INDIVIDUAL SPORTING ACHIEVEMENTS ( CONTINUED )
© Matteo Segato
KARTING
Chloe Chong ( Year 9 ) finished ninth in the British Kart Championship in MiniMax in her first year of national racing , going on to qualify for the European Championships in 2021 .
RUNNING A MARATHON
Oliver Lewis ( Year 11 ) ran a marathon at the age of just 15 .
Ever since I can remember running , a marathon is something I have wanted to do . When lockdown began I set myself a challenge of running a solo marathon before I turned 16 . I started training for a 10k , then a half-marathon , until I was marathon fit . This gave me a positive focus .
The running training wasn ’ t the only thing I needed to focus on : diet , strength and recovery were also vital . I read up on what foods I needed , hit the gym and worked on my overall strength and fitness ; stretching , ice baths and sleep were also important .
As it was a solo marathon , with no officials , I tracked my time using Runkeeper . Completing this challenge has made me proud of myself in a few ways : I raised nearly £ 7000 for Bliss , the premature baby charity ( I was born prematurely so this was especially meaningful to me ), and the time I ran it in was 3hrs 46mins .
I have since run another marathon in 3hrs 34mins and one day I will take part in the London or New York Marathon – though the minimum age is 18 !
Karting and motorsports is surprisingly a very physical sport and coming back from last year ’ s lockdown to race in one of the biggest championships in Europe definitely tested my physical fitness . You also need strong mental fitness for racing and a good knowledge of the kart to get to maximum performance . When I first started , I didn ’ t really think too much about this part of the sport , but as you get older and the racing becomes much more competitive , every little bit of what you think inside the helmet and how you work the kart becomes key . It was a lot of work to get to a competitive level , including fitness , mental coaching , sponsorship and perseverance . During the first lockdown , the season start was delayed until August 2020 . This was a bit of a setback as it gave me and my team less time to prepare for the British championships . I had to put in a lot of work to get my strength back . I was affected less in this year ’ s lockdowns . I ’ m lucky that the first round of the European Championship in Genk , Belgium , had been classed as an elite sports event , so I was allowed to attend .
The thing that I ’ m most proud of is that I was the only girl to compete in the British championships in my class and I managed to achieve a top ten seed in the UK . I hope that this shows other girls that we can compete against the boys ! I ’ ve also had opportunities to talk on podcasts , which I hope encourages girls into karting and helps to bring in sponsorships . I hope that in the future I can make a successful career in motorsports .
104 SPORT REVIEW