Schools International Competition
Grangemouth Stadium, Falkirk – Saturday 18th July 2015
The Schools International Athletics Board arranges a small number of events annually, to provide competition for the elite young athletes from England, Wales, Scotland and All Ireland.
An International meeting is usually arranged for the weekend after the English Schools Championships. The gold and silver medallists from the English School’s events are selected to represent England at this meeting. The athletes who represent Wales, Scotland and Ireland are the gold and silver winners from their countries equivalent events.
All of the athletic events and disciplines are contested, and each of the four nations had two athletes representing them in each event.
The 2015 Under 17’s International was held at the Grangemouth Stadium in Falkirk, Scotland, on Saturday 18th of July 2015.
Kingston’s Olivia Stevenson, who was the English Schools silver medallist, was selected to represent England in the Hammer competition. The England Squad travelled up to Grangemouth together, by train. Ollie was looking forward to her first International competition and hoping to enjoy the whole experience.
The conditions on the day were grim. It was cold and miserable and it was raining, accompanied by strong winds, with gusts of up to 50mph.
The hammer contestants were the top 8 under 17 throwers in the UK and it was a tight and highly competitive competition. She had a slightly inconsistent start but managed to get a throw out to 54.96m which ultimately earned her a silver medal. Her main rival Katie Head managed to pip Ollie for the gold. The two girls have been ranked no’s 1 and 2 UK all season, interchanging those rankings several times and both of them this season have held the British record.
She thoroughly enjoyed her experience but was disappointed with the distance she threw. That however was down to the conditions alone.
She met many new people who she will stay in touch with, as is the norm in athletics. The England team supported each other in all the events, they cheered each other on and the support and good will from the other competing teams was also much appreciated. Only a handful of the English athletes returned home without a medal.
Ollie’s season is still far from over. She is now busy training and preparing for three more major championships which are coming up in the next five weeks.
On the weekend of the 15th and 16th of August she will be up in Middlesbrough for the Northern under 17 Championships, where she will be defending the title she won in 2014.
She will make the journey down to Bedford on the weekend of the 29th and 30th of August, for the England under 17 Championships. In 2014 she brought the silver medal home from there.
From the 3rd to the 6th of September, she will be in Manchester, representing Northern England at the ‘Sainsbury’s’ UK School Games. Ollie is making her debut appearance at these games, which all of our athletes, who have been to them in past years, have thoroughly enjoyed.
