Callington Students Excel At Championships

Callington students continued their successful track and field athletics season in the Cornwall Schools Track and Field Championships

Cornwall Schools Track and Field Championships 2011, June 2011 at Carn Brea, Camborne

Callington Community College students continued their successful track and field athletics season when nine students made the journey to West Cornwall to represent the College in the Cornwall Schools Championships. This event is when you see the best athletes turn out, as individuals pursue their ambitions of being part of the Cornwall Schools County squad that goes onto compete in the South West Schools Championships.

The day began with Patrick Channings (Year 8) successfully negotiating his 100m heat with a personal best time of 12.01s. This was to be the beginning of an extremely successful day for Patrick.

Next up was Dean Smith (Year 10) who competed in a very strong 1500m field and finished 3^rd in his age group with a time of 4m 50.6s. Although Dean was disappointed with his time, he did very well in this strong age group.

Ben Parham (Year 9) and Verity Gibbons (Year 9) stepped forward to compete in their respective events. Ben, who earlier in the season had a successful cross country season, finished runner up in the 800m with a time of 4m 58.8s. Verity, who is very talented Javelin thrower, successfully won the event, to be crowned County Schools Champion. Verity threw a distance of 22.24 metres.

Patrick Channings then returned to the track to compete in the 200m qualifying heat. This distance is Patrick's strongest event and he successfully won his heat to ensure he took part in the final later on in the day.

The girls then took centre stage, as Tess Masselink, Amy Bennalick, Grace Middleton (all Year 8) and Jenna Owen (Year 9) all competed in their field events. Amy finished 4^th in the Long Jump with a jump of 3.93 metres.

The other three girls competed in the High Jump, which included a very strong field. Jenna finished a respectable 4^th with a best jump of 1.35 metres. Tess finished just behind Jenna in 5^th place, with a best jump of 1.35 metres, but gained a higher number of faults. Grace completed the Callington group to have entered the high jump by finishing 6^th with a jump of 1.30 metres.

The 800m event saw Dean Smith (Year 10) and Sam Lane De Courtin (Year 9) compete. Dean completed the run in 2m 19.2s to finish 4^th and although Dean was disappointed with his times, however, he had challenged himself to compete in two very difficult middle distance races and he must take credit for his efforts.

Soon after, Callington secured their second County Schools Champion of the day, when Sam led his race from the gun, and although he was pushed hard towards the end, he crossed the line in 1^st place with a time of 2m 13.2s.

It was fitting that the last two races of the day saw Patrick compete in both the 100 metres and 200 metres finals. The 100m was first and although Patrick didn't have the best of starts out of the blocks, he recovered well to finish 2^nd in a time of 12.02s. After a good hours rest, Patrick returned to the track for the 200m final and ran a superb race to finish first with a personal best time of 24.02s and be crowned County Schools Champion. This was just reward for Patrick's ability and hard work.

This was to prove the most successful day in the history of Callington Schools Athletics and congratulations must go to all nine students who have worked so hard over the term to get to the standard of competition that they demonstrated at the Championships.

Special congratulations to all the students who gained new personal bests in their events. A big thank you to Mrs Parham and Mrs Lane De Courtin, who made sure the students were ready for their events, when Mr Yendell was busy helping officiate the High Jump.

After the Championships the County Schools Athletic committee met to discuss which athletes would be selected to represent Cornwall at the South West Championships to be held at Exeter Arena on Saturday 18^th June 2011. We are delighted that both Patrick Channings (100m & 200m) and Sam Lane De Courtin (800m) have been selected to be part of this squad.

Both students now have the opportunity to qualify for the All England Schools track & Field Championships that are held at Gateshead on the 1^st and 2^nd July and are shown on Sky Sports.