41st National Inter-School Athletics Championships |20 June 2017

Eight records broken

Eight records were broken at Stad Linite on Sunday during the 41st National Inter-School Athletics Championships and this is one more than last year’s count.

A total of 1,074 young athletes competed in the 98 events and their main aim was to get their school to be named the top overall school at the end of the day. However, there were individual honours up for grabs and a host of records awaiting to be broken.

Before the athletes got themselves on the start line though, Education and Human Resource Development Minister Joël Morgan gave the traditional speech, which also acts as the official launch of the championship.

In fact, this was Minister Morgan’s first speech at the championship since his appointment as the minister for Education.

He said: “The National Inter-Schools Athletics Championship has been the main platform where many talented sportsmen have been discovered and nurtured and many of them have seen successful at international level and have made Seychelles proud.”

It is the physical education teachers who are most often responsible for putting together a team of strong athletes to represent their school and Minister Morgan played up the importance of physical activities among the youth.

“At these championships, every year the department of education likes to remind students and parents that sporting activities are essential for the holistic development of individuals. Moreover, regular engagement in sporting activities is of paramount importance for healthy living and the fight against the ever-growing problem of obesity in our country,” said Minister Morgan.

This was actually the last time the championship was hosted on June 18 as was announced earlier in the year and the minister said a committee is discussing what will be the best date to host the event as of next year and the announcement will be made in due time.

The records

The first of the eight records to be broken on the day was in the very first race ‒ the girls’ under 8 mini-hurdles. It was Runa Didon of La Digue School who erased Sophia-Anne Cedras’ previous record of 11.74 seconds set during the same championship in 2014. Didon crossed the finish line at 11.10 to for a new record.

“I am happy to have set a new record and want to thank Sir Gilmen for helping me to get it,” said a timid Didon after collecting her first gold medal.

SBSA’s high jumper Natasha Chetty was next to write her name in the record books as she managed to clear the bar at 1.65m in the girls’ open high jump to break the old 1.55m record set by former SBSA student Samia Almaze in 2015.

Chetty said: “I’m quite happy that after four years I managed to get a new record and I’m pleased with my performance.”

Next to enter the record books was La Digue’s sprinter Shakil Constance who crossed the line in 14.08 seconds in the boys’ under 12 100m sprint, only 1 millisecond faster than Bel Ombre’s Ezra Youngman’s previous record time of 14.09 seconds which had been standing since 2013.

“I am happy that I got a new record,” said Constance, before adding: “My mother and family helped me a lot as well as my physical education instructor.”

Charlaine Lafortune of Plaisance Secondary was the fourth record setter of the day as she rewrote the record books in the girls’ under 14 high jump event. She leapt over the bar at 1.50m to better Natasha Chetty’s previous record of 1.45m set back in 2013, while she was also at the same Plaisance Secondary.

“I wasn’t expecting to set a new record, but I trained hard with coach Carlos and I am happy to have set a new record,” said Lafortune.

“I expect to do better in the future as I tried to clear the bear at 1.53m, but did not manage it today.”

English River Secondary also had a record breaker in their ranks with Caleb Vadivello establishing a new boys’ under 16 400m record of 51.69 seconds to erase the previous record of 53.18 held by Anse Royale Secondary’s Randolph Prudence since 2008.

“I am very happy with my performance and I want to thank my coach who really trained me well for this,” said Vadivello. “I was only expecting a medal today, so to set a new record and win gold is a bonus,” he added.

Clith Stravens from Belonie Secondary was also among Sunday’s record-breakers. Competing in the boys’ under 16 long jump event, his jump of 6.31m was enough to earn him the gold medal and title of record holder.

Stravens erased Praslin’s Nerry Luc’s record of 6.20m set back in 2008.

“I was pretty confident of breaking the record today as I already have a personal best of 6.42m and I’m pleased with the result, although there wasn’t too much competition,” said Stravens.

Anse Royale Secondary also managed to add a new record to its name and that was in the boys’ under 16 4x100m relay and the team comprised Jean-Pierre Barallon, Darryl Hibonne, Johannus Lucas and Joshua Onezime. With the previous record standing at 46.27 seconds since 2008 and belonging to Anse Boileau Secondary, the Anse Royale boys crossed the line in a time of 46.14 seconds to make the record theirs.

“The race was tight as you saw and by the third exchange of baton we needed to catch up which we managed to do,” said the boys. “We really wanted to break this record and we came all out for it and are very happy to have done it.”

The final record broken on the day came in the boys’ open 4x100m relay where the Seychelles Maritime Academy (SMA) erased the Seychelles Institute of Technology’s (SIT) 43.94 seconds previous record time set in 2014. The boys from SMA improved the record to 43.33 seconds.

“We were not expecting it at all. We trained hard in the little time we had and are pleased that we have managed to get the new record today” said the SMA team of Roland Racombo, Janosh Moncherry, Jeffreyno Pool, Eronn Vidot and Stephano Bibi.

The championship’s director Wilfred Adrienne said he was very pleased with this year championships.

“I think that everything went well, both on the organisation part and also I think all the athletes did their very best today,” he said.

S. N.