BATHURST High was crowned the inaugural winner of the Denison Cup on Friday and while the victory over Kelso High did not come in ideal fashion, the new school sporting competition is set to become an annual event.
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Kelso was unable to field teams in the two sports scheduled for Friday - tennis and rugby league - ensuring Bathurst High won the newly created competition.
Bathurst High instead contested matches between its own students, but giving students a sporting outlet was one of main objectives of the Denison Cup.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of regular inter-school competitions this year, meaning Bathurst High did not get the chance to face Orange and Dubbo in the Astley Cup and Kelso missed out on doing battle with Cowra and Canobolas in the CKC Cup.
So the Denison Cup was created.
"We were being optimistic about Astley Cup and we kept telling the kids to keep training for it. Then when it was finally canned we thought 'How can we give them something to be a part of?'," Bathurst High sports organiser Lachlan Blaikie said.
"So we've done this which has given them the chance to play some sport for the school which they wouldn't have got to do otherwise.
"I think they've all had a lot of fun, there was a lot of spirit and sportsmanship on Thursday across all the sports from both schools."
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On day one Bathurst High won four of the five events contested - the girls soccer (2-1), girls hockey (3-2), boys basketball (54-24) and girls netball (56-12) - to put themselves in a strong position to claim the inaugural cup.
Though Kelso, who won the boys soccer 1-0, did not contest the final two sports on Friday to hand Bathurst a comprehensive win, Blaikie said the schools would look to continue and refine the Denison Cup next year.
"We still need to iron out some of the details on how we are going to score it, whether it's like Astley Cup or we treat it as a standalone event," he said.
"But it is something we'll look to keep doing. We'll probably move it to make it a lead up to Astley Cup, use it as a bit of a practice."
Kelso High's Mick Armstrong is also keen to see the competition continue.
"We only had about two weeks to throw everything together so unfortunately we just didn't have the numbers to play the sports today. But with a bit more time and preparation next year, yeah it would be great to see it continue," he said.
