Portsmouth school boy beats competitors in national sprint race

A BUDDING sport star stormed to victory to win a national sprint competition.
Jakey Wood, 12, from Portsmouth Grammar School. Picture: Great School Sprints.Jakey Wood, 12, from Portsmouth Grammar School. Picture: Great School Sprints.
Jakey Wood, 12, from Portsmouth Grammar School. Picture: Great School Sprints.

Jakey Wood, from Portsmouth Grammar School, took part in the Great Schools Sprint in Manchester and came out on top.

The 12-year-old completed the 100m sprint in 13.31 seconds, beating three other finalists from schools in Newcastle and Manchester in front of thousands of spectators.

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The competition was held as part of the Arcadis Great City Games Manchester athletics event.

Jakey, a keen rugby player who is a member of Chichester rugby club, won his place in the final after winning the Portsmouth Great School Sprints, held in October.

He said: ‘I was so inspired by the Arcadis Great City Games Manchester and meeting international athletes.

‘I will continue training, focusing on sprinting and long jump.

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‘Having Johnnie Peacock helping with our warm up helped calm my nerves as he told me what to focus on.

‘The other competitors were also really friendly which made it fun.

‘Meeting some of the amazing athletes taking part in the City Games has really inspired me and I will definitely do lots more athletics in the future.’

After winning the Portsmouth final, Jakey joined the City of Portsmouth athletics club and trained with coach Gary Sparke, who taught him how to sprint start and how to dip at the finish.

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