After 16 qualifying competitions involving over 1,250 participants from 102 schools in all 32 London Boroughs, we now know the 8 teams who have won through to the London Finals at the Copper Box Arena in June.
After Tuesdays’ East London Final where defending London champions Barking & Dagenham qualified in impressive style, both they and Islington who won the Plate competition, are the last two teams claiming a spot in the Olympic Park Final on June 15th.
Elaine Burgess, School Games Manager for Barking & Dagenham said, “Panathlon Challenge is a very important event in our school year. You can see on the student’s faces how much they enjoy the Panathlon- such joy and competitiveness. It really matters to them. It gives them a great sense of achievement and self-worth to represent the borough.”
Georgina Hart, pictured right, a gold medal winning competitor from the victorious Barking & Dagenham team said, “It’s fantastic to win and go back to the Olympic Park in the summer. I can’t wait!”
Islington team member Danielle added,”I love competing against other schools as it’s great to meet new people. We’re over the moon and amazed to be going to the Olympic Park.”
This month has seen eight further qualification competitions, to add to the first round events which took place in January and February. Enfield and Harrow won through in the North Final, Merton and Wandsworth qualified from the West Final and Croydon & Lewisham came through in the South Final. A complete set of results can be seen here.
Fi Bell, Co-ordinator for Team Croydon (pictured at the top in red) said, “It’s fantastic to make it to the London Finals with a small and younger squad so we were pleasantly surprised we’ve made it once again. We’ll be training really hard throughout next term in order to try and improve on last years second place overall.”
A gallery of pictures from earlier rounds can be viewed here.
Since last September we have been training Young Leaders across London and then deploying their skills at the 16 qualifying competitions. 19 Schools and 2 Univeristies have been involved supplying over 300 Young Leaders.
One of those leaders trained, Paulina Truszkowska said, “It was fantastic learning the skills in theory and then putting them in to practice at an event which took place at University of East London (UEL) on 21st March. I was inspired by the competitors, it was very challenging and I loved every minute of it!”
The qualifiers are-
Champions
Barking & Dagenham
Croydon
Enfield
Merton
Plate Final
Harrow
Islington
Lewisham
Wandsworth
We congraulate all competitors this year and wish all teams well in their preparations for the London Finals in June! See you in the Olympic Park!
