Teenagers battle for honours in Leeds at the re-scheduled cross-country event

The top schools in the country descended on Leeds on Saturday (March 1) for ‘take two’ of the English Schools Cross Country Cup Final, which had been dramatically postponed by the onset of Storm Darragh in December, Isla Masson reports.

It was worth the wait as spring sunshine basked the glorious setting of The Grammar School at Leeds. But it was last year’s hosts, Woodbridge School, who stole the limelight with two team wins. That they did so in the notoriously unpredictable junior races made it even more impressive, and will likely make the Suffolk school a force to be reckoned with as their fast young squad moves up the age groups.

The undulating course around Leeds’ ample grounds was surprisingly firm given the quagmires of previous weeks, and with distances rather short, winning junior times were around the eight-minute mark, which made the racing (and supporting!) rather hectic.

This suited Woodbridge’s Suffolk champion Dexter Marshall, whose sub-4:40 1500m pace no one else in the field could match, and he came away with a dominant victory. Charlie Porteous came in a clear second for Ilkley Grammar before the masses streamed in – half the field was covered by a blanket of about 30 seconds. Woodbridge closed all four scorers inside 30 for an excellent 69 points score, from Langley Park (97 points) who also packed well for their best ever result in this competition, while Taunton completed a southern podium with 108 points.

Woodbridge were even more dominant in the junior girls’, clinching their title with 60 points. Jess Thake had twice come second on the country this year at Yorkshire and Northern Champs respectively, and now went one better for Silverdale. Next were West Kirby Grammar’s Beddow twins, who were split by Polly Warman of Millfield Prep. Warman’s team-mates backed her up well for team silver, pipping girls’ powerhouse Guildford High. But they were well-beaten by Woodbridge’s excellent packing, modestly described by their crucial fourth scorer Ella Knight, who said: “Our team stayed together and ran a good race”. Leading scorer India Johnson added: “The last stretch was hard. It was mentally very tough.”

The intermediate boys’ race was a tight affair, only three points separating the top three teams (and with only another five points back to fourth), and again a very tight midfield meant that a few seconds lost or gained had significant impact on the team result.  Although they didn’t have anyone in the top 20, it was a brilliant team effort by Bournemouth School, who placed all their six runners from 24th to 39th, exemplifying the team aspect of this event. Middlesex challengers St Paul’s lost out on the final counter, with a similar story for bronze medallists Perse, who had the consolation of providing the race winner: national third-placer Finn Maclennan lived up to his pre-race favourite billing, from other big-hitters Michael Phelan (St Anselm’s) and Tom Thake (Silverdale).

Guildford High have been the team to beat in recent years on the girls’ side, and having won the junior girls’ in successive years it was no surprise to see them now regain their intermediate title. They did so in some style with a one-two for Kitty Scott and Poppy Guest, in a repeat of their Southern result for their club, Aldershot, Farnham and District.

The senior boys’ event was always likely to become a demonstration by the south-east’s sixth form colleges, Farnborough and Godalming, the only question was whether they could get their top runners to turn out at this busy time of year. For Godalming, they were one short, and never looked like challenging, but for Sixth Form College Farnborough, it was a resounding ‘yes’, and after the Millfield pair of Nate Ground and Tom Webb had made the early running, Owen Smith and Jacob Pearce broke away expectedly.

Smith had been in better form, clinching the SE Schools’ Inter-County, and he left Pearce in the final mile, and they did not have to wait long for their team-mates who closed within 12. Dillon Millard came through for third for another college getting in on the act, Richard Huish, Taunton. The early Millfield leaders may have faded, but their latter scorers came through well for team silver (75 points) while the Ilkley Grammar squad, using their local knowledge having won the regional final on this course, delivered a superb result in third (85 points).

With around 4000 students on their books, and the famous AFD supply chain on tap, Farnborough are at the apex of what threatens to become a two-tier competition, which organisers might not have had in mind when they opened up the senior events three years ago; many sports separate out school and college competitions.

This issue doesn’t yet seem to have become a feature of the senior girls’ competition, which nevertheless was a high quality affair. Essex champion Olivia Forrest (New Hall) surged into the lead but faded mid-race. This left the way for Southern champion and junior international Katie Pye to clinch the win, but, similar to the SE Regional Final, her Guildford High team-mates were too far back.

It was a similar story for second placer Zoe Gilbody’s Thomas Telford’s squad. So it was with delight for Headington’s Evey Powell who ran her best cross country race to date in third, and leading her Oxfordshire School to their first title with 86 points, from Highgate (107 points) and Millfield (110).

Schools only need to wait nine months until the next Cup Final, at the new venue of Princethorpe College, Warwickshire.

Senior Boys: 1 O Smith (Farn C) 15:25; 2 J Pearce (Farn C) 15:43; 3 D Millard (Huish) 15:55

TEAM: 1 Farnborough Vl Form College 25; 2 Millfield 75; 3 Ilkley Grammar 85

Inter Boys: 1 F MacClennan (Perse) 12:25; 2 M Phelan (St Anselms) 12:53; 3 T Thake (S’dale) 12;57

TEAM: 1 Bournemouth 110; 2 St Paul’s 112; 3 Perse 113

Senior girls: 1 K Pye (Guildford) 10:44; 2 Z Gilbody (T Telford) 10:48; 3 E Powell (Headington 10:49)

TEAM: 1 Headington 86; 2 Highgate 107; 3 Millfield 110

Inter Girls: 1 K Scott (Guildford) 10:41; 2 P Guest (Guildford) 10:46; 3 S Smith (Coopers) 10:51

TEAM: 1 Guildford High School 19; 2 Chelmsford County 107; 3 New Hall 113

Junior Girls: 1 J Thake (S’dale) 8:11; 2 I Beddow (W Kirby) 8:15; 3 P Warman (Millfield) 8:17

TEAM: 1 Woodbridge 60; 2 Millfield 92; 3 Guildford 94