Findlay Gibson wins double titles, and Isaac Saywell Barbosa takes out Canterbury title and narrowly misses out in South Islands

Canterbury Secondary Schools'

A large team of more than 40 students represented the college at the Canterbury Secondary Schools' Athletics Champs.

We had some great results and performances, with many boys advancing to the semis and then into the finals. Congratulations to all involved.

Highlights from the day included the Canterbury titles earned by Isaac Saywell Barbosa in the Boys U19 400m final (a race that included three St Bede's boys as finalists), and Findlay Gibson in the U15 Boys 800m final.

The full list of results are here: St Bede's College - Canterbury Secondary Schools Athletic Championships 2025 - Mar 18, 2025, Mar 21, 2025 | athleticscanterbury

South Island Secondary Schools'

Twenty-one St Bede's athletes qualified for the South Island Champs in Nelson. Of those, seven made the long journey to Nelson’s Saxton Oval for a wonderful weekend of track and field. 

The athletes all commented on the “chill” vibe at the champs, and that certainly helped make it a memorable one. It was lovely to have amazing weather with the memory of the Canterbury Champs' horrific rainfall being fresh in many of our minds.

Some highlights: Findlay Gibson “did the double” winning both Canterbury and South Island titles in the U15 boys 800m; while Isaac Saywell Barbosa narrowly missed a South Island title in the U19 boys 400m. In fact, his time in the heats would have won the final.

Other worthy performances at the South Island champs included:

• AJ Jonathan- 2nd in the U15 boys discus

• Troy Applegarth- 3rd in the U15 boys discus

• Josh Peters- 3rd in the U14 boys javelin and 4th in the U14 boys 800m

• Lachie Smolenski -3rd equal, but 4th on countback, in the U15 boys long jump. Lachie was 2nd until the last round of jumps!

• Axel Morgan was 9th in the U14 boys 1500m

The boys were an amazing group of young men to take away, acting with courtesy and integrity at all times. It was great to see the connections they have with athletes from other schools and the way in which they were able to deal with the “ups and downs” of competition with such maturity.

The late, great Arthur Lydiard once said: “There are champions out there everywhere - you’ve just got to find them”; and I believe that we have some champions here at St Bede’s College.