Congratulations to seven schools, which gained trophies at these NASUWT Cymru finals, arguably the best grassroots track & field team competition for secondary schools in Wales.

This was the twenty-fifth time that the Cup final has been held, with Carmarthen (in 1990) the only time that the fixture has not been staged at Brecon’s Penlan Arena.

The Plate final – the brain child of former International Secretary, Mike Walters – is a recent addition having been staged for the first time in 2007, but it provides an alternative stage for our emerging talent to make their mark.

This year’s winners were:

Cup

U16 Boys – Years 9 & 10	U14 Boys – Years 7 & 8	U16 Girls – Years 9 & 10	U14 Girls – Years 7 & 8
Gwyr	Afon Taf	Welshpool	Cardiff High

Plate

U16 Boys – Years 9 & 10	U14 Boys – Years 7 & 8	U16 Girls – Years 9 & 10	U14 Girls – Years 7 & 8
Sir Thomas Picton	Cwm Rhymni	Bro Myrddin	Welshpool

Of the four Cup winners, both Gwyr (u16 boys)and Cardiff High (u14 girls)were winning their respective sections for the third time – with Cardiff High (11) nudging ahead of Cwm Rhymni (10) in the number of total Cup wins – while Afon Taf (u14 boys) and Welshpool (u16 girls) gained their first ever success in the competition. That Welshpool win was also only the second time that a Powys school has won a Cup section.

The u14 boys’ section at the Glamorgan Valleys district final must have been a really tough competition because the winners, Afon Taf, enjoyed a winning margin of 16 points over Gwyr at Brecon in the Cup Final while the runners-up, Cwm Rhymni, had a similar lead over second placed Whitchurch in the equivalent Plate section.

Bro Myrddin (u16 girls Plate) was the only school to win a section for the second consecutive year. On the day, it was announced that they had tied with Gwyr but had won on the number of individual wins but a check of the scores gave the Dyfed school a narrow one point win. Sir Thomas Picton, winners of both the u16 Girls and u14 Boys Cups last year, had to settle for a Plate title – the u16 Boys – this year, and Welshpool, having gained a first ever Cup win, became the first Powys school to win a Plate – the u14 girls.

Three new cup bests were set.

Inevitably, year 10 Adele Nicoll added her name to the list – again. The Welshpool High pupil made her first appearance in this competition in 2009 when, a s a year 7, she set a new u14 girls’ Cup best in the shot (2.72 kg) of 11.12 metres. In 2010, again in the u14 Cup, she contested the discus (0.75 kg), winning with a new best of 35.92 metres. Last year, the Welshpool u16 girls had to settle for a place in the Plate final, and Adele, now in year 9, was back in shot action with the 3.25 kg implement, setting a new best of 13.23 metres. In her final appearance, Adele was back in Cup action and in the discus (1 kg) – and again she claimed victory with a throw of 43.87 metres, over 10 metres further than Stephanie Owen’s 2005 mark (32.87m) – and had the added bonus of helping her school to a first ever win in the Cup. Has any pupil set a new best each year for four consecutive years at this fixture?

The second new best came in the one track event for which the Plate best was better than it’s Cup equivalent – the u16 boys’ 300 metres. Olchfa’s James Broomfield clocked the fastest Cup time in 2003 at 37.4 seconds while Ricky Watts (Sir Thomas Picton) recorded 37.1 to win the Plate final in its inaugural year. All that was changed this year when Ryan Davies (Dyffryn Taf) stopped the photofinish timer at 37.03 seconds in the Cup race, hacking nearly four-tenths off the previous best.

Year 8 Jake Heyward (Llanishen), our Welsh Schools’ year 7 cross-country champion in March 2011, has spent much of the summer running encouraging times over 1500 metres but here he was unleashed over two laps and ended up with a new u14 Cup best of 2:09.06, finishing over 15 seconds clear of the next finisher and hacking over 5 seconds off the 2:14.7 clocking set by Trefor Neale (John Bright, Eryri) as long ago as 1997.

There has usually been a hatful of new Plate bests each year recently – there were fifteen new individual and two relay bests in 2011 – but there were only four this time, despite a helpful following breeze for the sprinters.

In the u16 boys’ section, Jac Hopkins (Bishopston, year 10) and Tom Trotman (Cowbridge, year 9) warmed up for the Aviva SIAB Schools’ u17 international on the following Saturday with new event bests. Jac, down to compete over 3000 metres at SIAB, won the 1500 metres in 4:16.31, knocking over 5 seconds off the 2010 time of 4:21.51 set by Tom Earley (Eirias). High jumper Tom set an u14 Cup best of 1.70 metres last year. This time, he cleared 1.78 metres in his eight attempts, winning by eight centimetres and adding three centimetres to the 1.75 metres cleared in 2008 by Ashley Jones (Bassaleg).

While Adele Nicoll was setting a new discus best in the u16 Cup, another year 10, Stephanie Nicholas (Gwyr), threw the 1 kg implement 33.65 metres to win the Plate competition, and improve the 31.03 metres best set by Sabrina Fortune (Argoed) last year.

The last Plate best came in the u14 boys’ javelin. Ben Metcalf (Cwm Rhymni) became the first boy to throw over the 40 metres mark with the 400 gram javelin, winning with 40.17 metres, an improvement of more than a metre on the 2007 best of 39.06 set by Scott Phillips (Coedcae).

Although there were many positives from the meeting, there were two disappointments. Only seven teams competed in the u16 girls’ Cup and the u16 boys’ plate. Chepstow, the South East Wales qualifiers in the u16 girls’ cup, withdrew on the day of the event while Connah’s Quay, winners of the u16 boys’ section in the North East Wales final, decided not to compete because their school sports day was scheduled for July 11^th. Rhosnesni, second in the North East competition, were upgraded from the Plate to the Cup but there was no additional team to fill the gap in the Plate. Although it is almost impossible to replace a school which withdraws on the day, perhaps Welsh Schools needs to develop a contingency policy to fill known gaps a week ahead of the Finals. Perhaps the third placed school from Powys might be put on an emergency substitute list.

This event is also called the Charlie Hughes Trophy meeting as a mark of the respect and affection in which the long serving Treasurer and President is held. In 2009, former association Chairman and Secretary, Mrs Buddug Llwyd-Jones, and her husband, Iolo, provided a new trophy – the Charlie Hughes Trophy – to be awarded to the ‘leading’ school at these Finals. In 2009, Whitchurch were the first recipients. The following year, the award was presented to Cwm Rhymni and Sir Thomas Picton received it last year. This year, it was Welshpool who were presented with the trophy, in recognition of the school’s success in winning two sections.

Welsh Schools would like to take this opportunity to record its grateful thanks to:

• The PE staff of secondary schools across Wales, for organising their teams for competition both at district level and, for the ‘lucky’ ones, those who qualified for these Finals, and for assisting as officials
• The Joint Cup & Plate Secretaries – Gwilym Williams and his daughter, Gwenan Rosser, - for all their hard work in ensuring a well organised and successful meeting
• The many talented pupils who have represented their school, both locally and at this national competition
• The officials – technical and non technical – without whom the competition could not be held
• British Red Cross for providing first aid cover

Looking ahead to July 2013, the provisional date for the 26^th Cup Final and the 7^th Plate Final is Wednesday, July 10^th, at Brecon.