SOUTH and West Dorset pupils excelled themselves at this
year’s Dorset Primary Athletics Championships.

The area squad put in a host of impressive performances at King’s Park Athletics Centre in Bournemouth, with three athletes celebrating double glory.

Caila Kirkpatrick (Conifers Primary) won the Year Five girls’ 150m title (23.14secs) and Charlotte Harris (Radipole) triumphed in the Year Five girls’ 55m hurdles (10.78secs) before both girls helped the South and West relay team to victory.

For the boys, Elliot Rossiter (St Osmund’s Middle) struck gold in the Year Five 55m hurdles (10.38secs) and was also part of a winning relay team.

Other victories came courtesy of George Carter (Chickerell), who won the Year Four boys’ 60m sprint final (9.17secs), and Rhiannon Carter (Holy Trinity), who took the Year Five girls’ high jump (1.14m) and the Year Six boys’ relay team.

Silver medals went to Jacob Coombs (Conifers Primary) in the Year Five boys’ long jump (4.14m), Bethany Galley (Conifers Primary) in the Year Five girls’ 75m sprint (11.58secs), A Cox in the Year Five boys’ high jump (1.20m) and Kim Starnes (Wyke Regis), who was beaten into first place by a mere centimetre in the Year Four girls’ long jump (3.23m).

The boys (29 points) were narrowly beaten by East Dorset (35pts) in the overall standings but did finish above Bournemouth (27pts) and Poole (23pts).

Bournemouth (48pts) were the clear winners in the girls’ competition, but again South and West Dorset (26pts) took second spot, with East Dorset (22pts) third and Poole (18pts) fourth.

The results brought yet another call from team manager Don Whistance for local authorities to improve athletics facilities in South and West Dorset.

The Conifers teacher said: “Results over the years at county level have proved that we have the talent in the area but those children have sadly been let down over the years.

“At King’s Park and Ashdown Athletics Centre in Poole the children run and compete on all-weather tracks. In Weymouth, we have a track that, when it rains, becomes waterlogged and often causes our area championships to be abandoned.

“Lord Sebastian Coe has stated that ‘by linking young people to the values of sport, it will help inspire kids to strive to be the best they can’ but the children cannot do that until we provide a modern all-weather track.

“Only then will we be making a difference and only then can we talk in real terms of what is meant by a legacy.”