TV Features

Kurt Barling followed a team of elite London athletes to Gateshead taking part in the  2008 Sainsbury’s English Schools Track & Field Championships.

Sometimes the perception of young people in the news is so unremittingly negative that you could be forgiven for overlooking the positive achievements of so many.

I must declare an interest.  On the 11th and 12th July I attended the English Schools Athletics Championship in the North Eastern town of Gateshead because my eldest son was competing for his county, Middlesex.   The weather was typically drizzly but spirits were anything but dampened.

Rhion Samuel of Middlesex

He was one of a few hundred school pupils from across London, representing counties as diverse as Essex, Kent, Surrey, London, Middlesex, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire.  All had competed in their various county and district championships and excelled sufficiently in their discipline to compete against the best in their age groups from around the country.

A few years ago this schools' event was threatened with bankruptcy.   Having lost its banking sponsor and having used up its reserves no-one it seemed would step in, not even the governing body of track and field, UK Athletics, which has its own national events for club athletes. 

An event founded in between the two great wars of the last century seemed to be going the 21st century way of so many other voluntary activities for young people.  Under funded and neglected by public agencies.

There were, however, many offers of support from individuals.  No doubt many of whom had benefited from taking part in the event over the years.  One anonymous lady donor offered an interest free loan after selling her house to tide the ESAA (English Schools Athletics Association) over a particularly bad patch.

The event is also in the middle of a three-year deal to televise the championships by Sky Sports.   This has inevitably raised the profile of the event and once again has provided the focus of the sporting dreams of thousands of children, parents and coaches.

The Gateshead stadium has been the venue for many an athletic triumph all starting with Brendan Foster’s World Record during the opening event over 30 years ago.   The North East has a reputation for their love of sport but particularly track and field.

With parents descending on the place from all over the country the schools event had a very special atmosphere.  

The crowd is both partisan but also very sporting.   In fact on occasions it seemed as if the biggest show of appreciation was for those athletes that came last but showed a fight to the line, however far adrift of the winners they were.  All very British.

Over 150 events in two days of competition showed a level of commitment from young athletes across the age range which belies the idea that young people are increasingly incapable of doing anything positive.  I lost count of the number of aching limbs being dragged across the final few metres towards the finishing line.

For the Middlesex athletes, as for those from other counties, it was a unique opportunity to take part in a team event at national level in a sport which is built around delivering individual performances.  

Antonio Infantino of Hertfordshire

Nationally almost a million secondary school children have been competed to grace the winner’s podium at school and district level.   44,000 athletes will have then competed in the 44 county championships.  Only then were the county teams selected, sending their champions and best performers to these championships.  Sixty young people in the case of Middlesex.  

Not only is this event the highlight of the schools athletics season but it is the foundation of the sport in this country.  Those that succeed here often use it as a stepping stone not only into senior athletics but into football, rugby, basketball and a range of other team sports.  Many end up competing professionally or pursuing careers in the sporting field.

There is a saying that those destined to be champions are the athletes that are seriously put out by coming second. Judging by the number of high emotions and tears on the finishing line over the weekend this event remains a crucible for such future champions.

You have to ask yourself just how much effort from countless numbers of school teachers, track coaches and thousands of volunteers have made all this possible and how little this effort is registered.  At a time when bleak headlines dominate and so much is reported as going wrong for young people, perhaps its time to talk a little more about our successes.

The Middlesex squad of girls and boys came away with its fair share of glory.   Some outstanding performances put individuals on the gold spot on the podium.  There was a clutch of silver and bronzes.  Others distinguished themselves in getting to their event finals.   All the teams' competitors shared in the pain and the glory of being involved in a theatre of sporting dreams.  

I’d wager serious money that this weekend I witnessed at least a handful of athletes who I will end up watching in the East End of London come 2012.   As a parent I also dreamed a little.

Rhion Samuel  Inter Boys 200m Champion from Middlesex
Antonio Infantino  Senior Boys 200m Champion from Herts