St Mary’s Richmond AC (SMRAC) hosted a Quadkids competition on Sunday 15th April 2012, to celebrate 100 days to go until the Olympics. This was also promoted as part of the England Athletics ‘Try Athletics’ campaign.

Quadkids is a short form of athletics competition where each athlete completes in four events and scores points for each event which are totalled together to provide the overall score for that athlete, performance in each event matters. Events are: 100m, Long Jump, Vortex Howler throw, 800m.

This Quadkids competition was targeted at athletes’ ages 11 – u14 years old, which coincides with the ages athletes are allowed to join the Junior Section of SMRAC. This competition also supported the England Athletics multi event approach to athletics for this age group which is backed up by the Athletics 365 training programme that the club follows.

Athletes from the local clubs and Richmond Borough Schools were invited to take part. Kingston and Poly AC, Walton AC, Tiffin Boys, and SMRAC were represented. 30 athletes participated, 15 girls and 15 boys.

The Quadkids completion allowed 30 athletes to
• Experience athletics in a club environment.
• Sample competition.
• Show improvement in performance.
• Compare performances against other athletes across the country.

The Quadkids competition allowed 13 parents to;
• Experience officiating in a friendly environment.
• Gain understanding of how competition are officiated.
• Watch their athlete complete in close proximity.

Successes of the competition were:
All athletes competed in all the events The competition finished on time Each athlete received their certificate on the day Results were posted on the Quadkids website the following day and link emailed to all participants Parents would like to help during the summers young athletes’ leagues Two athletes have joined the waiting list for SMRAC as a direct result of participating.

Ruaridn S. won the boys competition with 248 points which gains him a Silver UKA Award. He was top scorer in 100m sprint and long jump. Jessica N. won the girls competition with 217 points and also achieved a Silver UKA Award. Jessica N. was the top scorer in the 100m Sprint and in the 800m run. Well Done.

Feedback from parents: “We came to the excellent QuadKids event today and thank you for your help in organising that.” “Stephen and I really enjoyed the Quadkids today, thank you for that.”

Full Results are published: here.