Last month award-nominated athletics club the Exeter Harriers ran an excellent festival of athletics. Our Sports Officer Doug went along to see the group in action.
The festival took place on Sunday 23 of September. Seven brave athletes shrugged off worries about the possibility of rain and cold and took part in four events: 60m Sprint, Standing Long Jump, Vortex Throw and 200m.
The 60m sprint was the first event. All the competitors burst out the traps and crossed the line with such enthusiasm that the tone for the day was definitely set.
Barely out of breath, they then moved on to the next challenge, the standing long jump.
After a couple of practice jumps, each athlete completed three recorded jumps and every single one noted a significant improvement and wowed the crowd. The winner even enjoyed a bit of a sunbathe in the pit after their winning jump!
The vortex throw required all the athletes to throw against a stiff breeze but they performed admirably.
The fantastic Game Changer volunteers helped the athletes keep motivated and measured their throws, under the very close scrutiny of the athletes who made sure that every centimetre was counted.
The hardest event of the day and its finale was the 200 metres. The athletes ran round the track to cheers from parents and other athletes, and the fantastic effort they put in was evident by the looks on their faces at the end. Each did really well and had a fantastic photo-finish taken by the Exeter Harriers finish line camera.
After all the competing, there was just time for every athlete to get a personalised certificate with all their results recorded on and a medal, and pose for the cameras as their name was announced on the stadiums PA system. Then it was time to shake hands and leave for a well deserved rest with big smiles on their face.
A huge thank you to Exeter Harriers and the Game
Changer programme volunteers for all their hard work in ensuring the event was such a success. See you next year!
