Allendale East Area School recently held its annual sports day before competing in the Interschool Sports Day a week later.
Despite the less-than-ideal weather conditions on its school sports day, there were three records broken at the event in with Max Pitson recording 1.27m in the sub junior boys high jump, Harri Kinnion with 1.60m in the intermediate boys high jump and Jacob Spehr who recorded 12.92m in the senior boys shotput.
Orange team Northumberland won on the day with 886 points while a mere two points separated Banks and Douglas in second and third place respectively.
Following the sports day, students had a short time to prepare for interschool sports day which was held at Lucindale Area School.
Every year, the area schools from around the region come together and compete in interschool sports day including Allendale East, Kangaroo Inn and Lucindale area schools and Kingston Community School.
Each school has a turn at hosting this event, and after 2022 being cancelled due to COVID all roads led the area schools to Lucindale.
In the sub junior category, there were some outstanding performances.
Zach Howard won overall champion in the boys, placing first in the high jump, long jump, shot put, 100m and 200m, which included breaking the 200m record by 0.1 of a second.
Fellow Allendale East student Taj Vandepeer finished in 3rd overall, which was also a huge achievement, collecting three ribbons on the day for a 1st in the 400m, 2nd in the 200m and 3rd in the 100m sprint.
Kade Grosvenor also collected a first-place ribbon in the discus.
Skyla Hopgood was another outstanding athlete on the day and placed second overall in the girl’s division, collecting herself three 2nd placings in the 100m, 400m and the long jump, whilst taking out 3rd in the 200m.
In the junior category there were once again some great achievements.
Oliver Fox leapt into 1st place for his high jump efforts, while Jagger McDonald and Cody Vandepeer managed multiple 3rd and 4th ribbons for the 100m and 800m respectively.
Kade Gilmore also collected 4th place in the long jump.
For the girls it was Evie Jones who jumped onto the podium with a first in long jump and two 4th placings in shotput and high jump.
Lucy Neale battled hard all day and collected three 4th place ribbons in the 100m, 200m and 800m events as well as a 3rd in the long jump.
Lily Whan and Zaria Shephard both managed a 4th in their events of javelin and hurdles.
In the intermediate boys it was Brock Bowman who led the way collecting a swag of ribbons, taking home a first in the 800m, second in the 400m and two 4th placings in the 100m and 200m events.
Ryleigh Atchison also did a great job receiving a first-place ribbon for his discus efforts and second in both the javelin and hurdles while Zavier Hunt managed a third in the discus.
For the girls, Taya Vandepeer soared down the hurdles track to collect a 3rd place ribbon while Evie Jones – competing in the age group above her own – claimed a second-place ribbon in the high jump.
The senior and open categories can be a bit light on for numbers at times, but these students always give it a crack regardless of the stiff competition.
Muscle man Jacob Spehr pushed and threw his way onto the top of podium in discus and shotput, throwing further than his record-breaking effort at the Allendale East sports day.
New student Tyrone Farrell placed third in the javelin against some of his former teammates from Lucindale.
In the girls, it was Alicetyn Stanley who did the school proud, competing in many of her events as the lone Allendale East competitor and finishing out 4th in the 100m sprint.
Bradley Neale cleaned up, taking home a first in the discus and hurdles, third in the javelin and four 4th placings in the long jump, 100m, high jump and triple jump.
Jacob Spehr placed 2nd in shotput and 4th in discus in the above age group.
Jack Kain also attended and competed in a swag of open events.
For the girls it was Ava Gollan-Grosvenor who managed three 4th placings in the shotput, 100m and javelin events.
Overall, Allendale East placed second in both the sub junior championship shield and the junior improvement shield.
Allendale East Area School sports coordinator Mark Rumbelow said it was an ‘awesome’ day despite the school not taking home any team silverware this year.
“Firstly, a huge thanks to all of our students for their outstanding efforts,” he said.
“There is no doubt interschool can be daunting and we as staff congratulate all of you in the way you represented Allendale East.
“Throughout the day there was courage, excellence and respect continually being demonstrated, which is a real credit to you all.
“Thanks also to the staff who made the quick turn after sports day possible.
“There is a lot that needs to happen to make these days work, made even tougher by the time schedule this year, so thank you.
“Looking forward to doing it all again in 2024.”
