The English Schools' Athletics Championships are annual national

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competitio ...

competitions organised by the English Schools' Athletic Association ESAA for

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

s in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

aged 12–18 for

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

, cross country and

race walking Race walking, or racewalking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asses ...

. The events are used to select the English team for the Schools International Athletics Board competitions (which involve England,

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

) and the ISF World Schools' Cross Country Championships and World Schools Track & Field Championships.

Age groups

Age groups for the championships are defined based on a student's age on 31 August of the school year in which the competition is held as follows:

Track and field championships

The track and field championships have been held every year since 1925 (except for 1940–1945 due to World War II), are the 4th largest athletics event in the world and since 2003 have been held at the major athletics venues of Birmingham Alexander Stadium, Sportscity, Manchester,

Gateshead International Stadium Gateshead International Stadium (GIS) is a multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose, all-seater venue in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally known as the Gateshead Youth Stadium, the venue was built in 1955 at a cost of £30,000. It has si ...

and former Sheffield Don Valley Stadium. To be eligible to compete students must attain a
entry standard
. Each

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

selects a team for the championships from the eligible students attending schools in their area subject to various constraints including maximum team sizes and students only being allowed to participate in a single individual event at the championships. Teams earn points based on the finishing position of their students in each event and their performances levels. The teams compete for various trophies based on their points earned. Since 1951

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

have attained the overall highest points total the most times.

Cross country championships

The cross country championships have been held every year since 1960 for boys and 1968 for girls (except for 2001 due to the foot-and-mouth outbreak). Originally separate events were held for boys and girls but since 1989 they have always been combined.

Combined events and race waking championships

A separate championships is held each year for combined events and race walking. For combined events students compete in the track and field

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek language, Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) (). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of the Anci ...

(JB, JG),

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

(IG, SG), octathlon (IB) and

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

(SB) events. For race walking students compete over

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

(JB, JG, IG) and

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

(IB, SB, SG).

Notable competitors

Many competitors at the English Schools' Athletics Championships have gone on to win individual

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

and

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

medals including multiple gold medallists

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World tit ...

Jessica Ennis-Hill Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (née Ennis; born 28 January 1986) is a British retired athlete who specialised in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2 ...

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British Middle-distance running, middle distance Track and field, athlete and television personality. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres, 800 and 1500 metres events and won gold medals for ...

and

Greg Rutherford Gregory James Rutherford Member of the Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British people, British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World a ...

External links

English Schools' Athletic Association (ESAA)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:English Schools Championships, The Athletics competitions in England 1925 establishments in England Education in England Recurring sporting events established in 1925 School sport in the United Kingdom Under-18 athletics competitions Youth sport in England