The School Games National Finals took place at Loughborough University between Thursday 30th August and Sunday 2nd September, with Penrith’s Matti Egglestone contesting the cycling competition.
The Ullswater Community Collage pupil was part of the England North West team and performed well, finishing with the fastest time in the Individual Street Sprint on Saturday.
Friday’s competition took place at Derby Velodrome, Egglestone part of a strong team performance in the Scratch Race where North West claimed second, third and fourth positions, with Matti sandwiched between his two teammates.
The following day Egglestone took to the streets of the Loughborough campus and was able to pace his individual performance to perfection, racing his bike around some tight corners and one extremely steep hill, to claim the fastest individual time of the day in qualifying. This time wasn’t bettered all day as the event took on a four man race format, Egglestone making the final but ultimately having to settle for second by the tiniest of margins.
Of his performance, Egglestone said: “I felt quite good about it as I qualified fastest, so I was happy with that. I had a little bit of a bad first heat but worked my way back to the final. I drew quite a bad slot as I was on the very outside at the first corner and that was very tricky. However, I managed to get through to second. I almost got first in the end, but just missed out.”
Talking of the track race on Friday, he added: “It was a great team performance and really good to get in some solid points for the team competition.”
Finally Egglestone summed up his School Games experience: “It has been really good, I’ve learnt a lot of things over the weekend. I’d have to say my highlight was definitely the Games Opening Ceremony.”
Discussing his future sporting goals, Egglestone mentioned that he is hoping to get into the British Cycling Junior Sprint Academy and would like to compete in the Olympics and World Championships.
Now in its thirteenth year, the event – featuring over 1,000 school-age athletes – will see some of the most talented schoolchildren from across the UK compete in 11 different sports.
Some of Britain’s biggest sporting stars have previously competed at the School Games before going onto international success, including Ellie Simmons, Jonnie Peacock, Katarina Johnson-Thompson and Adam Peaty.
The School Games has provided a fantastic springboard for some of the most talented school-age athletes, with over 200 graduates of the School Games Finals competing at this year’s Commonwealth Games, winning 85 medals.
The Games, which is supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England and the home country sports councils and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, was established in 2006 after London won the bid to host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and formed a key part of the legacy programme.
