Five schools from the Darlington area battled it out in the 1st round of the English Schools T & F Cup recently. Young athletes from Carmel College, Hummersknott, Longfield, St. John’s (Bishop Auckland) and Barnard Castle School gathered at Eastbourne Sports Complex on one of the hottest days of the year to pit their wits against each other, in a bid to qualify for the Regional Finals.
How it works Boys teams and girls teams are entered into two age categories – Juniors (Year 7 and 8) and Inters (Year 9 and 10). Each athlete competes in two events and is awarded points depending on their times/distances. The competition is held in 3 rounds; preliminary rounds are held between teams within each County – there may be a number of competitions held within each County depending on the number of teams entered. The highest scoring teams in the first round competition progress to one of 7 Regional A Finals, and all other qualifiers progress to Regional B Finals. The leading team from each Regional A Final then progresses to the Cup Final, together with the 5 highest scoring teams from across the Country. Simple really!
As you would imagine, there were plenty of our Junior Harriers competing for their schools. They really produced a show of strength with some impressive performances. Although PB’s here aren’t recognised by ‘Power of 10’ they certainly give a good indication of what each athlete is capable of at this early stage of the T & F season – and there were lots of ‘unofficial’ PB’s today!
photos can be found here Junior boys Junior Girls Inter Boys Inter Girls