Oakham athletes running away with success

Published by Oakham School on Tuesday 20th of May 2014

Athletes from Oakham School have started the season with an outstanding performance at the Achilles Schools' Relays in Oxford. As well as all of Oakham's eight teams making it through to their final, the U15 Boys 4 x 100m team won their event, and the U19 Girls 4 x 100m team placed second! This arguably makes our pupils some of the fastest independent school athletes in the country.

The U15 Boys set an exceptional time of 47.1. Amazingly, only one school has run faster than this since 1978. 'The team shows a lot of promise,' says Assistant Director of Sport, James Clarke. 'Given that this is only the start of the season and that they have only run together twice so far to have broken our school record is particularly impressive.'

This prestigious national competition, held at the famous Iffley Road Track in Oxford (where Roger Bannister ran his four minute mile), attracts schools from across the country - including Harrow, Eton, Millfield and St Pauls.

This is the second year that Oakham has taken part, last year the U19 Girls 4 x 100 team won their event, so to place second this year was a great defence of their title.

Two teams also placed third; the U15 Boys 4 x 200m, and the U19 Boys 4 x 800m. Another two teams placed 4th; the U19 Girls 3 x 800m and the U16 Girls 4 x 200. The U16 Girls 4 x 100m came 5th and the U16 Girls 3 x 800m placed 6th.

'It certainly is an exciting time for athletics at Oakham School,' says Iain Simpson, Director of Sport. 'We have a lot of talented athletes who are really benefiting from our excellent coaches. It's just great to see them start the season with an impressive set of results against a very competitive field.'