Indoor Athletics Success!
Mr S. Morgan – Head of PE
Over the last few weeks, some of St Bede’s most talented L4/U4 athletes have been taking part in various competitions against schools in the North West at the Indoor Athletics track at Sportcity.
These events attract lots of entries from much larger schools than the likes of St Bede’s, but our performers have really acquitted themselves well. In an event organised by Sale Harriers, 15 schools took part, with St Bede’s finishing 6th in both the U14 Boys and U14 Girls competitions. This was in the team event; however, there were many notable individual successes within individual events.
Competing in his first-ever long jump competition, U4 Dalyan finished as runner-up, which was an incredible achievement after only receiving an afternoon of coaching from Mr Mitchell. In the Girls’ long jump, L4 Kimmy also jumped to 2nd place, proving that we have some springy students at St Bede’s! Against a strong field, U4 Uche raced to the bronze medal in the 200m and then backed up that impressive run alongside Dalyan, Nana and Enzo in finishing 3rd in the 4x200m relay. However, the performance of the day was unquestionably L4 Deborah as she beat competitors a year older than her to claim victory in the U14 High Jump with an indoor best of 1.37m.
In the Manchester Schools U14 Indoor Athletics Championships, St Bede’s achieved even more success with lots of the team achieving some great performances. In the boys’ events, Dalyan and U4 Aayaan both secured 4th place in the 300m and shot put, respectively. U4 Noah ran a great 200m to finish 3rd with L4 Matthew replicating the achievement in the 60m Hurdles. Then U4 Ted leapt to a silver medal in the long jump and had enough energy to join Nana, Noah and Dalyan in the 4x200m relay to take another silver medal!
The girls though, were not to be outdone by the boys! In the 200m L4 Sara achieved a bronze medal, and L4 Cheyenne sprinted to a silver in the 60m. Once again in the jump events, St Bede’s ladies excelled with both Kimmy and Deborah becoming Manchester Schools Indoor champions in the long and high jump. Despite this success, perhaps the standout performance belonged to L4 Ruby. She gave absolutely everything for the College in her 300m race, leading from the start and holding off her rivals to win by less than a metre. A feat even more impressive, as she had been busy with Godspell and recovering from illness, meaning her energy levels were severely tested.
Both competitions were fantastic for the pupils, and their behaviour, effort and support for each other was a pleasure to witness. Four of the medal winners were also in my tutor group so I was especially proud!
Mr Steffan Morgan