Sports Day 2019
So… Birmingham is to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games…. I think we should invite the organising committee over to see how to put on a show. If you want feel good and friendly, mixed with passion and high performance, look no further than Woodbridge School sports day!
It was a glorious occasion from the off (which of course was in some respects the weekend prior thanks to the middle distance race day), the ‘off’ being given by Mr Davis’s ever-dependable pistol (atop decorator’s ladder). A bright blue sky, a soft breeze, fantastic athleticism, and sumptuous refreshments wafting their aromas beguilingly towards expectant noses (calm down, Streat). We’ll give you all the statistics when we’ve had a chance to digest them all more thoroughly (I’m talking about sporting statistics now; I’ve moved on from the haut cuisine).
For now, though, and at the risk of missing one out (I hope not, though!), I must trumpet the extraordinary triumphs of our record breakers. After last year’s unprecedented spate of record-breaking, surely none were up for grabs this time? How wrong you are to think that!
It all started on the Saturday middle distance day, hardly surprising given the season our boys and girls have had this year: Ruby broke April’s Y7-9 3000m record by 28s in a time of 10:50; while April broke Amy’s Y10-13 5000m record by 15s in a time of 19:06!
And then to Sports Day itself: at Year 7 the star of the day was Ethan who secured three at his first attempt… the long jump record three times over no less! Jump one: record; jump two: bettered; jump three: best with 5.10m to raise John’s previous record by 56cm! He also broke the record in the 100m with a time of 12.98s (also bettering John’s old mark of 13.22s), and the 800m with a time of 2:26 to improve Calum Andrews’s record from 2011 by 4s. For the girls Nancy was our record breaker with her shot put of 9.80m, and astonishing 1.44m beyond Beau’s previous mark.
At junior (Year 8) Ruby continued her domination of middle distance running taking Amy’s 800m record with a time of 2:26.08 to improve the old mark by 9s, and then broke the magical 5 minutes for 1500m to win in 4:58.95, obliterating Elise McNally’s 1995 record by over 8s. Asonishing!
Fazil was equally impressive in the field events for the boys – how about these achievements? He raised the high jump mark which has stood since 1976 by 16cm to take it to 1.59m; and extended the triple jump mark from 10.76m to 11.09m… also set in 1976, also by Edward Lancaster. Wow.
At middle (Years 9 and 10) our record breaker was Issy with a flying 100m of 13.01s to top another old record, that of 13.09s set by Charlotte Spear in 1989.
And finally, at senior the new records fell to Nell who shattered Eloise Mabey’s shot put record by 100cm to take it to 10.07m; and Nathan who improved his own 800m record by 0.41s to take it to 2:02.55.
Many congratulations to these thirteen, and indeed to all the athletes for taking part with such enthusiasm and commitment (you should have seen some of the facial expressions as they sprinted by…). It was a great day – wonderful organisation, fabulous competition, and plenty of excitement for competitors and spectators alike. Thank you all!
