Sport Archives - Page 36 of 62

Last Saturday a number of our cross country athletes competed for Suffolk at the UK Inter County Cross Country in Loughborough.

Ruby Vinton was the outstanding performance for Suffolk on the day, finishing in 8th place in the U13 Girls’ race. To give this achievement some context: in March 2019 Ruby will be old enough to compete at England Schools’ Cross Country for the first time and 8th place in that event would earn an England Vest. This was an outstanding performance to round off an incredible first winter for Ruby at this level.

Overall Woodbridge School had eight athletes competing at the Inter Counties, which is an achievement in itself. For most, it was more an adventure than a race, with the muddiest conditions our young athletes had ever seen. Kit Evans Lombe was tripped face first into the mud early on in his race and by the time he stood up he was in last place. He made excellent progress which in an event where each of the 44 counties only enter their top eight athletes, is no mean feat.

Charlie Turner lost a spike (shoe) early on and the shoe was never seen again. Try running 4.5K in mud with one shoe. April Hill slid down a muddy bank and into a stream. It was so steep and slippery that it took forever to get out and a cold and wet April had little option other than to call it a day, living to tell the tale with a smile once warm. In terms of results, Charlie Turner (U15B) and Nathan Goddard (U17M) were on or around the top third, with Amy Goddard (U13G), Bea Thomas (U15G), Kit Evans Lombe (U15B) and Alex Evans Lombe (U17B) on or around the two third mark in their races.

This was a great experience at the highest level for these athletes, and one they will long remember!

At the weekend, Woodbridge riders were in the placings at the local British Eventing Competitions (Poplar Park Horse Trials).

Despite horrible conditions under foot the event was able to run.

Woodbridge riders proved their metal to take placings in several classes. Ada Marson (only 12 years old) was placed 4th in her first competition on her new ride in the BE80 section and Olivia Brown (13 years old Year 8) was placed 9th in the other BE80 section also on a new ride.

Gussie Terry was 10th in the Under 18 Novice section (competing at a height of 1.10m) and Tess Walker also completed with a double clear in the BE80 but she was competing HC as her pony.

On Monday 5 March we competed at one of the ten IAPS regional galas.

We took six swimmers to the gala at Bishop’s Stortford College who all swam in individual events. All of our swimmers performed very well in a highly competitive event and posted very pleasing times. We are now waiting with our fingers crossed that some of the times are in the Top 20 across all of the other galas. This would mean that the swimmer will have qualified for the National Finals, which is being hosted at the London Aquatics Centre in June.

Our team was comprised of E Carter, C Hattan, G Phillips, G Pommier, M Pommier and L Zie.

On Wednesday 7 March the U11 C team had a tough but terrific match against Orwell Park.

In our first quarter J Richardson scored a great goal and G Pommier managed to slip in two more great goals. Orwell Park came back and scored two cracking goals. In the next quarter Orwell Park scored another goal. Luckily, G Pommier scored two more magnificent goals. Taking the score up to 7 – 3 to us. It was a nail-biting match but we managed to get our win!

After all the snow, Woodbridge School was finally able to host The Skinners’ School in the second round of the National U18 Plate Competition. Woodbridge dominated the opening minutes but could not capitalise in creating a clear cut chance. Momentum slowly started to shift as Skinners’ grew in confidence, but player of the match, Joshua Graves came into his own leading the defence as Dom Ellice-Freeman, Toby McNally, James Martin and captain James Meakin all tackled well outside the D and dealt with scrambles within it to clear the danger. Meanwhile at the other end a Woodbridge attack led to a penalty corner and Alex Weir-Simmons put his drag flick on target, forcing a double save from the goalkeeper only for Oliver Buchanan to pounce on the rebound and score.

The second half saw Woodbridge much more dominant as they moved the ball to all corners of the pitch to great effect. Hugo Kelleway, Alex Weir-Simmons, Oliver Bacon and Patrick Frebel worked tirelessly and the forwards led, rotated, pressed and worked back zealously. Chances flowed and nine minutes into the second half James Phelan was rewarded for all his hard work with a very good goal, and shortly after Charlie Mayhew scored the first of his two. With a healthy cushion Woodbridge continue to grow in confidence and play with freedom. The Skinners’ goalkeeper played very well but couldn’t stop Alex taking our tally to 5-0.

This was a very good team performance in which each player can be very proud of their own play and contribution to the positive outcome. Gutsy defending gave the attackers confidence and the team must be commended for keeping a clean sheet in this end to end, physical game.

Many congratulations to Eleanore Fitzgerald, Annie Nicholass and Alice Sharratt who have all been successful in the recent auditions from a large field of dancers from across the region for the English Youth Ballet’s production of Cinderella In Hollywood (Theatre Royal Norwich 25-26 May).

They are all pupils of Sandra Hartley at the Saxtead School of Dance.

This promises to be a dazzling production with stunningly striking costumes and wonderful dancing, with international principals in the leading roles. Celebrating its 20th anniversary year, English Youth Ballet’s policy is to perform full length ballets outside London, and to give young dancers the chance to perform in a professional setting.

For more information visit https://secure.theatreroyalnorwich.co.uk/Online/default.asp.

Woodbridge School has recently been ranked 51^st in the top 100 Independent Schools in the UK in 2017 according to School Sport Magazine.

