Awesome Athletics

On Friday 30th June Team Hamstel were back in action again, this time it was for Borough Sports or should it be rebranded to City Sports. The 20 strong team were eager and ready to go after many practices to get the relay changeovers as fast and smooth as possible.

The afternoon of competition included Sprint relay, Space Hopper relay, Skipping relay and the ever so tricky Egg and Spoon relay. Each of the relays had 5 children in with the final races of 10 x 70m sprint relay with all the team having to take part.

The first event was the Skipping relay, with some very questionable skipping ropes. However, the girls powered through to the final after a bit of a tangle and the boys, not to be out done, followed by making their final. In the final the girls were much slicker with their skipping and changeovers, this meant their was no stopping them. They crossed the line in a close second place. the boys were much improved in the final and managed to finish 3rd in their event.

Next up was the Sprint relay. The girls had a poor start but did well, Rebecca and Isla sped towards the line and saw them squeeze though to the final. The boys were not so fortunate being pushed out to 5th place in their heat, meaning they just missed out on a final place. The girls put the heat behind them and ran a brilliant final, finished in first place.

As defending champions in both the boys and girls race Mr Sayer was keen to keep Hamstel's record in the Space Hopper relay. The team didn't let him down and cruised through to the final first, in both the boys' and girls' races. The finals were close, the girls worked hard and with the last person to go it was neck and neck; Reya stormed through with an amazing final bounce to take the win. In the boys' final the team was in third place with 2 boys yet to go. A great change over from Oliver to Shy saw Shy flying along and caught up with first place. Ted never one to give up, flew through to take the win and Hamstel for the second year are running champions of the Space Hoppers!

The next race was the Egg and Spoon, and at the Windy Garons this is always hard. Both the boys and the girls made the final. The girls kept steady and despite a strong head wind managed to finish in3rd place. The boys weren't so lucky and despite their best efforts to keep the egg on the spoon ended up 8th in the finals.

This left the last event the 10 x 70m relay where the whole team was involved. The girls were going well but a missed changeover saw them finish second in their heat. The boys for off to a rocky start and missed the first changeover, but this wasn't going to stop them and the team. They worked hard and managed to finish first in their heat.

In the last finals of the competition both teams were determined to make sure they finished with their best race. Isla led off for the girls passing the baton to Reya, Reya ran brilliantly and passed to Ava, who was super-fast, and the girls were already leading. Ava's fast change over to Amber meant that the other teams has no chance of catching her. Amber then passed to Dorothy who kept Hamstel way out in front. Pranisha ran an incredible leg and passed over to Zoe who maintained the lead with the other teams trying to chase her down. Sienna didn't slow and keep the other team at bay Adiele followed with amazing speed. Rebecca was last and there was no catching her. The girls won the race and their final event of the day.

The boys were up and they wanted to finish as winners like the girls. Brandon lead off with a great first leg and passed to Harry who ran well but the team were in fourth place. Harry passed to Charlie who zoomed along trying to catch Earls hall who had managed to get a convincing lead. A great changeover and run from Daniel saw Hamstel move into second place. Oliver followed and closed the lead on Earls Hall. Oliver pass to Zakk and he made sure he gave Hamstel the lead with half the race to go. Shy ran amazingly but a fast changeover from Greenways saw them come uo and take the lead away from the team. Ralphie chased down Greenwayss but couldn't quite manage to overtake. A great changeover from Ralphie to Lincoln saw him storm passed Greenwaty and Hamstel back into the lead. once Lincoln passed the baton to Ted in the lead the vitory was never in doubt and Ted's awesome speed saw the team home to the win. A great result with both teams winning the last event of the day.

All that was left was to find out the overall results. With 16 schools it was going to be very hard to finish in the top places. The results were read out in reverse order and with only three teams left the team still didn't know where they had come. Finally. Hamstels name was read out, the team had finished second overall! A great result which just shows the effort and passion the children had put in to finish second out of the whole of Southend. The team spirit was shared by all and Ted and Adiele were proud to collect the team's trophy. cheered on by the team, adults and staff from all the schools. Well done Team Hamstel you have done the school proud.

Thank you to all the adults who came to support the team, the children were so excited to see you all cheering them on.