Forty enthusiastic and confident Woodbridge and Abbey boys and girls travelled to compete in this huge event… over 250 running from over 30 schools in each of the six races on the day. Our team was a credit to the school and further enhanced our reputation as an excellent cross country school.
For the senior school races, the Year 7 girls started impressively with Ruby Vinton continuing her recent run of victories with a confident performance to win by some 100m. But these races were as much about teamwork, and so six had to score well: Madeline Buchanan (29), Ada Marson (58), Esme Ball (63), Chloe Macmillan (70), and Kitty Frith (101), Maggie Nicholson (103) and Libbie Brightey(107) running together to push each other, all fought through the pack and the cold to give themselves a chance of glory. Eight place overall was a fine reward.
The Year 7 boys were also on fine form: Ed Buckingham (4) chased down the initial leader and worked hard in the front group, while Moses McBride (11) and Tommy Burrows (17) forged their way up the field into the second group. Jonny Evans Lombe (33) and George Na Nakhorn (39) showed excellent support for the front runners and with Erwan Gouedo (67) and Albie Smith (102) working exceptionally hard right to the finish, the boys took a deserved third place overall.
The Year 8 girls feared they would be a runner short, but Isobel Mitchell agreed to run a year up to ensure that the team would be able to gain a score. The team was ably led by Amy Goddard (3) who ran with the front runners from the start and worked extremely hard throughout the race and she was well supported by her entire team of Ann Jackson (10), Willa Cole (19), and Isobel Mitchell (37), Iris Morton (40) and Ella Pitt (41) whose triumvirate approach brought the very best result out of them. The girls won as a team – a brilliant performance.
The Year 8 boys now knew we were in with a shout for the overall competition. Ed Rufford (14) and Tom Martin (26) set the pace with Tom cleverly biding his time and slowly moving through the field throughout the race; Samuel Bolus (47) worked as hard as he ever had, digging impressively deep, as did Oliver Doole (64) and the pair of Archie Sjoberg (83) and Max Hutchinson (85) who pushed and pushed right to the end. Seventh for the team: another great result.
In the end in the overall results our girls’ team and our boys’ team both finished third (the only school to feature on both podiums). It meant the grand total would be close… and so it proved as we were pipped into second behind Lincroft Academy by 1462 to 1476 points, and well over 100 points clear of third placed Bedford Modern. A brilliant day! Many congratulations to all the runners who performed admirably in freezing cold and windy conditions.
