Brentwoodian 2019

68 JUNIORS This year has been brilliant for the junior athletes, with many successful races, throws and jumps, as well as many Personal Bests all round. To kick start the year we had an athletics trip to Lanzarote where we trained relentlessly in the heat; it will certainly be a trip we will never forget. After that our first big competition was round one of Nationals, where we all competed incredibly hard and scraped a place in the regional A qualifiers! This was the first time in three years that a boys’ team had made it there and we were all incredibly nervous and knew that we all had to perform to proceed into the National Final. Unfortunately we didn’t make it through, even though we deserved to do so. The next day after Regionals we had Districts. We all performed the best we could, considering we were all extremely tired and sore after Regionals! Our Second Year team came 2nd after narrowly missing out on 1st place. The First Years, however, managed to claim 1st place with many strong performances in their field as well. This season has been unforgettable. I'm sure none of us can wait for the next, and will hope to progress even further in the competitions and have another amazing athletics season. By Rory Philpot This has been a very successful season for the Junior Girls’ Athletics Team. Many of the Second Years attended the fantastic pre-season training camp in Lanzarote and all returned inspired and raring to go. The regular friendly competitions gave the First Years a chance to try out a number of different events and the Second Years had the opportunity to improve and push themselves - despite the very unwelcome rain. We even tagged along to some of the boys’ competitions on Saturdays for extra training and to motivate them to run faster and jump and throw further! The District Championship in June is always a brilliant competitive day as every year group participates against our local schools and it’s a chance to aim for new PBs and records. The Junior Girls played their part in contributing to the Girls becoming District Champions as well as the School winning the overall event! New District Records were set by Cynthia Asiegbu (300m), Olivia Sorae (200m) and the Second Year Relay team of Olivia Sorae, Cynthia Asiegbu, Libby McLauchlan and Erin Young. The most intense competition of the year is the National Schools’ Track & Field and we were victorious in our first round, which meant we progressed to the Regional A Final in mid-June. This was a highly competitive event with excellent teams from across the region fighting for a place in the National Final. We placed 3rd and qualified for the Final. The competition had started with literally hundreds of schools. The whole squad trained extremely hard in order to improve and maximise our potential points as every fraction of a second and each centimetre counts. We finished in a very prestigious 2nd place in the country, narrowly missing out on winning the Final. We have all had the most amazing season and have improved so much as a team. Thank you to all of our teachers, who have coached and motivated the Junior Girls this year, which included some inspirational dancing from our legendary Mrs Juniper! We hope to continue thriving in athletics in the years to come. By Libby McLauchlan