The Agony and the Ecstasy: Excelsior athletes in Europe.

Highlights of a Summer of Sport

We have had lots of our athletes and ex athletes competing with a European flavour this summer, so here is a brief round up.

Ex Excelsior athlete Arthur Lanigan O’Keeffe won the European Modern Pentathlon Championships in Bath.  Jenny McGeever also competed here in the team relay.

Part of our job as coaches is to “Give them roots to grow and wings to fly” as Frank Dick says.  I coached Arthur (alongside Drew Wilsher) for 2 years until he left school. It is great to see him doing so well. He has now qualified for the Rio Olympics next year.

Dan James and Robin Williams competed in the European B1 football championships. The team needed to make the finals in order to qualify for Rio. Despite Dan keeping a clean sheet for the whole tournament, they lost to Russia in the semi-finals after penalties and a countback system.

Pfeiffer Georgi competed for Great Britain in the European Youth Olympics in Tiblisi, Georgia  and came 6th in the Time Trial competition.

Cyclists James Davey and Tom Baylis have both been training and competing in Europe over the last few weeks. Both will be based in Europe for the next season, James in Italy and Tom in Spain. This is a big step up for both of these young men and is really exciting.

Seb Baylis & James Davey

Tom Baylis

Tom’s older brother Seb Baylis was the victim of a road rage incident last week whilst on a training ride. He suffered a bad fall and his bike was snapped in half: we wish him a speedy recovery.

All of our athletes have tried their hardest, some have had good results, others less so. That is part of this rich tapestry of life.

Autumn Training

Whilst it is great to see these older athletes competing well, it is just as rewarding seeing our youngest ones start to compete too.

A lot of our athletes have been training over the summer ready for their Autumn schedules.  New Weightlifting and Gymnastics sessions start next week in Willand. Please contact us if you wish to join this great group of people.

Jack’s 1st gymnastic competition