A 6.00a.m. flight departure from Luton airport on Thursday 6 April marked the start of another warm weather athletics training week at Club La Santa in Lanzarote. 41 boys from Habs and 20 girls from Princess Helena College, supported by 9 staff members, came together for the week long programme running for its 25th year.

The tried and tested training programme is a mix of technical, event specific instruction, and quality work to improve fitness levels which makes use of the wide variety of facilities available at this outstanding venue. The group did extra work in the swimming pools, fitness suite, Body Bike studio, TRX centre and sports halls. The programme finished with a team and individual pentathlon on the final day. In addition to time around the leisure pool, for relaxation the group played 5 a side football, beach volleyball, went Mountain biking to various beaches around the centre and for the second time went Go Karting at San Bartolome race track. Pool tournaments were very popular in the evenings.

Henry Mattey, Adam Shiret and Jacob Haynes excelled in the pentathlon, Henry excelling in the throws with over 13 metres in the shot putt and 33 metres in the discus, and Adam returning from injury backing up a strong run in the 800m with some good performances in the horizontal jumps. Jacob Haynes showed his outstanding pace over the sprint distances throughout the week posting 12.3 for the 100m and 26.0 for the 200m. As in 2016, distance runner Jamie Harper ran 2.02 for the 800m and improved his High Jump this year to 1.74. Other athletes to show good early season form were Freddie Shiret, Ben Hocking, Ade Tokuta and Tolu Elesin, who again did numerous swim sessions in the Olympic pool before undertaking a full day’s athletics training.

A number of the group combined to put teams into the weekly Club La Santa duathlon and aquathlon competitions. The first comprises of a 2.5k run, 16km bike ride and then another 2.5km run, the latter a 200m swim and then a 3km run. Several of the group tackled the duathlon as individuals including year 7 boy Max Nissim. Both he and Keelan Farrell were novices on road bikes but nevertheless tackled the bike route that includes a testing 10km climb to Tinajo. They managed to complete the climb and return descent inside 40 mins.

Tolu Elesin and Jamie Harper combined as a team in the afternoon’s aquathlon, Tolu exiting the water almost three quarters of a length ahead after the swim before handing to Jamie who extended the lead on the run. The pair were winners by nearly 2 minutes with Jamie running the fastest leg to add to Tolu’s swim.  The day proved to be the busiest of the week for many of the athletes who completed the duathlon in the morning, then trained on the track followed by an effort in the aquathlon and then either a TRX or body bike session to complete the day. This was not enough for James Davis who then early next morning competed in the Club La Santa weekly half-marathon, attempting the distance for the first time in 1hr 44 mins.

A big thanks go to the staff who supported and coached throughout the week: Mr Phil Barlett for being in control of the financial details, Mr Paul Valente for his coaching in the discus cage, Mr James Carville and Miss Kim Brandon for bringing their enthusiasm and ideas as first timers and to Miss Phillipa Lowe for her testing body bike sessions. To the PHC staff, Mr Chris May who did a triathlon virtually every day before breakfast and Miss Sarah Robertson for her TRX skills as well as their coaching across all the events. Finally, to Mr Andrew and Mrs Deborah Keenleyside, the founders and original organisers of this most productive of weeks. Thank you for great photographs, a virtual minute by minute twitter report and the desire to bring your enthusiasm for athletics to every pupil on the trip and help them achieve the very best they possibly can.