Successful Athletics Season Opener
By Henry Fagan
The first Saturday of the summer term saw Hampton athletics team kick off their season with a bang. Mr Mills, Mr Clarke and Mr Chaveneau managed a team for all categories: the “Open” category (consisting of Sixth Form pupils), the “Intermediate” category (comprising of Fourth and Fifth Years) and the “Junior” category (made up of First, Second and Third Year athletes). For each individual race there was both an A and a B string section so that the races were fair and exciting to watch. The athletes would compete against several other schools, many of whom they would recognise from other sporting fixtures such as Forest School, St Edward’s and Harrow just to name a few, to see which school came out on top.
From the start of the competition, all athletes knew that the races would be a challenge, as due to the track’s hilly and exposed location, the wind could pose a significant problem. That was to all but the 100m sprinters and the 110m hurdlers who fortunately had the wind on their backs. This led to a Harrow athlete in the Open category clocking a time of 10.83 seconds for his 100m race to the awe of the onlooking crowd.
Hampton’s Junior sprinters put on an assured display for the spectators with Sam Moylan-Jones finishing second in his 100m race and Third Year Hamptonian Daniel Mills also finishing in second place with an astonishing time of 25.58 seconds for the 200m which falls just short of the School record by 0.2 seconds. The 4 x 300m relay also continued the run of second place finishes. Unfortunately, this sprinting dominance did not carry over to the 4 x 100m relay as Daniel Mills was injured during the race, sadly rendering him unable to pass on the baton.
In the Intermediate category, the distance runners put on a show for the spectators. Freddie Bate of the Fifth Year won his 800m race in an impressive time of 2:07 finishing three seconds clear of his competition. Ethan Flack nearly replicated this success in the 1500m when he finished second in a time of 4:31 to a very fast Harrow runner. The long distance success was mirrored in the Senior category with Daniel Clarke coming second in the 800m B string race and Henry Fagan also coming second in the 800m A string race. In the 1500m, Henry Fagan also reached the podium by finishing third with fellow Lower Sixth Hamptonian Charlie Coulter close behind in fourth. Freddie Bate, Ethan Flack, Daniel Clarke and Henry Fagan joined forces in the Senior 4 x 400m relay race to finish second in a time of 3:53 (just three seconds faster than Mr Clarke used to be able to run the same distance by himself!). Well done to all the athletes who competed in this event and good luck for your future events this season!
