1:50pm Wednesday 27th August 2008
A CHEQUE for £900 has been presented to a Cornish school to help its pupils enhance their burgeoning sporting reputation by competing at national events.
Truro Conservatives presented the money, raised through a charity golf day at Truro Golf Club to Anna Harrison, from Doubletrees School.
Anna, a teacher at the school told the packed club about the recent sporting success of Doubletrees School pupils.
She told the club that, after qualifying for the National Championships at the regional South West meeting at Exeter in May, three students from Doubletrees School travelled to Blackpool with “high hopes and plenty of excitement”.
Thomas Cook, Daniel Cornwall and Joseph Schenk were competing against athletes from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales at the Stanley Park Arena. A fourth student, Connor Pearce, was unable to attend the National Championships despite having qualified for the high jump.
Anna told the club that Thomas Cook ran the 100m in 14.6 seconds to secure a place in the final. There, he shaved 0.4 seconds of his time to cross the finish line in 7th place.
The club heard that both Danny Cornwall and Thomas Cook competed in the 400m. Unfortunately for Danny he was unable to get the pace right and ran below his usual standard, eventually coming fifth.
Anna told the club that Thomas was the reigning 400m champion and hoped to defend his title. He ran a faster time than last year to win the school’s first medal, a bronze, just 1.5 seconds behind the eventual winner.
Anna told the club that the 4 x 100m relay was the final race of the day, and one of the most exciting with Rob Belbin, the South West team manager choosing two Doubletrees athletes to compete.
Anna said: “Thomas Cook ran an impressive first leg to put the team into second place. Danny Cornwall was chosen to run the difficult third leg bend. He ran the race of his life and the South West finished in second place behind a very strong Welsh team. The Welsh were then disqualified for two illegal changeovers which promoted the South West team to gold medal position.”
All three pupils were scheduled to compete in the first event on Sunday morning, with Joseph Schenk and Thomas Cook having won gold and a national record in the high jump in 2007. Unfortunately a fault with the high jump mat caused the event to be cancelled much to everyone’s disappointment.
In the long jump, Danny Cornwall jumped a distance of 3.97metres to finish in fourth place while Joseph achieved a throw of 18.18m in the discus, earning him a gold medal before achieving 6.24m in the shot putt to take the bronze.
Anne said: “The three student athletes left Cornwall for Blackpool with hope and excitement.
“They came back with three gold and two bronze medals and one national record, which was a fabulous experience “At the start of the weekend Joseph coined the phrase ‘we are the best in the West’. On Sunday, on the journey home Mike Schenk topped that with ‘They were the sensation in the nation’.”
Anna said that, without sponsorship and donations the students may have missed out on a fantastic experience.
She thanked Susan Sharland, Lady Captain at Truro Golf Club (£100); Pat Pearce and Mary Webber from Truro Conservative Club (£900) Catherine Schenk (£70) for their donations.
Anna also thanked Mo Pearson and her team of coaches from Cornwall Athletics; James Clark from the Active Lifestyles unit for sponsoring the use of Par Athletics track; Mo Thayre, Partnership Development Manager at Poltair School Sport Partnership for funding and supporting our Gifted and Talented programme; and athletics coach Keith Cotterill, who trained the squad weekly for the past two years.
Anna said: “With results like these and the sense of achievement engendered, it has all been worthwhile.”
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