Abbey Gate College Triumph at ISA North Athletics

On Tuesday 9th June the ISA North Championships provided an opportunity for pupils from Years 7, 8, 9 and 10 compete at the Robin Park Arena in Wigan against 13 other schools.

From the Year 7 squad of seven boys the very first event of the day saw Ross McCormick win on his debut run in the 70 metres hurdles, showing excellent technique and concentration in this highly technical event. Further solid performances in the field saw a 4th place for Jorge Percival in the discus, 4th for Theo Spofforth in the shot putt and a 4th place for Tom Donald in the long jump.

The middle distance runners produced further encouragement as first Connor Norbury battled to 3rd in an exhausting 1500 metres and then Edward Speed produced an outstanding run full of power and determination to win the 800 metres.

Tom Donald had shown maturity and promise to ease through the heats of 200 and 100 metres and then powered to a 10 metre win in the final of the 200 metres in a new record time for the event of 26.7secs. Tom then lined up for the 100 metres and again displayed raw talent to win by 2 metres in another record time of 12.3secs beating the old record by 1.3 seconds.

The boys came to the final event, the relay with Ross McCormick, Edward Speed , Billy Reeves and Tom Donald in the quartet. When Tom Donald took the baton on the final leg 2 metres down in second place it required another blistering run from Tom to surge to the front yet again and win on a photo finish.

Tom Donald clearly was the outstanding male athlete on the day breaking two ISA records and the whole squad contributed to a final winning total of 52 points with The Grange second on 44 points.

There were other notable performances at Junior level for Year 8 and Year 9 pupils. Myles Reid won the triple jump, Yousef al-Rafai won the shot putt and Joshua Marrs won the 800 metres with Nick Bellis 2nd place in the 400 metres to allow the Junior squad to finish 3rd overall in their age category.

Congratulations to all the boys who competed. Their success is due to their willingness to attend practises and listen to the advice of all staff.

Abbey Gate College Year 7 boys are crowned Pre Junior ISA Champions

Outstanding success at the ISA Athletics North in Wigan.
The Year 7 boys’ team won the competition with an excellent total of 52 points! The team achieved 5 first places out of 9 events and Tom Donald smashed the existing ISA records for the 100m and 200m. Full results will be posted soon.

British Schoolboys International Ski Races: A medal winning performance!

On 25th January 2008 four pupils from Abbey Gate College Gate set out for Meringen-Hasliberg in Switzerland to compete in the Downhill Only Championships. Ideal conditions with glorious sun and hard packed snow greeted us on our arrival. The main events of Giant Slalom and Slalom saw all the boys complete four incident free runs and respectable times. In the Giant Slalom Robert Cross came 42nd, Matthew Clauson 48th, Cameron Ryalls 64th and Thomas Dickinson 65th. In the Slalom Robert Cross came 40th, Matthew Clauson 53rd, Cameron Ryalls 64th and Thomas Dickinson 72nd. As a novice to watching this type of competition the speed and technical ability the boys possess is amazing as well as being brave and courageous with a slight hint of madness! The hours of training and commitment in terms of preparation of skis and being first on the slopes at 8.00am from all four boys and parents (and teacher!) in the days of competition is to be commended. The boys acquitted themselves well and were a credit to the College both on the slopes and in the resort. They were competing as a team in the U15 category and won the silver medal.

British Schoolgirls’ Championships 27th - 30th January 2008

The girls competed in the British Schoolgirls’ races in the purpose-built resort of Flaine, in France. Stephanie Campbell-Woodward (Lower 6th), Georgina Gardner-Stockley (Year 10), Alexa Clauson (Year 11), Sophie Caldwell and Nour Maurice (Year 7) trained with Chris Hill on Sunday. Unlike last year conditions were good and the girls could focus on improving their technique on firm well-covered pistes. Conditions on Monday were ideal for racing and Abbey Gate College were the 14th fastest British-based school team. Steph came 33rd (12th in her age group) and Georgina 59th (20th in her age group). The conditions for the slalom on Tuesday were slightly warmer but the course held up well due to an early start. Perhaps this is what disagreed with the girls! Georgina was unable to complete the first run, and Stephanie lost a ski and fell on the second run, retrieved it, climbed back up to the gate and completed the course so the team were not disqualified but had to be content with 39th place. This resulted in a final placing of 24th fastest British-based school team out of the 33 teams that completed the two races without disqualification. But the star of the event for Abbey Gate was Sophie Caldwell in Year 7, competing for the first time. Sophie, aged 11 from Bunbury near Tarporley, came 7th in her age category in the Giant Slalom and 5th in the Slalom which earned her a final position of 4th. As a newcomer to British racing she won a gold medal and the Flaine Club des Sports cup as fastest non-registered British based racer in the Children 1 category.

English Schools’ Dry Slope Championships 2007

Four teams from Abbey Gate College competed in the regional qualifying rounds for the English Schools’ Dry Slope Ski Championships. The race was held at Pendle in Lancashire in September and the practice put in by all members of the teams during the summer paid off when, for the first time, two teams came 2nd in their age categories and qualified for the English finals at Stoke on 13th October.

In the English finals the boys came 8th in the U15 age group and the girls were 9th in the U19s. The girls qualified for the English Open on the Sunday. They came 10th and were one of the fastest 13 teams to go forward to represent England in the British Open Championships.