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ON Saturday, March 3, Henley Youth Festival launched its programme of events for 2024 with its annual fun run.
A total of 160 runners from primary schools in the area took part in the event, which was held in the field next to Dry Leas, home of Henley Rugby Club.
The event, which was organised by Clint and Angela Botha, of Physiolistic, and sponsored by Hot Moves of Henley, went ahead despite heavy rain the night before.
After an inspection of the ground and a small change to the planned race route, everyone went on to have a fun morning.
More than 30 volunteers were involved in organising the event and members of staff from Physiolistic helped competitors keep warm and prepare for each race.
Divided into age groups, the children followed the race “hare” around the course and finished to a “high five” from Tim Hoskins, headmaster of Badgemore Primary School.
Tim, who is a trustee of Henley Youth Festival, said: “Badgemore has been involved in the run for more than 12 years and this is one of my favourite events of the year.”
Every participant received a medal, presented on the finish line, and the race winners and two runners-up in each race got to stand on a podium and receive their certificate and trophies from Henley Mayor Kellie Hinton. Kellie said she has been involved in the festival for about six years and had seen it develop.
She said it was great to see so many young children coming together through education, sports and the arts — and especially outdoors on a cold, sunny Saturday morning.
Children told me how much they had looked forward to their race and enjoyed taking part because it was less competitive than other races.
Amelia Hughes, of Sacred Heart Primary School, described running down the hill as “like a Tough Mudder”.
Several of the runners said how much fun it was, especially the downhill stretch after the uphill climb. Elsie, from Trinity Primary School, said it was particularly nice when the “man helped me to run the last bit”.
Parents described how they love the community spirit of the Henley Youth Festival, especially this run. This was clear to see in the way children supported each other and encouraged everyone to reach the finish line.
As children packed up and headed home to rest and warm up, Mr and Mrs Botha thanked everyone for making the event such a success.
The results were as follows:
Reception (0.4km) 1st Isaac Cottle, 2nd Theo Wilkinson,
3rd Harrison Barr
Years 1 & 2 Girls (1km) 1st Phoebe Soles, 2nd Alice O’Brien, 3rd Freya Hamand
Years 1 & 2 Boys (1km)
1st Finley Stowell, 2nd Wilf Goodson, 3rd Seth Drummond
Years 3 & 4 Girls (1.4km)
1st Teddy Molnar, 2nd Eleanor Smith, 3rd Olivia Greaves
Years 3 & 4 Boys (1.4km)
1st Joseph Palmer, 2nd Frank O’Brien, 3rd Joseph Conway
Years 5 & 6 Girls (1.6km)
1st Emily Palmer, 2nd Harriet McLean, 3rd Ruby Jones
Years 5 & 6 Boys (1.6km)
1st Ambrose Paviour, 2nd Othello Forbes, 3rd Luca Johnston
Valley Road primary was presented with a cheque for
£250 from Henley Hot Moves for being the school with the most entrants.
Sacred Heart was the overall winner.
25 March 2024
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