Sports round up, November 2017
November’s sporting fixture list was an exceptionally busy one for teams across the park at St Edward’s, and there have been some tremendous successes against some tenacious opposition.
The U14A XI girls’ hockey team led from the front in action in the Group Stages of the Regional Hockey Tournament this month, taking good wins versus Godolphin and Latymer and Lord Wandsworth College to progress to the Regional Semi-Finals where they will face St George’s. You can read a more full account of the tournament group stage here.
Elsewhere on the astro turfs the U15A XI got the month off to an excellent start, winning as they did 5-0 away at Beaconsfield. They followed this up with a superb victory over Cranford – 10-0 – with the U14B XI winning 5-0 against the same opposition. The 2nd XI stormed home with a romping 8-0 result against MCS, outscoring themselves later in the month, winning 9-0 in a game versus Oxford High, a fixture in which the 1st XI also triumphed 6-0. There was also a noteworthy win for the U16B XI against Cheltenham, 4-1 and a heatedly contested draw versus MCS for the 1st XI, ending 1-1.
The best of the rugby action was to be found among the block fixtures versus Monmouth. The 1st XV, no doubt buoyed after returning from Half Term to win their match versus local rivals Abingdon 13-12 the week before, put in another strong performance in a tight game to win 29-25. The Colts A were in dominant form, running out 22-0 winners, meanwhile the Junior Colts A continued their scintillating form this season with a 54-5 victory after a 26-17 win over Abingdon the week before, seeing them move on to 8 wins from 9. The Junior Colts B and Yearlings B XVs were also among the wins against Monmouth, chalking up 26-7 and 41-10 results respectively.
The Harriers were in action at the Oxford City Cross Country, with tremendous results both in their teams and individually. The Intermediate girls won their category, with the boys coming fifth in the intermediate event, whilst in the seniors, the girls came in with another impressive return, finishing second, with the senior boys also finding good form to come in third. The best Teddies runners in each category were Matilda Pumfrey (3rd), William Robertson-Acolet (15th), Harriet Batstone (4th), and Matt Thornton (3rd).
On the water the Boat Club returned to action and to winning ways at the Pangbourne Junior Sculls. The junior boys’ quad took the day’s fastest time over the 3km course, whilst there were also impressive results in the single and double sculls. A report in the Oxford Mail by John Wiggins is available here.
Teddies equestrians had another successful outing at the NSEA Championships, with the team of Victoria Iliffe, Gini Hope, Izzy Rees and Izzy Hall finishing tenth in the country in the 105cm show jumping category. Already an impressive achievement, this was surely made doubly so by it being their first competitive outing together as a team. Izzy Rees also competed in the 110cm Jumping with Style finishing a brilliant fourth. A final congratulations must go to Izzy Hall who was invited to join an England Team in a Nations Cup Show Jumping event, and was part of the winning team, triumphing over Wales and Scotland.
Congratulations to international lacrosse player Tom Loake OSE on his selection for the 2018 World Cup team to compete in Israel next summer. Tom, who left Teddies in 2008, played in the 2014 World Cup in Denver, and was captain of Scotland at the 2016 European Championships in Budapest. Tom says, ‘I played a lot of rugby at Teddies but had to give up because of a shoulder injury so I got involved in lacrosse at Exeter University.’
Photo Credit: Simon Hipwell