Panathlon were in sunny but freezing South East London today for the Bexley, Greenwich and Lewisham Competition. The Multi-Sports were played amongst a great atmosphere inside the Sports Hall and as the day went on, it became evident that Bexley and Greenwich are two closely matched teams.
Greenwich impressively won the Boccia, winning all 4 of their matches, and the New Age Kurling. They dominated the Field Athletics, winning 4 out of the 5 disciplines. In Precision Beanbag Abdulie from Greenwich threw a maximum, only the second result of this kind so far this season.
Bexley on the other hand, braving near freezing conditions, took Gold in the Football, and then won by a considerable margin in the Table Cricket. They squeezed past Lewisham in the Polybat, winning the final deciding set, to take the Gold.
Lewisham equipped themselves very well, they narrowly missed out in the Polybat and registered a number of silver medals including Table Cricket, Javelin and the Relay Races. They provided tough opposition to both Greenwich and Bexley, which is no mean feat.
It is not usual for a Panathlon team to wins 4 events to end up in second place, and that is what remarkably happened to Greenwich today. For the second year running only 2 points separated Greenwich and Bexley, the same margin and result. However, there is a difference – this year my hunch is that Greenwich will, with 60 points to their credit, go through to the East Final as the best runner up. We will wait until 29th February to confirm this. Well done to Bexley, it was their consistency of performances – never receiving a bronze medal throughout the tournament as a whole that enabled them to win through.
St Paul ’s Academy, who gracefully hosted today’s event, involved their BTEC Sports Leaders as our officials. A number of teachers approached me throughout the event to comment on their skill, the quality of the decisions and the enthusiasm and engagement they had involving all the players. Many thanks to them for hosting us so well.
