The Astley Cup is back for another year and Bathurst High School are out to defend last year’s winning performance.

The competition is made up of three ties, with the three schools, Bathurst High, Orange High School and Dubbo College, each competing in two of them during a three-week period. 

Each school has students participate in the eight sports, with 800 points up for grabs across the competition.

Points are awarded based on the ratio of the scores in the various sports. 

On Thursday, Bathurst will host the first tie in the annual competition, going up against Dubbo.

Principal of Bathurst High, Ken Barwick, said the Astley Cup campaign is a highlight on the calendar for students across the three schools and their communities. 

Having once been a student at Bathurst High, he knows the preparation and determination the students carry into the competition.

“It means a lot to a lot of people, because it has been running for so long,” Mr Barwick said.

“We are heading up towards the 100-year mark, we’re about 96 years of Astley Cup, give or take one or two with the odd year during the war.

“And the honours are pretty much split. Most of the campuses, Orange is probably slightly ahead, but most of the schools have all had their fair share of wins and Bathurst High’s wins have come in recent years, in the 2000s, because they had a 26 year drought – and that was my school life at Bathurst High, having never won Astley Cup.”

Mr Barwick said he and the school are very proud of the effort the students are putting into the competition and are confident they will do their school proud. 

“I’m extremely proud of the way the kids work towards this time of year, the way they are very proud to represent the blue and gold of Bathurst High campus and the memories they make as friends along the way,” he said. 

“We’re hoping to go back-to-back because we’ve got a strong cohort of sportspeople this year.”

With so many different sports on offer in the Astley Cup, it’s fair to say that no school can be good at everything. 

Mr Barwick said Bathurst High shines in soccer, tennis and athletics.

However he acknowledges that students have struggled to be victorious in netball, that sport being one of Orange High’s strengths. 

“Hockey is a fairly even match across the board and in rugby league we tend to have very strong competition against Orange, Dubbo’s always a little bit stronger in rugby league. That’s been the history for many years.

“And basketball has been very evenly matched.”  

Run at the same time as the Astley Cup is the Mulvey Cup, an award given to the best debating team from the three schools. 

Mr Barwick said he feels Bathurst High has a very good chance of taking out that title as well, given the recent successes of the school’s debating team. 

“We’re extremely proud of our current debaters and our chances of Mulvey Cup are very strong this year, given we have just taken out the Year 11 and 12 Premier’s Debating Challenge,” he said.

“And the same team was also the first public school to win the 52^nd Lithgow Festival of Speech recently. 

“Debaters are like sportspeople: they are only as good as their last debate. I’m really looking forward to watching their debate on Thursday night. 

Members of the public are invited to attend and show their support when the first debate occurs on Thursday night at 6pm in the school theatre.