39th annual Inter-School Athletics Championships - Anse Royale, SIT retain titles |19 June 2015

• Anse Boileau new primary winners

Anse Royale made it three successive wins in the secondary school category and Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT) collected a second win in a row in the post secondary, while Anse Boileau dethroned La Digue as primary champions.

All three schools collected their crowns at the end of yesterday’s 39th annual Inter-School Athletics Championships at Stad Linite and organised for the first time on June 18 – Constitution Day.

This annual competition was once again attended by President James Michel, Vice-President Danny Faure, Designated Minister Vincent Meriton, Education Minister Macsuzy Mondon, other ministers, members of the National Assembly, members of the diplomatic corps, high government officials as well as parents and school children who had come down to support their schoolmates.

Given out for the second time this year after they were introduced in 2014, the Young Athlete Health Promotion awards went to Anse Boileau (primary with 84 points), Anse Royale (secondary 81 points) and School of Business Studies and Accounting (post secondary 83 points).

After a very long wait, Anse Boileau won the primary category with 109 points and 8 medals – 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze.

Physical education instructor Jeff Appasamy told Seychelles NATION his students have been training since last year for the championships.

“They’ve done so well and I’m proud of my students. Our preparations for the championships started last year and we kept up the momentum all throughout this year to be in top form today (yesterday),” said Mr Appasamy.

Baie Lazare finished joint-second with La Digue on 102 points. Baie Lazare won 12 medals – 3 gold, 3 silver and 6 bronze – while La Digue got 12 medals – 5 gold, 4 silver and 3 bronze.
Anse Royale made it three successive wins in the secondary school category with 357 points after amassing 36 medals – 18 gold, 7 silver and 11 bronze.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, physical education instructor Rachel Lozé said the secret to this year’s massive success lies in a change in the curriculum.

“Although we had won over the last two years we knew we did not have good athletes in field events. We therefore changed our sports curriculum this year and opted to do athletics during the first term so as to detect new talents. Then the new talents were given to Sir Jeris (Rachel) and he did the rest. I’m happy with the results and I’m sure we will do even better next year,” said Ms Lozé who has Steven Domingue and Hazel Rachel as physical education colleagues.

As for Jeris Rachel he is a science teacher but runs the Arsu athletics club.
Second in the secondary category was Praslin with 264 points and 21 medals – 5 gold, 5 silver and 11 bronze – while La Digue finished third with 236 points and 18 medals – 5 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze.

For a second year running, the Seychelles Institute of Technology collected the post secondary title with 141 points and 16 medals – 8 gold, 3 silver and 5 bronze.
Carpentry instructor Jude Lepathy described the win as “very encouraging” and he added he was “confident the school would retain the title”.

Volleyballer Lepathy said he took charge of the team’s preparations as they do not have a physical education instructor.

Second overall was Visual Arts with 90 points and 12 medals – 2 gold, 5 silver and 5 bronze – and third place went to Seychelles Police Academy with 86 points and 8 medals – 4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze.

President Michel presented the Fair Play awards and Baie Ste Anne received the prize for competitors at primary level with 138 points, 10 ahead of Anse Royale and Bel Ombre was third with 123 points. Anse Royale won Fair Play award for spectators at primary level with 173 points followed by Anse Boileau (165 points) and Baie Lazare (162 points).

In the secondary category, Anse Royale lifted the Fair Play trophy for competitors after amassing 94 points and Anse Boileau finished second with 92 points while La Digue was third on 90 points. Anse Royale also won the Fair Play cup for spectators with 119 points followed in second and third places by Anse Boileau (113 points) and Beau Vallon (111 points).

The Seychelles Institute of Teacher Education (Site) picked up the Fair Play cup for spectators in the post secondary category with 119 points while Seychelles Police Academy (118 points) and School of Business Studies and Accounting (106 points) finished second and third respectively.

The Seychelles Agricultural and Horticultural Training Centre (SAHTC) triumphed with 95 points in the competitors category with Site (91 points) and SBSA (90 points) taking second and third places.
The prize for the best small school was shared by Baie Lazare and La Digue with 102 points apiece and third was Port Glaud with 28 points.

The schools with the most gold medals are La Digue (5 in the primary category), Anse Royale (18 in the secondary category) and Seychelles Institute of Technology (8 in the post secondary category). These trophies were presented by President Michel.

The special under-14 title went to La Rosière primary with 7 points followed by Port Glaud (5) and Mont Fleuri (4).
The following are this year’s category winners: Grand Anse Praslin primary (girls’ under 8 with 27 points), Anse Boileau primary (boys’ under 8 with 27 points), Mont Fleuri primary (girls’ U10 with 26 points), La Digue primary (boys’ U10 with 42 points), Baie Lazare primary (girls’ U12 with 32 points), Grand Anse Praslin primary (boys’ U12 with 30 points), Anse Royale secondary (girls’ under 14 with 46 points), Plaisance secondary (boys’ U14 with 42 points), Anse Royale secondary (girls’ under 16 with 94 points), Pointe Larue (boys’ under 16 with 64 points), Anse Royale secondary (girls’ U18 with 69 points), Anse Royale secondary (boys’ U18 with 71 points), Seychelles Police Academy (girls’ open with 53 points), and Seychelles Institute of Technology (boys’ open with 90 points).