Athletics 17 (1974)

The Senior Team did well in 1974 despite the absence of 'star performers'. Success was achieved by all-round effort and talent in all events. In the Borough Championships, for example, a St. Nicholas athlete was placed in the first three in every single event except one and we produced eight Champions and the winning relay team. These performances won us the Senior Trophy with 96 points. Richard Avery set a new Borough Record in the 5000 metres walk with a time of 28 mins. 04.1 secs and represented Middlesex in the All-England Schools Walking Championships where he was placed 13th.

We were successful, too, in the 1913 Schools Athletic Association meeting, winning the North-West Group trophy and gaining 3rd place in the Finals Meeting. In the latter we had two champions in John Hall (Shot) and J. O'Connell (110 m. Hurdles), fitting reward for both as J. Hall has competed regularly throughout his school career and J. O'Connell has started serious hurdling and pole-vaulting in the sixth form, both difficult events to take up 'late in life'.

Several others, listed below, deserve special mention for their efforts and reliability over the years: I. Hill (Hammer) 3rd in the 1913 Finals Meeting, B. Nash, Captain, (400M Hurdles) 2nd in the same meeting, M. Bennett (Discus), County Schools' champion in 1973, K. Lee (Sprints), S. Blackburn (middle and long distance) and to P. Murtagh, A. McClelland, P. Stockwell and N. Drinkwater of the Lower Sixth. It is to these that the school owes its success in 1974.

The Intermediate Team was even stronger than the Senior one, although we lacked sprinters, and was strong enough to win the Borough Championships, the Henderson Trophy, the 1913 Schools North-West Group Trophy and to fail by only one point to win the 1913 Schools Finals Meeting.

As might be expected, the team contained some very fine individual athletes. P. Darrell set a new school record for the 100m Hurdles in a time of 13.9, represented Middlesex in the All England Schools Championships, where he was placed 6th in the Final, was Middlesex Clubs' Champion and was second in the Southern Counties A.A.A. Championships.

Guy Hadwin increased his P.B. (new jargon introduced by staff meaning Personal Best) to 10ft 2in to the Pole Vault and gained 3rd place in the 1913 Finals Meeting.

Mark Dane had a consistently good season with the Javelin, winning the event in the Borough Sports meeting, the 1913 North-West Group meeting, getting 2nd place in the 1913 Finals Meeting and setting a new Sports Day Record of 41 metres 71 cms.

Andrew Essex set a new Sports Day record of 12 metres 61 cms. in the shot-put, but was even more successful as a discus-thrower. He was 1913 Schools N-W Group Champion and set a new record for the meeting of 35 m. 92 cms. and went on to win the Finals meeting. His abilities will be missed next season.

In addition to these, special mention must be made of N. Owen (400m) and D. Putt (800m) both of whom were runners-up in the Borough Championships and put in lots of hard work this season and in the past, and to P. Ettinger (Sprints and Javelin). There is considerable 4th year talent waiting to get into the team and we should be reasonably strong in this age group next season.

The Junior Team was very hard-working and has a lot of potential. There are half a dozen promising pole-vaulters, among them R. De Beger who was second in the Borough Championships. Anyone of this group could do well in the coming seasons.

D. Darrell seems set to follow in his older brother's footsteps as a good hurdler, a good 800 metres runner and an even better triple-jumper with a P.B. of over 39 feet.

I. Hudspeth worked hard to improve the technique of his hammer-throw turn and, as a result, represented Hillingdon in the Middlesex Schools Meeting, as did R. Britton (Long Jump) and J. Henley (400 metres), the latter finishing the season with a P.B. of under sixty seconds.

S. Oxley was third in the Borough Championships and did not make the Hillingdon team. He made amends for this by winning the 1913 Schools N.W. Group Meeting 1500 metres.

These boys, ably supported by A. Paul, C. Jennings, P. Wignall, L. Talbot and G. Bennett of the third year and by R. Gross, S. Pound and B. Mason of the second year, enabled us to win the Borough Team Trophy and the Sherrington Trophy.

There are far fewer fixtures for the first year athletes but they have had many competitions among themselves and are sufficiently enthusiastic to train on Sunday mornings with Mr. Rayner at various local, tracks, This has produced a number of 2, 3, and 4 star athletic badges under the A.A.A. 5 Star Award scheme. Noteworthy performances include the following:

R. Stone (Pole-Vault, 7 ft 6 ins),
D. Long (Pole-Vault, 6 ft 11 ins),
M. Day (Discus, 79ft),
C. Gislingham (Shot, 29ft),
A. Burland (1500 metres 5 mins 41 secs),
D. Jones (1500 metres, 5 mins 39 secs),
R. Mount (800 metres, 2 mins 32 Secs),
M. Thomas (400 metres, 70.2 secs),
P. Taylor (Fosbury Flop, 4ft 11 ins),
A. Froud (Long Jump, 15 ft 10 ins).

These achievements augur well for next year.

P. Gibson