Simon races his way to national championship crown

RIPON Grammar School runner Simon Bordewich struck gold in the 300m at prestigious national championships.

The 14-year-old was crowned Junior Boys National Champion at the English Schools Athletics Championships at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium – host venue of the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

He faced tough competition in the final, up against two competitors who had run faster than him in the heats.

“However, I came through in the final 100m and won with 36.51s, a new personal best for me and meeting my season goal of getting under 37s,” he says.

As he crossed the finishing line in first position, having achieved his new personal best: “I was pumped,” he said.

Although he only took up sprint training to help in his rugby, Simon clocked up 300m golds this year in three earlier championships – the North Yorkshire Schools County Athletics Championships, the Northern Inter Counties Athletics meeting against Durham, Cleveland and Northumberland and the Yorkshire County Championships.

Improving all the time, he won the North Yorkshire School Championships with a qualifying time of 37.12s and in his heats at the nationals achieved a new personal best of 36.64s.

A member of Harrogate Harriers running club in addition to the RGS athletics team, he will be transitioning to the 400m when he moves to the intermediate category next year.

“Hopefully my strong finish over 300m means I will still be competitive over 400m.”

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