Waltham Forest Primary Schools Championship

Orion Harriers Juniors hosted the Waltham Forest Primary Schools Championship on Saturday 16thMarch and 20 schools were represented with 126 boys and 93 girls competing in this annual event. All the competitors did themselves and their school proud because they all completed the one mile course despite the worst known conditions of wind, rain and mud. The girls race kick started the day and Orion were delighted to have the first seven girls finishers, they were  Aoibheann Pearce 1st (Handsworth), Megan Penfold 2nd (Oakhill) , Heidi Tanyi 3rd (St Patricks),  Charlotte Grant 4th(Chingford C of E),  Bethany Chambers 5th  (Yardley), Alex Goodfellow 6th (Henry Maynard) and Mandeep Weiss 7th (Chingford C of E).  In the schools team event, it was Chingford C of E 1st, Chase Lane 2nd and Yardley 3rd. The girls nicely churned up the mud for the boy’s race but this didn’t dampen the boy’s enthusiasm and determination all through the race. Once again Orion members dominated the front finishing positions, with Ciar McLarty 1st (Greenleaf), Saul Ashon 2nd (Henry Maynard), Cameron Campbell 3rd (Chase Lane), Jack Moore 4th (Chase Lane) and Malachi Hercules 7th (Chase Lane). In the boys team event it was Yardley that took the champion’s title with Greenleaf 2nd and Chase Lane 3rd. The Alan Tucker trophy encourages schools to bring a team of eight boys and eight girls and it’s the team that has the quickest eighth runner in first, this excludes the schools that already won a team award. The trophy went to Greenleaf Boys and Chingford C of E girls. The race was concluded with a presentation at the Orion Harriers club house and Shona Gordon (race coordinator, School Games Organiser and Orion schools liaison officer) said that the race was a huge success and she was delighted that twenty schools were represented which was the highest number of participation since the race was formed. David Bryant (Waltham Forest Primary Schools Sport Association Chair) thanked Shona and son Ben (scoring coordinator) for organising such a great event and also thanked everyone at Orion for hosting the event. Jane Farrier (junior club manager) congratulated everyone who participated in such a demanding cross country course and thanked all the marshals, sweepers, first aiders, refreshments helper and all the younger Orion members who volunteered and made the event a great success. If you would like to know more about Orion Harriers Juniors contact Jane on 07790 737164 or check out the Orion Junior websitewww.orionharriersjuniors.org