McEvedy Shield

The McEvedy Shield is an annual athletics competition held in Wellington, New Zealand, for four of the region's boys' secondary schools. It is the largest annual athletics meet in the Southern Hemisphere, in terms of its number of athletes competing.

It was first held in 1922 and has become one of the highlights of the sporting calendar for the schools involved. The wooden shield, which is presented to the winning school, was donated in by Dr Patrick F. McEvedy to promote the spirit of athletic competition between the participating colleges.[1]. An old boy of St Patrick's College, Wellington, Dr McEvedy went on to represent England in rugby union.

The 2011 competition was held at Newtown Park on Tuesday 1 March.

Contents

Patrick McEvedy

The shield was donated by Patrick Francis McEvedy (17 March 1880, Taumata -- 2 March 1935, Wellington)[2] in 1922. McEvedy attended St Patrick's, Wellington, from 1895 to 1898, before going to Guy's Hospital in London to train as a doctor. He toured New Zealand in 1904 with Bedell-Sivwright's British team and again in 1908 with the Anglo-Welsh team. He later returned to Wellington and was Wellington Rugby Football Union President 1931-1933 and NZRFU President 1934-1935.[3]

Events

The competition features fourteen track and field events across four age groups - under 14 years, under 15 years, under 16 years and over 16 years. For each event in each age group, four points are awarded for first place, three points for second place, two points for third place and one point for fourth place.

Track

100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres, 1500 metres, and 3000 metres, 80 metre hurdles, 100 metre hurdles, 110 metre hurdles and 4 x 100 metres relay.

Field

High jump, long jump, triple jump, javelin, discus and shot put.

Participating Schools

Wellington College and St. Patrick's College, Wellington are the only schools that remain from the original competition in 1922, with Rongotai College first competing in 1928 and St Patrick's College, Silverstream taking part in the school's first year of existence, 1931.

Over the years there have been a number of schools that have taken part in the competition, including Hutt Valley High School, Scots College and Wairarapa High School (which shared the Shield in 1925 with Wellington College, and won outright in 1927). In the early 1980s it was decided that only the four traditional boys' schools would be able to compete.

In 2009, Scots College's attempt to rejoin the McEvedy Shield was unsuccessful.[4]

Schools First Competed Last Competed Total Competed Wins[5]
St Patrick's College, Wellington 1922 2011 89 17
St Patrick's College, Silverstream 1931 2011 80 14
Wellington College 1922 2011 89 48
Rongotai College 1928 2011 83 7
Hutt Valley High School 1926 1980 54 3
Wairarapa College 1925 1951 24 2
Scots College 1922 1980 51 0
Wellington High School 1922 1956 28 0
Hutt Valley Memorial College 1922 1956 16 0
Wellesley College 1922 1951 8 0
St Bernard's College 1953 1975 5 0
Naenae College 1953 1956 4 0
Heretaunga College 1953 1956 4 0
Raumati District High School 1954 1956 3 0
Onslow College 1956 1956 1 0

[6]

Venue

The competition is held at Newtown Park, Newtown. Held during school hours, the entire student body of each school assembles to support its team. Because of the large number of spectators, the schools take turns sitting in the main stand. Each year two schools watch from the surrounding grass banks.

It has previously been held at the Basin Reserve, Athletic Park and on the St Patrick's College grounds at Silverstream.

Results

Wellington College is the current shield holder. The college has won the Shield more times than any other school (48 in total). The College has won the Shield in twelve of the last seventeen years (exceptions were when St Patrick's College, Silverstream won in 2002 and 2003, and St Patrick's College, Wellington won in 1998, 2008 and 2010).

St Patrick's College, Silverstream has won the Shield fourteen times, and holds the record for the most consecutive Shield victories, winning six years in a row (1968 to 1973).

Rongotai College has triumphed seven times. The last occasion was in 1989.

Scores

2011[7]

Place College Points
1st Wellington College 184
2nd St Patrick's College, Silverstream 150.5
3rd St Patrick's College, Wellington 137.5
4th Rongotai College 68

2010[8]

Place College Points
1st St Patrick's College, Wellington 185
2nd Wellington College 172
3rd St Patrick's College, Silverstream 100
4th Rongotai College 85

2009[9]

Place College Points
1st Wellington College 182
2nd St Patrick's College, Wellington 173
3rd St Patrick's College, Silverstream 100
4th Rongotai College 83

2008

Place College Points
1st St Patrick's College, Wellington 174
2nd Wellington College 160.5
3rd St Patrick's College, Silverstream 125
4th Rongotai College 76.5

2007

Place College Points
1st Wellington College 176
2nd St Patrick's College, Wellington 137
3rd Rongotai College 126
4th St Patrick's College, Silverstream 97

2006

Place College Points
1st Wellington College 175
2nd St Patrick's College, Silverstream 153
3rd St Patrick's College, Wellington 117
4th Rongotai College 94

2005

Place College Points
1st Wellington College 175.5
2nd St Patrick's College, Silverstream 135
3rd St Patrick's College, Wellington 129.5
4th Rongotai College 95

2004

Place College Points
1st Wellington College 211
2nd St Patrick's College, Silverstream 130
3rd St Patrick's College, Wellington 103
4th Rongotai College 96

2003

Place College Points
1st St Patrick's College, Silverstream 182[10]
2nd Wellington College 163
3rd St. Patrick's College, Wellington 108.5
4th Rongotai College 81.5

Individual results, times, distances and current McEvedy records can be viewed at http://rongotaiathletics.weebly.com/mcevedy-results.html

References

  1. ^ McEvedy Shield: Pride on the line, The Dominion Post, Tuesday, 03 March 2009
  2. ^ http://www.scrum.com/churchillcup/rugby/player/1664.html
  3. ^ http://www.spcob.org.nz/SITE_Default/news_and_events/newsletter_archive/march02.asp#0-7
  4. ^ Scots hits obstacles over shield re-entry, The Dominion Post, Tuesday, 10 February 2009
  5. ^ http://mycoll.school.nz/file.php/186/winners_since_1922.pdf
  6. ^ http://rongotaiathletics.weebly.com/uploads/9/1/8/0/918067/mcevedy_results_1922_to_1987.pdf
  7. ^ "McEvedy Results 2010" (PDF). Rongotai Athletics. http://rongotaiathletics.weebly.com/uploads/9/1/8/0/918067/mcevedy_results_2009.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-03. 
  8. ^ "McEvedy Results 2010" (PDF). Rongotai Athletics. http://rongotaiathletics.weebly.com/uploads/9/1/8/0/918067/mcevedy_results_2009.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-03. 
  9. ^ "McEvedy Results 2009" (PDF). Rongotai Athletics. http://rongotaiathletics.weebly.com/uploads/9/1/8/0/918067/mcevedy_results_2009.pdf. Retrieved 2009-03-03. 
  10. ^ http://www.rongotaiathletics.weebly.com/uploads/9/1/8/0/918067/mcevedy_results_2003.pdf

External links