SE CHRONICLE 684

48 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Athletics By Becky Drury, Head of Athletics

Improvements are made throughout the season thanks to our training on Tuesdays and Thursdays, when we go to Iffley Road to use Oxford University’s track and facilities. Miss Drury and all the coaches give us support and guidance, from Mr Chitsenga’s infamous whistle warm-ups to Mr Thomas sometimes making pupils question why they chose athletics as a sport as they hobble back to House exhausted after his renowned and torturous sessions. Look at the results though: all the hard work is clearly worth it!’ The personal bests and results achieved last season were certainly worth it and were indicative of each athlete’s determination and endeavour. Whether it was taking seconds off a personal best, or jumping and throwing further in each event, all athletes in the Club were impressive and it was a privilege to witness everyone achieving both individual and team success. Athletics is a unique sport whereby you compete and achieve as an individual, not only for your own, but for collective team success. The strength of the team is each individual member, the strength of the The Senior Boys’ 1st team had an incredible season, possibly one of their best ever, and achieved the following honours: gold medal at the Radley Relays in the 4 x 100m; joint 1st place at the Marlborough Nitro Event; 1st place at Abingdon and 2nd place at both Harrow and Marlborough Invitational Meets. In these invitational meets, against eight other schools each time, they were runners-up to either Harrow or Eton. They finished the season with a gold medal at the Radley Multi-Events, with the team of Elombe Case, Freddie Walton, Louis Davies and Ben Robertson finishing 650 points ahead of Radley and Eton, with Elombe and Freddie winning individual silver and bronze medals respectively. The individual successes that led to the team collective came from Freddie Walton and Hamza Ali (100m, 200m), Kourosh Jaafari (800m, 1500m) and our trio of impressive multi-eventers: William Barlow, individual is the team. Boys’ Athletics

whole Club. In the words of our boys’ captains William Barlow and Freddie Walton, ‘The support is amazing from the side of the track or at each field event, with everyone having someone to cheer them on as they compete. This is what makes athletics stand out from other sports.

At Teddies male and female athletes of all abilities from each year group train together, travel together and support each other at the side of the track during competition. This not only enables our athletes to push each other to improve week in, week out, but also fosters a close bond between the

Freddie Walton