School Sport Magazine’s exclusive top 100 state and Independent sports schools of the year list reflects competitive achievement in a range of sports throughout the year and honours these schools that take competition especially seriously. Reaching the top 100 puts Woodbridge in the top 10 percent of schools in the Country.

Ian Simpson, Head of sport at Woodbridge said “We are extremely proud to have been recognised nationally for the excellent progress we have made and continue to make in sport. At Woodbridge, we are committed to supporting every individual in their pursuit of excellence in every area of their education. It is the hard work and dedication of pupils, staff and parents that make this possible. Each year, we look forward to developing and improving our delivery of sport and this latest news is extremely encouraging.”

Woodbridge School offers a huge range of sports to pupils, enjoying exceptional success in running, athletics, hockey, rugby and netball. Teams regularly gain regional and National awards in competitions.

For the full ranking please click here.

For the first time the school entered boys’ and girls’ first teams (much the youngest of all teams on show) into the King Henry VIII Cross Country Relay competition, now in its 47^th year.

For the boys Nathan Goddard, Kit Evans Lombe, Charlie Turner, Alex Evans Lombe, Chris Long and Ed Rufford completed six 2.53 mile legs of the course in baton relay, ably led off by Nathan Goddard who came back in 8^th position. Ed Rufford must be commended as the youngest in the team and producing an excellent run to help the team finish in 21^st place.

The girls’ team of Ruby Vinton, April Hill, Amy Goddard and Bea Thomas performed fantastically and finished in 6^th place and at one stage were up to 2^nd position, Bea Thomas bringing the team home in fine style against some very strong sides.

Although the race is about the team, individual times were also taken, and the best of these were April 13th fastest, Ruby 15th fastest, and on the boys’ side Nathan equal 14th fastest. This was an excellent competition and one that we will certainly return to next year.

Twelve Woodbridge School athletes represented Suffolk at the annual Anglian Schools Cross Country Championships hosted this year at the Royal Hospital School on Saturday 3 February.

There were four age group races for each of the boys and girls and Suffolk were up against the very best from Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Norfolk.

Suffolk were in the top three teams in every race and across the eight races were crowned overall champions.

Suffolk won 6 of the 24 individual medals on offer and Woodbridge School athletes claimed 3 of the 6:

Ruby Vinton won Gold in the Minor Girls

April Hill won Bronze in the Junior Girls

Nathan Goddard won Bronze in the Inter Boys

Full results were:

Minor Girls : Ruby Vinton 1st

Minor Boys : Moses McBride 10th (An excellent debut at this level)

Minor Boys : Edward Buckingham 20th (Ed was with Moses before being tripped in the home straight – who says XC is not a contact sport)

Junior Girls : April Hill 3rd

Junior Girls : Bea Thomas 27th

Junior Girls : Amy Goddard 31st

Junior Girls : Jess Elmer 50th

Junior Boys : Charlie Turner 9th (Junior Boys were team winners)

Junior Boys : Kit Evans Lombe 15th

Inter Boys : Nathan Goddard 3rd

Inter Boys : Alex Evans Lombe 35th

Inter Boys : Daniel Davies 57th

Selection to compete at England Schools Cross Country

For the Minor category this was the final race in a series. For Juniors and beyond there was the added pressure of trying to make the cut to compete at England Schools.

This race served as the final trial after which the Suffolk Team would be halved.

It is fantastic to report that the following seven athletes will represent Suffolk at the England Schools Cross Country Championship in Leeds on Saturday 17th March:

Junior Girls : April Hill

Junior Girls : Bea Thomas

Junior Girls : Amy Goddard

Junior Boys: Charlie Turner

Junior Boys : Kit Evans Lombe

Inter Boys : Nathan Goddard

Inter Boys : Alex Evans Lombe

Amy gets another mention in that this year she is the only Woodbridge School athlete selected to compete at England Schools a year young. Amy will get to try out for the same age group next year.

Congratulations to all, a just reward for all the hard work and we wish you every success in Leeds.

Last weekend, three Woodbridge girls flew out to the French Alps to compete in the annual Schoolgirls’ races. Katherine Bye, Beth Turner and Honor Bartlett raced in three disciplines: Giant Slalom, Parallel Slalom and Slalom against girls from schools as far afield as Glenalmond, St Mary’s Calne and Cheltenham Ladies, as well as the big ski schools of Surbiton, Reed’s and NLCS.

In the first race of Giant Slalom, all our girls put down clean runs through the gates and Honor Bartlett finished as the youngest competitor in the top 10, winning the silver medal for her age group. It’s a discipline that we cannot train for on a short dry slope, so our girls did amazingly well to ski with such confidence. What’s more, our overall team time allowed us to qualify for the afternoon’s Parallel Slalom programme, set up as a relay with the whole team competing. We were pitted against eventual runners up in the first round and were certainly not embarrassed in coming in second to them, Beth Turner putting in a great leg for the team. The final race was a traditional slalom race, and with Honor in second overall in the combined, this was a perfect opportunity to move up. Her first blazing run saw her come back to within 0.03 seconds of the leader. But a costly mistake, valiantly corrected by climbing back up the mountain!, saw her lose time and finish in the bronze medal position.

Many thanks to Lucy Bartlett and Rob Turner for coming out to Flaine support the girls too. The team really was a credit to the school and showed the talent we have on the slopes. Bring on more training sessions on the Ipswich Glacier on those bitter Friday evenings!