So here we are again. The sun is shining, the stadium is filled with the chatter of teenagers, and the English Schools track and field season gets under way. For those of you unfamiliar with the Track & Field Cup, basically it’s a competition between school teams which is held over three rounds.
The preliminary rounds are held between teams within each County. The highest scoring teams in this first round competition progress to one of 7 Regional A Finals, and all other qualifiers progress to Regional B Finals. The leading team from each Regional A Final then progresses to the Cup Final, together with the 5 highest scoring teams from across the Country. All exciting stuff!
Today was one of two preliminary rounds to be held in the Durham area with athletes from Carmel College and Hummersknott Academy involved. Numbers were lower than last year; some of the athletes at Hummersknott had tests to do so weren’t available and Longfield didn’t enter a team at all this year
Junior Boys In the junior boys, four of our Harriers were in action for their schools. Benedict Davies was in his element, taking part in two of his favourite events, the 100m and the High Jump. He had two excellent wins, running 12.6s in the 100m and clearing 1.58m in the High jump – a total of 46 points for Carmel. Josh Scott won the 800m in a time of 2:41.0 and even had a crack at the javelin bagging a total of 17 points for Carmel…..and two of his U13 team mates, Alex Boyer and Louis Brett showed their strength in the 1500m.
Alex was first to cross the line in 5:08.0 to score a healthy 17 points for Carmel, closely followed by Louis who finished in 5:19.0 to bag 14 points for Hummersknott. Well done to our junior boys, a great effort from all. Carmel took 1st place overall with a grand total of 324 points, putting them through to the Regional A Final.
Junior Girls Four of our U15 girls were competing for their schools today; two for Carmel and two for Hummersknott. Olivia Bell put in a convincing performance in the 300m, winning in a fabulous 45.7s for a very nice 24 points. She then added another 23 points in the long jump for a very healthy total! Lily Large put in two cracking performances in the 800m and the long jump to add another 45 points to Carmel’s total.
An excellent run from Macy Kelly in the 1500m helped her across the line in 5:46.0 gaining 18 points for Hummersknott…..and as we might expect, Lily Thompson was the clear winner in the shot with a best on the day of 9.21m and a very nice 27 points. As far as team totals go, Carmel finished in 2nd place behind Durham High, with Hummersknott lying in 3rd place. Great result girls, well done!
Inter Boys There was just the one of our Junior Harriers competing today…..Nat Bell, doing his stuff for Carmel. Like his sister did in the Junior Girls, Nat powered his way to a convincing victory in the 300m in a time of 38.4s for a well earned 27 points. For his field event Nat gave it his all in the shot; not a bad effort finishing in 3rd place with a best of 8.6m and another 11 points. An excellent performance, Nat, well done! Carmel topped the charts again with a total of 325 points and go through to the Regional A Final.
Inter Girls Just the one of our girls competing for Hummersknott today…. Harriet Rogers. A great run in the 1500m brought Harriet across the line in 5:39.0 to bag 15 points for her school team. And in the field events, she opted for the Triple Jump with a best of 8.05m adding another 9 points to her total. Well done, Harriet, great effort. In the team total though, it was Carmel that once again took the top spot and go through to the Regional A Final!
