Athlā 2021

Athlā, a Wykehamical nickname for ‘school sports day’, took place on a drab and dreary day, unexpected of mid-May in England. Despite the inclement weather, however, the atmosphere contained an aura of excitement for the day to come. After an energetic senior 110m hurdles to start the events, the afternoon soon kicked off with students competing all around the Winchester Sports Stadium; javelin, long jump, high jump and 800m all occurring simultaneously – it was hard for the spectators to be disinterested!

Following some aggressive yet brief showers of rain, the individual events soon came to a finish, for the relays to begin. The showcase of teamwork and speed that all houses portrayed left the supporters screaming encouragement for each other which, considering the tough times the college and world has endured recently, put an unexpected feeling of comfort in many competitors – sports fixtures have been sorely missed in College curriculum. Having had a quick talk with Dr Andrew French - who kept count of all event scores whilst providing the stadium with cheery commentary - ahead of the relays, Hawkin’s (Chawkers) were seemingly edging ahead of Chernocke (Furley’s) on the scorecards.

With inter-house competitiveness ever increasing after every race, the final placings all came down to the Paarlauf’s (8-man relays, where every runner ran a cumulative 200m or 400m, depending on age group). Stellar performances from Moberly’s (Toye’s) in both Junior and Senior Paarlaufs bumped them up to second overall, but Furley’s managed to come out on top at the end; having won the Senior Paarlauf and securing podium positions in the Junior Paarlauf and Senior relays. Considering the miserable conditions of the afternoon, it was brilliant to see such a great turn out of non-competing boys supporting their fellow housemates.