Athletes on their marks in sunshine
Pupils from four schools around Shetland came down to Clickimin on Friday for the isles’ county sports day.
The secondary 2-4 athletes from Aith Junior High School, Brae High School, Sandwick Junior High School and Anderson High School endured scorching conditions while competing in a range of events including sprints, 1,500 metres, javelin and long jump. The audience, however, were pleased with the glorious sunshine, especi-ally as most events were outside.
The sports started well for Sandwick with Josh James leading the whole way and coming in first in the 75m hurdles. Connor Wise-man, also from Sandwick, came in second, while Haldane Fraser (Aith) came in third.
The girls’ exciting race came just after with a very close finish. Jenny Anderson (Aith) scraped first, closely followed by Aylesha Meades, also from Aith, and Natalie Moffat (AHS). The tense atmosphere increased as the participants and crowd waited to find out who had won this very tight race.
Anderson High achieved top results in both the boys and girls 1,500m with Lauren Odie coming first for the girls with a good time of 5.46 minutes followed by Sarah Kaey from Sandwick and Joy Ramsay from Brae.
Lorne McNiven won the boys’ final with a great time of 4.52 minutes. Another AHS pupil, Alex Nunn-Thomson, closely followed him and Jamie Murphy (Brae) finished third. This was a very strong race with five seconds between first and third place. Everybody was on their feet cheering on the three runners as they careered around the track.
Next up were the boys with the shot putt, while the girls participated in the javelin. The Aith boys competed well in the shot with Theo Mouat coming first with a distance of 10.86m and Callum Williamson coming third, while Ben Morris got second for Sand-wick.
In the javelin Stephanie Adamson from Sandwick performed very well, out-throwing the other com-petitors by just under five metres with a distance of 20.26 metres. Lauren Odie and Rozanne George-son both from Anderson came in second and third respec-tively.
Sandwick continued the winning streak as their boys achieved first and second in the javelin with Rory Goodlad throwing his javelin 27.49m. Brydon Work just managed to scrape second, beating Lewis Fraser from Aith by 15cm.
The girls had a very close fight in the shot with a distance of 7cm breaking up the top three. Aylesha Meades (Aith) managed to scrape first with a distance of 7.43m with Sandwick’s Stephanie Adamson second and Rozanne Georgeson achieving third.
The 100m races were both very exciting and tense races with the winners crossing the line with less than one second between first and third. Everyone from Sandwick was on their feet as Connor Wiseman crossed the line first with Jake Constable (AHS) and Joe Bishop (Brae) on his heels. It was a good atmosphere as athletes from different schools congratulated the three.
Aylesha Meades from Aith achieved another first place in the 100m, closely followed by Sally Adamson and Jessica Anderson, both from Sandwick.
As the boys moved over to the sand pit for the long jump, the girls ventured inside to take part in the high jump and the competition between the schools tightened.
Patrik Szabo of AHS won the long jump by passing the five-metre mark easily with a distance of 5.19 metres. Ryan Ratter and Joe Bishop both from Brae achieved second and third with distances just under five metres.
As everyone piled into the hall to watch the girls’ high jump the mood was tense, as only three athletes were left competing. Rozanne Georgeson and Anne Leask (both AHS) and Jenny Anderson (Aith) gave it their best to take first place, but in the end Rozanne won, jumping a great 1.37m.
Jenny Anderson from Aith was one of many athletes who seemed to do well in all the categories that she entered, including the girls’ long jump which took place later in the day. Sporty Jenny achieved second in this event with only Stephanie Adamson from Sandwick beating her.
“I have only done a few events,” Jenny told us, “and I managed to get a gold for the hurdles which was not too bad.” Modest Jenny agreed that the wonderful weather had made a big difference to the day.
The athletes then only had a short while to grab something to eat before they were back on the track for the 200m finals.
The boys’ race was the closest of the day with Connor Wiseman from Sandwick coming in just 0.05 seconds after the winner Jake Constable (AHS). Josh James (Sandwick) followed Connor achieving third place. Kirsty Laurenson took home the gold for Sandwick in the girls’ event, continuing their good run.
The boys’ 800m followed and, unfortunately, an injured knee took Thomas Grant of AHS out of the race, disappointing his fellow pupils.
The remaining hope for AHS was Lorne McNiven who was impossible to catch during the race. Lorne went on to win with a fantastic time of two minutes 26 seconds. He was followed by Jamie Murphy (Brae), whose performance put Sam Seatter in third place, getting another medal for Brae.
In the girls’ race Lauren Odie boosted AHS again with an early lead and won the race with a time of two minutes 38.19 seconds, fol-lowed by Rozanne Georgeson (AHS) and Sandwick’s Sarah Keay.
The 4x100m relays were the highlight of the day, with two golds for AHS as they won both the boys’ and girls’ relays.
Sandwick claimed both the silver medals and Aith came in third for both events. All athletes not taking part in the relays gave their team much support by cheering them on as they crossed the finish line.
Kayleigh Leask from Sandwick, who participated in the javelin event, summed up the mood of the day: “I am enjoying my day, and I have worked as hard as I can.” All in all it was a very successful day with the pupils showing good sportsmanship throughout the tense atmosphere of the events. The day was made complete by the beautiful weather and the happy pupils doing their best while having a fun day.
By Danny Garrick, Megan Keppie and Tom Tulloch (Secondary four, Anderson High School)
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Results Boys – 100 metres: 1 Connor Wiseman (Sandwick) 12.40; 2 Jake Constable (AHS); 3 J
