The Chronicle, Autumn 2018

42 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Athletics By Becky Drury, Head of Athletics

Athletics at Teddies is unique as a sporting option. Girls and boys from the Fifth and Sixth Forms train together at Iffley Road and in School, with no divisions made by gender or age. For fixtures, everyone gets on the same bus and goes to the same place. Our athletes warm-up together, relax (or revise) between events and most importantly support each other from the side of the track. There is a real sense of team spirit and camaraderie in what is essentially an individual sport. The girls and boys learn from each other as well as the coaches, and a healthy sense of competition and desire to be better athletes drives them all on to improve techniques, personal bests and their health and fitness. In terms of promoting a co-educational experience, athletics is right at the forefront.

The summer season saw the team go from strength to strength. All inter and senior teams competed at Marlborough with many top three placings in both the A and B string events. The senior boys’ relay team laid down the benchmark with victory for what was to become a stunning season. For the inter team, Amber Walkinshaw and Aniella Weinberger both placed and Felix Burton broke the School inter 400m record winning in 54.2 seconds. The boys’ teams competed twice at Harrow and a string of outstanding performances led to the senior boys finishing 3rd overall on both occasions. Seniors Dekoye Coker, Max Liddy, Josh Moore, Fergus Flory, Jöergen Reinboth, Oli McCrum and Misha Kirillov each placed in the top three in their respective events. For the

inters, a stunning run by Felix Burton earned him 1st place in the A400m, with Matthew Walton and Sebastian Williams finishing 3rd in their A string events. It was however the senior boys’ relay team who once again provided the exciting finale to each afternoon at Harrow. First time around in April they finished in 3rd place by only 0.02seconds. One month later, they improved upon this by finishing in 1st place ahead of Harrow and Oakham, and setting a new school record of 44.9 seconds in the process. Mr Chitsenga led huge support from all the team on the banks of the home straight as Will Monks held onto the lead built up by Max Liddy, Dekoye Coker and Josh Moore. All girls’ and boys’ teams competed in the Achilles Relays, a longstanding event held every year at Iffley Road and featuring over

Damola Otegbola

Josh Moore and Will Monks racing to victory at the Harrow Multi-Events in May – and breaking a school record along the way.