For a fifth year in a row, Braeburn scouts have partnered with Karura Forest in the effort to reintroduce indigenous and original tree species in the forest. Of the 1,047 hectares, 60% is covered by exotic trees which were planted to help in energy generation by the Europeans back in the 1940s. The Kenya Forest Service (KFS) in conjunction with the Friends of Karura Forest (FKF) have embarked on reintroduction of the original species, hence our outing.
Last week, 56 seedlings were added to by our scouts to a cleared section of the forest. Over the past five years, thanks to Braeburn scouts and their parents, we have planted close to 500 trees.
Both under 15 teams and under 19 teams were entered and our younger team should be very proud of their performance making the semi final and having to play the might of our older, under 19 team. The future of Netball at Braeburn is certainly bright.
The under 19s swept aside the opposition in the group matches including Hillcrest and Greensteds and finallly faced a strong Brookhouse in the final. This team, they had lost to in the final last year. The first half was a tight game and the girls led narrowly thanks to some excellent under pressure play from Kamba and Danai. As always Jane Hakim made it very difficult for the Brookhouse assaults on their D. At half time coach Ms Ogot made a risky tactical change, moving Jane Hakim from goal defense to goal shooter. Brookhouse had no answer and the final score moved to 10-4.
Well done to the girls for another legendary effort.
We had a brilliant trip to Nanyuki. The team was excited about the event, especially with it being a beautiful sunny morning.
After a brief warm-up and tactical team talk we were ready to go. The event started off with U9 girls, with Eber having a particularly strong run, finishing among the first of the Braeburn girls, with Alana 6th and Quinn 9th. Ironically Quinn lost to the Braeburn Nanyuki girl she helped when she had a stitch.
In the U9 boys Cruz and Ivai came 12th and 13th while in the U11 girls Angel was 12th. Unfortunately Lerato, Gaia and Nerice got lost for a few minutes before finding their way back on to the course and they finished very close together. We didn’t have any boys in the U11 age group.
Our U13 Girls were impressive, stuck to the plan and finished: Katanu 2nd, Amani 3rd, Kiana 5th and Sheryl 6th. Their performances resulted in 1st place in the girls U13 category. In the U13 boys Bryne was 2nd, narrowly losing after leading most of the way; Jacob came 5th.
Overall Braeburn School came 2nd, an impressive team result, particularly considering we had no runners to score top points in the U11 boys. Excellent job everyone!
The annual IAPS cross-country event took place on Saturday, 5th May at St. Andrew's School in a sunny Turi. Our runners ran with speed, determination and endurance over distances of 3km for the under 9s and U11 girls, 4.75km for the U11 boys and U13 girls and 5.1km for the U13 boys.
Whilst cross-country running is often seen as an individual event, it is also very much a team one with points being earned by the first 4 runners of each school to go towards age group and overall results. We were very proud of all those who competed; they showed great heart and gave everything in a hilly course, at altitude. It was fantastic to see the support that the team gave to each other to encourage them to the finish line at the end of a gruelling run.
Our U9 girls, pictured above, emerged as winners of their age group, with the U11 boys and the U13 girls each placing 3rd. Lara Bailey and Nhial Srinivasan put in great performances to take bronze in their races, while Tyson Kitchens ran superbly to take gold in the U13 race, completing the 5.1km in an excellent 21:00 minutes, only 26 seconds off the course record. Had he not been so comfortably ahead of the next runners he may even have been able to set a new record. When he reached the finish line, he looked ready to go again.
The event saw a high standard of running from all the participating schools and all the athletes who took part can be proud of their efforts and achievements. Overall, Braeburn came 5th, narrowly missing out on 4th.
Congratulations and a big well done to all of our runners and thanks to the PE staff who have worked so well to prepare them.
We had a great Braeburn gala on Saturday with swimmers from 7 of the 9 Braeburn schools (Arusha, Braeside, Garden Estate, Imani, Kisumu, Nanyuki, and Braeburn School) taking to the water - the sun even shone (and we have the photo to prove it, although it would be stretching things to say it was typical of the weather conditions on the day - we could almost have held it on the rugby pitch there was so much standing water on it).
Swimmers from all the schools did themselves and their schools proud as the Braeburn family came together for a sporting festival, followed by lunch in the dining hall. Our swimmers came away from the gala with 13 gold medals, 17 silver medals and 10 bronze medals.
Braeburn School