21 June 2019
It’s been a very special time for KGS Athletics with all four team qualifying for Regional Finals.
The weather was kind throughout the event with both junior and inter girls teams making a good start to the competition out in the field. Jess Cole and Keira Tomes achieved excellent points in the high jump whilst Millie Homan threw a new PB in the Hammer. The points just kept coming which put us in 1st place at the half way point with the track events to go! On the track the juniors continued to excel with Kate Cookson in the 800M, Jasmine Schofield in the 300M and Rebecca Fisher in the hurdles, to name just a few. It was a real team effort which resulted in the girls clocking up a massive 400 points and a place in the ESAA National Finals in Chelmsford in Saturday 6 July. The inter girls also competed well despite being missing part of their team due to other commitments. Siobhan Hardman was excellent in the hurdles, Poppy Kearsley in the 300M and Amy and Dani Merrick in the 800M. In the field the girls scored well in the discus and Shot events and Issy Kane jumped just shy of 5 meters in the long jump. Unfortunately, 309 points wasn’t enough to take them any further in the competition but a great day was had by all.
Following their first place in the county round with 414 points, KGS Inter Boys have been working hard to see if they could increase their points tally and try and improve on last year’s group who came 3rd in the regional finals with 439 points.
Kirkham were on the track first and scored well with impressive performances from Harry Burrow in the Hurdles, Harry Booth in the 300m and Archie Dowds in the 200m, all gaining over 25 points each. The team had suffered some last minute injuries, however a number of boys stepped up and gave their best effort in events that were not their first choice. Ethan Crompton in the 1500m, Aidan Hayward in the 800m and Freddie Tarrant in the 100m all gave their all, however this resulted in a number of dropped points. Nevertheless, at the half way stage Kirkham were in second place with all to play for in the field events. Harry Burrow was outstanding with a new PB in the Pole Vault, as was Harry Booth with a new PB in the triple jump. Jake Merrick impressed with his efforts with the Hammer and Archie Dowds managed a new PB in the long jump. Joe Medcalf, Harry Thompson, Yande Nkonge and Tobias Parkinson all gained respectable scores when combining their two events, however the injuries to our first choice athletes told in the final totals. The boys finished in a very respectable fifth place with 423 points, a 9 point improvement from round one.
The Junior Boys took part in the regional B final last Wednesday 12 June. The team, consisting of seven U12s and eight U13s, have performed extremely well and should be proud of their achievements in this tough competition. Tom Wilkinson was once again the key man for the junior team scoring 39 points with his performances in the Hurdles and High Jump. Seb Kelly and James Stacey also scored highly, both competing in the 300m and Shot. There were many promising performances from our U12 athletes with Harry Case in the Hurdles and High Jump, Ben Firth in the Javelin and Ewan Huck in the discus. The boys finished in 6th place overall which is a tremendous effort. Next Season their goal is to reach the A finals, a target which is certainly achievable following the potential shown in recent weeks.
Well done to you all!
