Aluredian
83
F
ollowing last year's highly
successful campaign,
spearheaded by a veritable army
of senior runners, Lent 2011 was
to be a little more taxing.
However, their young successors
took up the challenge with élan, and pushed
older opponents to the limit, picking up a
pleasing number of team wins along the way.
The season also turned out to be one of the
more enjoyable, with the generally fine, if at
times chilly, weather helping as the runners
each developed their particular strengths,
pushing each other in races and training
afternoons.
The challenge races saw wins at Exmouth and
in the King's Cup. Harry Billing did well at
Exmouth and Wellington despite picking up an
injury. Ralph Lawson also came more into his
own, showing glimpses of his younger, preillness
days, particularly on the coastal path at
Exmouth. Henry Willis is strong and
purposeful, with his better runs at Exmouth
then Wellington (where he came 2nd) showing
the benefits of being able to train not just race.
Charlie Niekirk gained in confidence and
generally finished in the top half of the field,
with very good runs late in the season, whilst
Henry Dufosee qualified for the county team,
and did really well at the Quantock Relays and
again in Exmouth. Michael Peek and George
Chapman showed that they can still run when
pushed, whilst Blaine Tottle weighed in when
available for the shorter races.
Throughout the season, however, 3rd former
Oliver Fox and 4th former Penny Guess
(pictured) showed impressive ability. Oliver
won every race bar one, amazing many of his
senior rivals, though two Blundell's 6th formers
got some revenge by a few seconds at the
Quantocks Relay. He also won at the County
and South West Championships, before
finishing 8th at the English Schools, then 11th
at the British Schools when representing
England in Northern Ireland: he was carrying
an injury at the later events, but went on to
take part in the London Mini-Marathon for the
South West team. Penny meanwhile was the
quickest girl at Exmouth and the Quantocks,
placed 2nd in the area trials, 7th in the county
event, 6th in team at the South Wests on home
ground near Taunton, the site of the
forthcoming 2012 English Schools, 7th in team
at the English Schools, and contributed
mightily as a team scorer in most of the team
events.
In the house steeplechases competition, the
pupil runners worked hard to beat the staff
teams who had prepared assiduously for the
event - or so the staff said. The team awards
were spread amongst five of the seven houses,
with Tuckwell and Carpenter emerging as the
overall winners for boys and girls respectively.
Amongst individuals, the fastest proved to be
decathlete Constantin Kossen and heptathlete
Katy Preece, but they were harried all the way
by Oliver Fox, Joe Merriweather, Amelia Evans
and Hatty Harrison.
Many thanks to Mr Lee, Mr Round, Miss
Fagan, Mrs Wrobel and Mrs Lavender for their
kind assistance, and to Tilly the mascot on
being an ideal pacemaker in training - even
when she was collecting stones for a rockery.
Cross-country
by Richard Llewellyn-Eaton