Ben Captain's England North Team at School Games

16 Year old Pioneer 79 Swimmer, Ben Martin was selected to represent England North at the recent School Games, held in Loughborough.  The School Games is a multi-sport event aimed at the UK’s elite athletes of school age which take part at a different venue each year, last year’s being held in Manchester.

The event seeks to create an inspirational and motivational setting that not only provides our elite sports people with the opportunity to thrive and perform at the highest levels, but encourages more young people to take part and succeed in sport.  The Youth Sport Trust developed and organised this year’s School Games, which were supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England.

This year’s games consisted of 12 sports, each of which, bar swimming were held on site at Loughborough University Campus, the swimming was held at Ponds Forge International Swimming Centre, Sheffield.  Around 1600 of the nation’s finest young sports stars were competing, and Ben was not only ‘selected’ to compete in the swimming, but he was also given the honour of being the Boy’s Captain at the Pool.

The event took place over 4 days, kicking off with a spectacular Opening Ceremony where Olympic Gold Medallists, Max Whitlock and Alex Danson were on hand to welcome the next generation and officially ‘open’ the games.

Day 1 saw Ben compete in his favourite event, the 50m Freestyle.  The splash and dash event at any competition, and Ben definitely knows how to deliver.... finishing in a fabulous time of 24.30, winning the gold medal for England North in the process!  Later he accompanied Myles Stirk, Connor Joyce and Matthew Pomfort to form the Mens 16yrs/under 400m Freestyle Relay, with a spectacular anchor leg of 53.70 for his 100m, Ben touched home in 5^th position.

Day 2 was the 100m Freestyle Individual for Ben, where at 50m he turned in 3^rd position, unusually for Ben, he was able to accelerate up the final 50m where he finished 2^nd, taking a silver medal for England North in a time of 54.21!

Ben’s final event was also the final event of the competition, it was the Mixed Mens/Womens 16yrs/Under 400m Freestyle Relay.  This time, Ben teamed up with Connor Joyce, Maddie Crompton and Emma Whittingham, this time, his anchor leg time of 53.65 saw him touch in a very close second position, just 0.14 of a second behind the winners ‘Ireland’, earning the team a well deserved silver medal. 

When the final points tally was confirmed, England North were announced overall winners with 252 points, some 25.5 points ahead of second placed England South.  As Boys Team Captain, he lifted the cup with the Girls Team Captain for England North.