On Wednesday night during Half Term some of our top athletes travelled to Watford to compete in a series of middle distance races in the hope of achieving personal bests or perhaps even the entry standard for England Schools.
Alex Evans Lombe was the only athlete to compete at 3000m, having finished second at the recent Suffolk Schools running 9:57 to secure selection to compete at the Anglian schools on 16th June. This time Alex improved by a massive 25 seconds, running 9:32 and gaining a perfect confidence boost ahead of the Anglians.
Amy Goddard and Kit Evans Lombe competed at 1500m and ran brilliantly, just missing out on season bests by one and two seconds respectively.
Charlie Turner had opened his season with a 4:36 PB, and on Wednesday he went significantly faster running a really impressive 4:27. Charlie is in Year 9 – the Year 13 school sports day record (set in 1974) is 4:29!
April Hill entered this event with a personal best of 4:52 knowing that she needed 4:48 to be included in the top 25 or 30 athletes that will get to start in one of two heats at England Schools. The result – April ran a new personal best of exactly 4:48, qualifying for England Schools and as far as we are aware becomes the first female Woodbridge School endurance athlete to do so.
Last but not least, Nathan Goddard started his race with a personal best of 4:10 knowing he needed 4:06 to guarantee selection. Not only did he achieve that, he ran quicker than the National Standard of 4:03 for his age, recording a very swift 4:02.79. This will secure Nathan’s passage to compete at England Schools in Birmingham on 13-14 July for the third year in succession.
To give the performance some context, Nathan is age 15 in Year 11… now, what did I write above about Year 13 school record…?!
A long night in Watford, but a very successful trip and we wish the athletes the very best for the rest of the season.
