Triumph as Hallfield School Stars Shine in Athletics Championships

Hallfield School’s prep boys: Anaadh, Hari and Jai represented the school in the Mercia Prep Schools Athletics Championships. This was a regional event, and the standard was very high. We are so proud of the boys for qualifying; they were one of a maximum of 20 others in each event who had reached the qualifying standards in the Midlands.

Firstly, Hari started off with his high jumping event. He was against 20 others who had qualified across the Mercian prep schools. He put in a very strong performance and was soon the only athlete left, after no one else in the competition could get past 1.2m. Although he had already won, Hari was allowed to continue and managed to clear up to 1.4m, winning his competition with ease.

Next was Anaadh’s turn in the 1500m. He was one of 15 boys who had reached the qualifying standard in the region and competed in a straight final. He started off strongly and paced himself well throughout, overtaking at strategic points throughout the race and keeping well with the lead group of runners. He did fantastically well in hot conditions for a long distance race and finished 6th overall in the competition.

Jai and Hari then had their 100m event. This was split into different heats as there were 17 competitors who had reached the required standard. Jai had stiff competition in his heat. He ran first and won his race with a nail-biting push over the finish line with a boy from RGS The Grange. However, Jai accelerated well into the finish and dipped his head for the line to clinch first place. Hari had a slower heat and, after storming the first 3/4s of the race, managed to slow his pace down for the finish and win comfortably. Both boys were put through to the final.

Jai had to go straight from his 100m heats over to the long jump. He put in an excellent performance and jumped just under 4m. Unfortunately, he missed out on some of the distance he actually jumped from taking off a little too early from the board, but still scored very impressively. Jai finished 5th out of the 16 boys to qualify for this event.

It was then time for the 100m finals. Jai was placed in lane 1 and Hari was in lane 4, with a total of 8 boys in the competition. Both boys made excellent starts and soon pulled away from the rest of the pack. They maintained a strong sprint all the way to the finish line, battling each other for 1st and 2nd place, beating 3rd place by an impressive margin.

The first 2 competitors from each of the events go on to represent the Mercia region at the National Athletic Finals which will be held at The Alexander Stadium in July. This means that Hari will represent us in the high jump and the 100m, and Jai will represent us in the 100m. This is an outstanding achievement, and they will be competing against the top athletes from each region across England and Scotland.

A huge congratulations to Anaadh, Hari and Jai for their excellent performance in the regional finals, and the best of luck to Hari and Jai in their upcoming competition at the National Finals. We are all very proud of you!