Despite the severe weather warnings on Saturday it was decided that the event should take place and the decision was vindicated as the conditions were mild and largely firm under foot. The team went to the Nationals with confidence after a clean sweep of trophies at the tough St Richard’s event on Tuesday.

The U11 girls were first off and a great team effort saw the team finish 3 rd out of 31 schools and the first ‘Small school’ (less than 250 pupils) Emma T led the team after her fall at St Richard’s to finish in 23 rd, Elizabeth W 34 th, Emily T 39 th, and Georgie W 41 st.

The U11 boys followed and another fantastic team effort saw the team finish 2 nd out of 35 schools and again the first ‘Small school’. Freddie B put the disappointment of the St Richard’s event behind him to finish an impressive 13 th, Pepe del C 21 st, Roddy P 24 th and Lucien W 35 th.

The U13 girls were led by last year’s U11 race winner in Katja C-S. It was great to see Katja running again after missing much of the season through injury. She showed that she is returning to her best to finish in the top ten with a 9 th place finish. Anna V was 21 st, Katie B also recovering from injury 22 nd, and Elizabeth A 49 th. I was particularly impressed with Emma H P who volunteered to join the team on the morning of the race following the illness of the quickly developing Henrietta H H.

The U13 boys have had a great season and we were looking forward to seeing what they could achieve. The top four runners have performed consistently well as a team. Harry H showed he has returned to his best after the disappointment of not finishing last year to come 20 th, Toby C finished a good season not far behind in 23 rd place, Max Wood was 37 th and Edward H 57 th. George B sadly suffered debilitating stitch and so we were unable to see the form he has shown throughout the season. Max H ran again with real guts and determination to confirm his position in the team.

To win three trophies for the Small schools competitions and in doing so finishing 2 nd in the U11 boys and 3 rd in the U11 girls overall was an impressive return. With only Katja finishing in the top ten, it shows the importance of the team in cross country events and the strength in depth resulted in success.

Several of the runners were running a year young and so we look forward to next year with confidence.