Lazer Run Competition

On Wednesday 10 May 3 teams from St Katherine’s travelled to Orchard School in Bristol to compete in the Bristol & Bath Lazer Run Competition. This was the first time that SK had ever competed in the discipline and the students were really eager to give it a go, however it was also fair to say that the group were all a little daunted by the prospect! Other schools included Redland Green, St Mary Redcliffe, Orchard, Hayesfield and Winterbourne.

Danny BENNETT, Mai GRIFFIN, Lily HANNAN, Barnabas KERESZTES, Linus MACKILLIGIN, Bella MARTIN, Daniel MOLNAR, Dexter MOTT, Caolan PEARCE, Samuel SEDLEN, Annie Wren TALBOT-PONSONBY, Benjamin WALBRIDGE

The competition was similar to their training although there was a small difference which the students found a little frustrating. The 50 second countdown began regardless of the accuracy of the first shot which naturally left some of our stronger shooters felt disadvantaged. Nonetheless our combined year 9 & 10 girls team kicked off the competition followed by two separate teams of year 9 and year 10 boys.

9 & 10 Girls

Lily got the girls off to a fantastic start with some brilliant shooting; nobody was surprised when Lily was first off of the shooting range as she had demonstrated her talents with the pistol throughout training sessions. Not only does Lily shoot well she is also a really gutsy runner and after finishing her first leg, Lily handed over with the girls in first place. Mai Griffin went out second and really set about focusing on the task in hand. Mai shot really well and got off the range in good time in her first and second shoot but perhaps the most impressive part of her leg were her two runs. Mai paced herself brilliantly and didn’t slow up once before handing over. Bella Martin went next and despite only picking up the lazer pistol just minutes earlier showed how quick a learner she was. Bella also ran two really strong legs in combination with some accurate shooting and handed over for the final leg. Redland Green and St Mary Redcliffe had really pushed on by the time Wren Talbot-Ponsonby was on the range and they both had a healthy lead. Wren didn’t let that distract her and she just focused on consolidating third place for her team. Wren pushed herself right to the end of the race after some really impressive running and shooting and secured the bronze medal position for her team in what was a really strong field. They each finished their two rounds of shooting and 400m running in a team time of 21 minutes and 33 seconds.

9 Boys

The year 9 boys had their work cut out from the offset as they were competing against boys in years 10 and 11, including the other SK team, as well as boys their own age. Barney was first in the range and got away well out in second position. Barney’s second shoot was equally strong but he really pushed himself on his final run and handed over in silver medal position. Danny Bennett was up next and gave another brilliantly consistent performance. Danny shot well and ran hard against strong chasers from St Mary Redcliffe. First place was a long way ahead but the battle for second and third was really on and Danny rose to the occasion. Ben Walbridge was up third and did brilliantly considering he had been introduced to the shooting later than his team mates. SMR were really giving strong chase having saved two of their strongest athletes until the end. Ben did his level best to stop SMR opening up a lead and ran himself into the ground to handover for the final leg less than 100 metres back. This gave Sam hope of clawing back the silver medal position which he set about with huge determination. Sam shot and ran out of his skin on the final leg but nobody could have chased down the final SMR athlete. Sam gave all he had to give chase but eventually had to settle for bronze – a phenomenal achievement for the youngest competitors! They each finished their two rounds of shooting and 400m running in a team time of 18 minutes and 27 seconds.

10 Boys

The year 10 boys weren’t sure about their chances but Caolan was determined to get gold and made sure that everyone else on his team was on the same page – his team mates didn’t disappoint! Linus kicked things off with a set of two phenomenal shooting and running displays. Linus was first off the range twice and ran strongly to give Dan Molnar a huge lead after just the first leg! Dan was up second and not even he could have dreamt of shooting as well as he did. Dan hit all 10 targets taking just 12 shots and ran well which opened up the lead even more so. By the time Dexter found himself on the range he had an enormous lead which could easily have caused him to lose focus. Dexter quickly got into the zone and put in a solid performance on the range and on the track to hand over to Caolan with the result all but sealed. Caolan could easily have coasted to the finish but instead absolutely punished himself over 800 metres crossing the line at full tilt. Caolan was a huge driving force behind the team success and offered boys huge levels of encouragement and advice as they went before him. They each finished their two rounds of shooting and 400m running in a team time of 17 minutes and 11 seconds; a lead of almost 1 whole minute.

The year 9 & 10 girls and the year 9 boys both took bronze medals and were also given water bottles. The year 10 boys took gold and were given t-shirts as prizes for their efforts. To watch our students really pushing themselves on when up against some serious resistances makes you really proud. They all know what is coming after the event; burning muscles, jelly legs, stitches, overwhelming feelings of nausea – yet they all keep coming back for more!

Where many would simply quit, this group of students up their performance and meet the challenge head on with some serious resilience. How fantastic to have such an admirable characteristic at such a young age!

Well done to you all for your efforts & achievements.

Mr Cook