Northampton Town Athletics Championships
A team of athletes from Years 8, 9, 10 and 11 recently travelled to Corby for the Town Athletics Championships. The Championships were held at Rockingham Triangle Sports Stadium, home of Corby Athletics Club.
The scorching hot day was a perfect setting for a day full of competitive athletics action. Thirteen teams entered the competition, which was split into four groups; junior boys, junior girls (Years 8/9), intermediate boys and intermediate girls (Years 10/11).
Athletes competed in a range of events; 100m, 200m, 300m (junior boys and girls, intermediate girls), 400m (intermediate boys), 800m, 1500m, 75m hurdles, long jump, triple jump, high jump, discus throw, javelin throw, shot put, and the 4 x 100m relay race, the finale of the Championships. The top two athletes in each event will progress to the County Championships, where they’ll represent Northampton against the other Northamptonshire districts.
In the junior girls’ competition, the Academy’s standout performer was shot putter Dammy Adenji, who produced a huge throw in the final round, claiming first place after trailing in the first two rounds. All the other junior girls battled hard in their events to secure the team a solid 9th place finish.
In the junior boys’ competition, Pharell Maitland ran a superb race to win his 300m heat and ended up winning the event altogether. After that, he proved how good of an all-rounder he is by coming 2nd in the shot put competition, meaning he’ll be competing in two events at the upcoming County Championships. Pharell’s performances, combined with good showings from the rest of the team meant that the junior boys finished in 3rd place overall!
In the inter girls’ event, three of our athletes qualified for the County Championships, with second place finishes for Mia Bates in the 1500m, Aimee Ayoga in the triple jump and Jenifer Nkrumah in the shot put. In addition, all the other girls had great results which meant the inter girls team finished in an incredible 2nd place overall!
The Academy also had great performances in the inter boys’ competition, with second place finishes for Justice Abakah in the hurdles, Ibk Opadiran in the 100m and Malcolm Atonga in the long jump. Like the other three teams, the inter boys had a lot of depth as other good performances secured the team 5th place overall.
With two Academy winners and seven 2nd places and great performances from the other athletes meant that we had great overall results in the team event. Well done to all the athletes involved and good luck to those competing in the County Championships.
Feeling inspired by the Academy’s great results? Come to Athletics Club which runs every Tuesday after school where you can test your skills and maybe even compete in next year’s competition.
Report by George Thompson, Yr 9.