Four competitors, four victories for Elite Squad in 1km Dash
On Wednesday 30th September, in warm conditions at Chengelo School, pupils gathered either at the school turning circle or 1km down the road to watch or compete in the annual 1km Dash competition. Three athletes from the Chengelo Elite Athletics Squad plus one coach waited at the start line, ready to showcase their talents and see how their training in the past few weeks would affect the outcome of their race.
The format was slightly different this year, with Junior Girls and Boys running together. Johanna Bangala stepped up alongside some of her male and female counterparts and ran a superb pace throughout to beat all competitors including boys! Her time of 3 minutes 8 seconds was 20 seconds faster than her previous record and will surely stand for a long time.
Herbert Mithi was hoping to beat his previous Intermediate Boys' record of 3 minutes 2 seconds. He started off incredibly fast and maintained a decent pace before finishing strongly and claiming first place in a new record of 3 minutes flat. He will be targeting the Senior Boys' record next year, which he is fully capable of beating with continued training and development.
Chigo Kawonga and coach Josh Gibbons were up against each other in the Senior Boys and Staff race. Chigo had the school record of 2 minutes 48 seconds in his sights but was left lamenting the lack of serious competition as he fell three seconds short of the record. Mr Gibbons' target was to beat the staff record of 3 minutes 37 seconds set last year by Mr Fraser Swan. He finished as the first staff member in a time of 3 minutes 12 seconds to complete a clean sweep for the Chengelo Elite Athletics Squad!
