Athletics
Friday afternoon and Saturday saw Epsom’s athletes compete for their Houses across the full range of events. Saturday morning’s Lower School event was the first competitive track and field for quite a few pupils, with a school record broken by Axel Ottosson in the Year 8 long jump.
Orla Brown equalled Martha Beresford-Peirse’s recently set Year 7 shot put record. Glyn Hughes came out on top overall in a tightly contested Lower School House competition. Victor and Victrix Ludorum awards for the best all-round athletes went to the following Lower School athletes:
- Year 7 boy: Sam Agoma
- Year 7 girl: Elle Morris
- Year 8 boy: Axel Ottosson
- Year 8 girl: May Henkes
The senior programme was equally impressive. The high jump drew great excitement, as always, and the 100m finals were also particular highlights alongside some tightly contested relays to conclude the programme. House winners in each age group were:
- Junior boys – Robinson
- Junior girls – Rosebery
- Inter boys – Fayrer
- Inter girls – Murrell
- Senior boys – Carr
- Senior girls – White
- Overall boys – Fayrer
- Overall girls – Murrell
School records were broken by the following: Junior girls shot put – Mimi Alalade-Blankson; Senior girls high jump – Raquel Williams; Senior girls triple jump – Sophie Long; Inter boys shot put – Kit Fleming; Senior boys javelin – George Johnson. Victor and Victrix Ludorum awards went to the following athletes: Middle Fourth boy – Sam Timperlake; Middle Fourth girl – Elyanna Oyediran; Upper Fourth boy – Finn Corcoran; Upper Fourth girl – Chia Brown; Fifth Form boy – Flynn Roberts; Fifth Form girl – Xanthe Radloff; Senior boy – Jack Jarvis Sobey; Senior girl – Isabelle Lowe
Cricket
Cricket provided a fantastic morning and afternoon of entertainment for everyone to enjoy.
The Girls’ 1st XI took part in an excellent fixture against an MCC women’s team to start the Founder’s Day cricket. The MCC started brightly, despite Lucy Harris and Phoebe Howe picking up some early wickets, while Keira Johnson and Flo Tanguy kept things in check before a late onslaught by the experienced MCC side took the score to 135 off their 20 overs. Epsom started strongly, with Harris and Johnson regularly finding the boundary before the opposition spinners took control of the game. Sadly the girls couldn’t quite match the runs required and fell short in the chase. A wonderful experience to play against such a distinguished and talented side.
As is traditional, the Boys’ 1st XI took on an OE side. Nathan Farmer and Alfie Haxton set off at a quick pace, entertaining the crowd with a dazzling array of strokes and both making half centuries. The boys continued to play aggressively, declaring early on 233-9. In reply Alfie Webb took three early wickets before former 1st XI Captain Liam Head, ably assisted by OE Finn Savill, made the 1st team work. Head fell for 87 runs, full of his trademark elegant shots. After this the OE chase fell away, with the 1st XI spinners Shamir Shah and Sahil Sheth both picking up wickets.
Rounders
The Inter-House Rounders competition is always a highlight of Founder’s Day and perhaps the most competitive of all. With so many girls playing in both the morning and afternoon, the College grounds were awash with excitement and enjoyment. The winners of each year group were as follows:
- U14: Murrell
- U15: Rosebery
- U16: White
- Seniors: Crawfurd
Tennis
There were two tennis competitions taking place on Founder’s Day, the Individual Singles titles and the Boys’ Founder’s Day House competition.
In the Singles competition, players had been competing to reach the Final throughout the term and two excellent finals materialised. In the Girls’, Natasha Cook defeated Sophie Stephens in a hard-fought battle full of flourishing groundstrokes and great rallies. In the boys’ competition, Sam Hern defeated Peter Burgansky by the closest of margins in an all-Fayrer Upper Fourth final, showing the quality of both these young tennis players.
In the boys’ Middle Fourth and Upper Fourth Founder’s Day house doubles competitions, the plate winners were Forest (M4) and Granville (U4), Runners Up were Holman (M4) and Robinson (U4), with the Overall Winners – Robinson (M4) and Propert (U4).
