Monday, 5th June IAPS National Championships

Five girls made the long trip to Birmingham for the National Athletics finals.  It is a marvellous achievement to even get there and the girls should be commended for this achievement.  Gabriella Skinner qualified for the U13 100m, but couldn’t quite replicate the impressive form she had shown to win the Regionals.  The U12 relay team, of Katie Sood, Lily St John, Katerina Mathison and Lily Innes, really pushed themselves and made it through to the National final, but came up against some very strong teams there.  This was a pleasing end to the season and gave these girls a chance to perform at the highest level in one of the UK’s international stadiums.   PM

Monday, 5th June Brambletye Meeting 3rd

The athletics team had a very enjoyable afternoon at Brambletye in the final fixture of the term.  It was a quadrangular with Brambletye fielding an A and B team and Handcross Park also there.  We were not at full strength, with Mr Mason away at the National Prep Schools’ championships in Birmingham with our top girl sprinter, Gabi Skinner, and the U-12 girls’ 4x100m relay team.  All our top year pupils were away at the Houses of Parliament, so our senior team was made up entirely of Year 7 boys and girls.  This gave an opportunity for other athletes to take part and to represent the school and we saw some very good performances.  There were wins in the following twelve events:  In the U14 boys, Ollie Line in the 1500m and Jay Beale in the triple jump; in the U14 girls, Aimee de Havas in the 200m and the long jump, Victoria Watson in the triple jump, Leah Mellor in the shot putt and the 4x100m relay team of Aimee, Leah, Lara Murray and Laura Kendall; in the U12 boys, Will Brockman in the 1500m; in the U12 girls, Lotte Mitchell in the high jump and Holly Allen in the shot putt; in the U10s Sam Allen won the boys’ high jump and Elizabeth McCarthy won the girls’ high jump.  Although we are awaiting confirmation of times and distances it appears that Will Brockman in the U12 1500m and Holly Allen in the U12 girls’ shot putt both broke the school record.  Will Brockman’s performance in the U12 1500m was outstanding.  His race was run at the same time as the U14 boys’ race and Will finished ahead of all the other runners, winning by about 20 metres.  A lot of our other competitors picked up second and third placings and we hope to confirm plenty of personal bests.  It was a very well run event and a very enjoyable finale to the season.  The U14 girls came first in their age-group, which was a terrific result as the entire team was a year young.  Brambletye A won overall on 213 points, with Handcross Park second on 177, Ashdown third on 148 and Brambletye B fourth on 124.  Thanks to Mr Gilsenan and Georgia Pratt for helping to manage the team.  MH

Monday, 21st June Girls' Regional Meeting at K2 Stadium, Crawley

Sixteen Ashdown girls reached the qualifying standard in various events to enter for the Sussex Championships held at the K2 stadium in Crawley.  It is always a great achievement to make the standard, and the girls performed exceptionally well on the day.  Gabi Skinner won U13 100m, while Lily Innes won the U12 Triple Jump.  The U12 relay team won silver and there were Bronze Medals for Annabel Hickson (Shot Put), Lily Innes (Long Jump), Lily St John (High Jump) and Leah Mellor (Discus).  Well done to all those who went and in particular to Gabi Skinner and the U12 Relay team (Katie Sood, Lily St John, Katerina Mathison and Lily Innes) for making it to the National Championships in Birmingham at the start of July. PM

Thursday, 10th June Eastbourne Meeting with St Bede's, Cumnor House & Brambletye

The Ashdown team braved the elements for this outing down to Eastbourne for a meeting against Cumnor, St Bede’s and Brambletye.  Despite the weather, the Ashdown team performed well with the Senior Girls winning their event.  There were many PBs broken, which is always the target, plus some impressive performances also.  Jimmy Ondari ran an excellent 400m to be narrowly beaten into 2nd, while Lily St John timed her run in the 800M to perfection to win her race on the finish line.  In total there were 8 Gold Medals including: Gabi Skinner (100m), Aimee de Havas (Long Jump and 200m), Lily Innes (Triple Jump), Senior Relay, Posy Barker (High Jump), Celia St John (Javelin), Lily St John 800m.  Lily Innes broke the U12 Triple Jump School Record with a new jump of 8.46m.  Leah Mellor was also awarded the School Record in U13 Discus with a throw of 18.95m.  Well done to everyone. PM

Ashdown House Meeting with Copthorne & Cumnor House

U14/U12
7-2
The second outing of the season for the Athletics team saw the U14s and U12s in action in a friendly against Copthorne and Cumnor House.  Fortunately the rain held off and we were able to run a full programme of events.  The aim of the day was to get some competition experience and also attempt to break PBs, particularly with Regionals qualification looming.  ??Holly Allen won the U12 shotput with a new school record of 6.66m, breaking Kitty Grubb’s six year record.  Jimmy Ondari who broke his PB in the 100m with a time of 12.99 sec  also won the 200m with a time of 28.36 secs.  Gabi Skinner, who was representing the year above (U14) ended up winning the 100m which is a great achievement going into the U13 Regionals.  Lily Innes broke her PB in the triple jump with 7.92m and was just off the school record for the U12s.  This jump was good enough to earn her 2nd place in the U14 Girls’ competition!
We now turn our attention to the meeting down at Eastbourne where many members of the team are looking forward to improving their performances on a tartan track.  PM

Ardingly Cross Country Relay

On Friday 12^th November the Ashdown House team competed against about a dozen schools. Six boys and six girls ran a relay around a course about 1.5km long. The boys were Ollie Line, Jay Beale, Greg Atkinson, Ivo Kleinwort, Will Brockman and Edward Garner; the girls were Nurshat Izbassar, Leah Mellor, Laura Kendall, Lara Murray, Helena St John and Alexandra Mathison.

The hard part for me was having to pick a Top Boy and a Top Girl runner: in addition to not being able to see much of the course, I could see the effort that every runner was making – particularly when the nerves were flying beforehand! Still, they put on a brave show in the wind and the rain.  Will Brockman came away with Lord Coe's autograph - a top result in itself!  EG