Sports Day 1962 will probably be remembered as the first sports day in years when there was no rain. It did not seem the same without it. But all concerned were more than grateful that a fine day was granted to us. The overall result was a most enjoyable afternoon in the lovely surroundings of Moat Farm, with Campion repeating their victory of last year. Seven new School Records wore established, three in the track events, four in the field events. There was a great improvement in the jumping events - where three of the now records were made - whilst the Standard in most of the throw rig events was below the average. There is plenty of talent in these events and most of the boys are capable of achieving good results, but practice is of paramount importance if the desired results are to be forthcoming. The one exception was in the Cricket Ball Junior where O'Shea (G) improved by some fifty feet the record he made last year, with a throw of 255 ft. 5 ins. This was a very fine throw indeed and speaks for itself.

In the Junior High-Jump, Madden and Silver (both Campion) had a very exciting battle, with Silver emerging the winner, with a junp of 5 ft. 0 ins. Both these boys showed a very fine style, and competition between them in the future should be well worth watching. The height jumped was a now record. In the Junior Long Jump Madden turned the tables on Silver, and. with a jump of 17 ft. 0 ins. improved his old record by 11 ins. Silver also broke the old record with a jump of 16 ft. 6 ins., so it would appear that the oldest existing school record - the Long Jump Senior, hold by I.A.H. Taylor with a jump of l9ft. 2½ ins. established in 1938 - is in danger of being broken. We shall see. In the Senior Event O'Sullivan (C) emerged a fairly easy winner with a jump of 17ft. 3½ ins.

What of the Track Events? Here I feel the standard was a little disappointing. Of the twenty one track events, ten have times that have remained unbeaten since 1956 or before. This year three new records were established:- in the 880 yds Junior by Flockton (2 mins. 24 secs.) in the 220 yds. U. 13 by O'Malley (G), (29.5 secs.) and in the 220 yds U.15 by Clubbe (F) (26.0 secs.). I wonder if Francis realise how near they were to a record in the House Medley Relay? Their time of 14 mins. 10 secs. was .2 of a second behind the time set up in 1956 by Campion (14 mins 9.8 secs.). So near yet so far. I hope next year that the runners in the School; and there are many good ones, will get down to the track early in the season, so that by Sports Day they will be raring to go and give an afternoon on the track to remember.

In a report of this kind it is impossible to mention everyone by name. Obviously the winners take the limelight. But there would be no winners if there were not other competitors. All who participate have an important part to play, and here I would like to congratulate all those who took part, and thereby helped to make the various events a success. Win or lose the honour of participating is yours. This is more than can be said for those, who for obvious reasons shall be nameless, who decided that it was not worth the trouble to come to the Sports. Thank goodness they are only few in number, so perhaps by next year they will have learnt to put loyalty to the School before all other considerations. The same applies to those who departed before the Sports were over. These remarks should be quite unnecessary, and I hope that next year they can be omitted all together.

The idea of each boy wearing his House shirt was a great success and our thanks are due to Mr. Martin for his hard work in this matter. Being able to tell at a glance which House a boy was in certainly made things much easier for the spectators.

I nearly forgot to mention the Triple Jump. In the Junior event Clubbe (F) raised the distance by some 4 ft. when he cleared 36 ft. 8 ins. This is his first Season in this event and his efforts have been well rewarded. Scott (G) and O'Leary (F) also jumped well and will most certainly improve next year. In the Senior event Rawson (G) proved just that little bit too good for last years Junior winner Dargie (C), and had the edge with 35 ft. 3½ ins. as compared with the jump of the runner-up of 34 ft. 11 ins.

I ought to mention here that the Dads once again proved that weight can be an advantage, especially in a Tug of War. The Old Boys will have to really get their heads together before next year.

The afternoon concluded with the presentation of the prizes by Fr. Dominic to the winners, and the Sports shield to Barry McInerney captain of the House of Campion. Francis proved to be the surprise runners-up, Gabriel came third - surely a revival is long overdue in this house? Whilst Becket came fourth and would appear to be resting on their past laurels too long, An enjoyable afternoon thus came to an end, and a final word of thanks to all those who helped in any way to make the afternoon a success.

FINAL POSITION OF THE HOUSES:

Campion 153 pts.      Francis 115 Pts.      Gabriel 77 Pts.      Becket 75 Pts