Outstanding Performance Award
In 2015 Sammy Farnfield was invited to join the English Talent Programme for Modern Pentathlon, having achieved qualifying times in the British Biathlon Championships. She was warned from the outset that the fencing element would be the toughest, but undeterred she joined the East Region Modern Pentathlon based in Hemel Hempstead.
After only a short time she competed in the national rankings, a competition for GB team selection, just for the experience and finished 26th! This spurred her on and for the next four weeks she engaged in a rigorous training regime getting up at 5:00am several times a week to travel to Hemel for private fencing lessons with her coach before school. At the end of the second rankings, a month later she had moved up to 21st place.
In April 2017 she attended the British Championships, another fierce day of competition and came 8th, a position which could see her selected for the British Team. Two weeks later and she is competing again in a variation on Pentathlon where competitors have to shoot 5 targets, transition to the swimming pool, then onto an 800m run, which they then repeat 4 times. Despite Sammy never having competed in this format before she finished 2nd and as a result was invited to attend the European Championship in Portugal in July. Unfortunately an offer she could not accept as it clashes with her World Challenge trip to Zambia!
Despite this early success, she knows it's a long journey but has never given up. Team GB representation at Under 19 is a real possibility and means training for 23/24 hours per week. She plans her entire week around maximising training opportunities and competitions whilst maintaining a life balance that enables her to complete her school work, teach swimming after school on a Thursday, learn to drive and have down time to socialise and occasionally eat and sleep.
You are a real inspiration to others Sammy and have shown the dedication, commitment and determination that is needed to be an outstanding performer. Well done and congratulations on receiving the outstanding performance award in sixth form, as this is virtually unheard of!