Year 3/4 Athletics

Introducing first timers to a competition can be a daunting task for any coach.
Will they train ok? Will they freeze on the day?
Factor in that this year’s crop of St Paul’s athletes were mostly from years two and three.

I needn’t have worried.

From the first training session through to the competition, they were fantastic!
Their attitude to training and in the competition made my job very easy.

The day came of the Rossendale school’s year 3/4 athletics competition.
The competition was to be split into group heats of schools.
We were drawn in a very tough heat, so we would have to be at our best to get through.

Great running from the start in our “track” events kept us closely in the hunt, against very strong opposition.
The girls 1 lap relay was very exciting, a special mention to our year 2 athlete Leah, who stormed her lap, taking us from 5th to 2nd place, a fabulous effort.
The under and over relay and the obstacle races were very hard, resulting in exciting close finishes.
With all the running events completed, we would need to do well in the “field” events to get through the heat.

The response from our team was first rate!

The girls shone in their events, getting wins and second places.
The boys did well in their throwing events, Cato winning his.
The boys jumping events threw up a shock, in the speed bounce St Paul’s athlete almost clinched a win, but held second place, even more astonishing as our Arnie is in year 2 and was up against year 4 athletes from other schools!

With the competition over, all the children awaited the results.
5th place… not us.
4th place… not us!
3rd place… St Pauls!
An absolutely superb result, although not enough to get us through to the finals of the competition, most of our team were made up of year 3s and all but one of them was making their debut.
We included two year 2s in our team who gave a brilliant account of themselves.
The result is even more impressive, when the opposition was mostly year 4s!

The whole athletics squad were excellent in training, fabulous in competition and a credit to St Pauls.
Well done gang and thank you for all your efforts!