Tobias and Triumph looked dominant. Alex was fastest in 100m and Hurdles, as well as winning both Senior Long Jump and Senior Triple Jump, the latter with a very good jump of 9.68m. Tobias won the Senior High Jump on count-back and Senior Ball Throw for the second year running. He qualified as the second fastest Senior 400m runner. Triumph was second fastest in 100m and third in Senior Long Jump. Javier and Solal were not far behind the top three. Javier was top in Shot and qualified for both 100m and Senior 400m. Solal was second in Senior High Jump and Shot and qualified in Senior 400m. In the Over 13 Girls there was strong competition between Jasmine, Georgia and Sophia. Jasmine was fastest in 100m and Hurdles, and second in Senior 400m and Senior Long Jump. Georgia was second in 100m and Senior Triple Jump and qualified in Shot. Sophia was second in Hurdles and qualified in 100m. In the Under 13 section Tristan dominated. He was the fastest in 100m and Hurdles while also posting the top 400m time in Senior 400m. Christophe and Frank battled it out with Christophe second in 100m and Hurdles and Frank third in both. Christophe also made the Senior 400m Final. The boys shared third place in Senior High Jump. In the Junior section there were several boys in contention at Under 12 level. Oliver, , Kariem and Edward posted the best Junior 200m times with Juan coming in sixth. Edward was top in Junior Hurdles, Junior Long Jump and Junior Ball Throw with Kariem fastest in 100m, second in Junior Ball Throw and third in Junior Long Jump. Oliver was second fastest in Junior Hurdles and Junior 200m and he made the Junior High Jump Final. Jemima was the top Under 12 Girl, making the 100m, Hurdles, Junior 200m and Junior High Jump Finals. Belen and Blossom were her close competition with Belen posting the top Hurdles time. In the Under 11 section Henry was fastest in 100m and was second in Junior Long Jump. Josh was in close contention, running the second fastest 100m and qualifying for Junior Hurdles. Coco competed well in the Under 11 Girls, producing the top Junior Girls 100m time and being third girl in Junior Long Jump.
In the Minimus section Jade dominated. She was fastest in 100m and Hurdles, won the High Jump and qualified top in Long Jump. Various athletes were also in contention including Paige, James and William.
As Sports Day approached there was little to choose from between the sets. Haigs had a lead on points with the other three Sets separated by just 10 points. As has become a tradition the Marching Band opened the proceedings, leading in the four Sets. Another first for Cottesmore as a lone piper played one of the music pieces. The Field Event Finals got under way at noon. Minimus Long Jump was won comfortably by Jade, with William in second place. The Junior High Jump produced a good competition with Oliver just seeing off Jemima. Under 13 Shot saw the boys come back strongly from indifferent form in Heats and Dongwoo produced the best of the day. Over 13 Shot looked to be going to Javier as he dominated the first two rounds. However, Solal put a great third attempt to win by 4cm. On the track Alex dominated the sprint events at Over 13. He won both 100m and Hurdles producing a sub-thirteen seconds time in 100m. Triumph was second in both with Tobias third. Tobias ran a strong race to win the Senior 400m. In close contention behind him, split by just 1s, were Solal, Javier and Jacobo. Jasmine was top Over 13 Girl, winning both 100m and Hurdles in style. At Under 13 level Christophe just pipped Frank Wates to win 100m but produced a more comfortable win in Hurdles. Jimena took the Under 13 Girls 100m with Uri Lee close behind. In the Under 12 events Eduardo won 100m, 200m and Hurdles. Kariem and Oliver were close behind him in all three events. Juan put his brother to the test in 200m and Diego was in the running in 100m. Jemima was top Under 12 Girl, winning her 100m by a narrow margin from Blossom, but Blossom got the better of Jemima in Hurdles. Josh battled back to win the Under 11 Boys 100m with Henry and Finn in very close contention. In the Minimus section Jade completed her run of wins with both 100m and Hurles events, with William again in close competition. Haigs controlled both Relays and produced two good wins. Tom ran a well-timed race to win the Over 11 400m Handicap and Paige did the same in the Under 11 400m Handicap. The final adding up of the points gave the Set Cup to Haigs. Clives and Drakes were in joint second place at Picnics but the Set Dash after lunch saw Clives run from last to first to seal second place overall in the Set competition. Alex was the clear winner in the Senior Best Athlete section. Jasmine won Best Senior Girl. The Junior Boy prize went to Eduardo with Jemima West winning Best Junior Girl. Jade was the clear winner of Best Minimus.
After Sports Day attention switches to Area Championships. The Girls’ Area Meeting was held at the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley. Highlights on the day included Jasmine coming second in Under 14 800m with a time of 2min 34sec. She was also third in 100m. Jimena was third in Under 13 100m and fourth in Long Jump. Uri was fourth in Triple Jump. Jemima West came third in Under 12 Triple Jump. The other girls all did well, with Sophia fifth in Under 14 Hurdles and Georgia doing well in Triple Jump. Belen made the Final of Under 12 70m Hurdles, Coco battled well in Under 11 100m and Long Jump, and Jade did well in Under 10 75m and Long Jump.
The number of boys competing at the Area Meeting at Hurstpierpoint was reduced as the French Trip was away at that time. However, the small team produced some great results. At Under 14 level Alex Walker ran in dominant style in both his 100m Heat and the Final. He won in 12.25s. He also took the Triple Jump title with a distance of 9.88m. Triumph qualified from his 200m Heat and ran strongly to finish in third place in the Final. Solal and Javier did well in their 400m and Long Jump respectively but finished out of the medals. The Relay Team qualified for the Final and came fifth. At Under 11 level Joshua and Finn took part in two events each and did well overall.
From the Area Championships three athletes qualified for the Nationals held in Birmingham. Alex came fifth in his 100m Heat and Triumph produced a great bend run before being caught and finishing seventh in his 200m Heat. Both failed to qualify for Finals. Alex jumped well in Triple Jump but was out of the medals. Jasmine ran in the 800m ‘B’ race and was in front with 150m to go. Her time compared very well with those in the ‘A’ race and she was fifth overall.
Congratulations to all the pupils for their hard work in breaktimes and their keen competition in the wide variety of events. A big thank you as always to the staff that help out each breaktime, in Heats and on Sports Day. The variety of events and inclusion of all the pupils could not happen without them. My thanks to Glen for keeping the grounds in good shape. Also to Andy Walker for his help during the season particularly with taking the athletes on the long slog to Birmingham. Lastly a big thank you to Ian Howie for all his support and hard work throughout each Athletics Season.
John Williams
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Colours:
Full: Alex, Jasmine, Tobias, Javier, Triumph.
Half: Tristan, Christophe, Sophia, Solal
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Athletics Prizes
Senior Athletic Cup - Alex Walker
Senior Girls Cup - Jasmine
Junior Athletic Cup - Edward
Junior Girls Cup - Jemima West
Minimus Athletic Cup - Jade
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Set Athletic Cup
1st Haigs - 212 points
2nd Clives - 189 points
3rd Drakes - 184 points
4th Scotts - 166 points
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