Cross Country Season Ends on a High for Woodbridge Athletes

As this year’s Cross Country season comes to a close, we report on the English Schools Championships which took place at the weekend in Pontefract, as well as look back on the highlights of the last six months for Woodbridge School athletes.

English Schools Cross Country Championship
Pontefract, West Yorkshire

On Saturday 16 March, five Woodbridge School athletes were part of a successful Suffolk team that competed at the English Schools Cross Country Championships, the most competitive nationals of the winter. English Schools is an event where athletes create memories, experience success, and learn to deal with disappointment on the highest stage!

All 46 counties in England send their top eight athletes (in age groups, combining two school years) to compete for honours; meaning there were up to 368 county level athletes from across England on each start line.

Suffolk is a tiny county in terms of population (category C, with D being the smallest) and yet, once again, our athletes were extremely competitive.

The age groups were: Juniors (Year 8 and 9), Inters (Year 10 and 11) and Seniors (Year 12 and 13)

Our full Suffolk team results, where our own athletes competed were:

Junior Girls:

Suffolk 15th

Year 9’s Romilly consistently in the top 100 on the national stage, finished as first Suffolk athlete in 68th place. Another brilliant performance.

Junior Boys:

Suffolk 28th

Year 8’s Digby running his first ever English Schools, in the lower year, had an outstanding race to make the top 100, finishing 88th and 2nd Suffolk runner home.

Year 9’s Jago was absolutely thrilled to make the Suffolk team and thoroughly enjoyed his nationals weekend, finishing 323rd , 8th Suffolk runner home.

Senior Boys:

Suffolk 7th, the county’s best team result of the day!

Year 13’s Henry went all in for the win, fading slightly in the latter stages, but still recording his third top 10 finish at this event. Henry finished in 5th place as first Suffolk athlete home.

Whilst Seniors do not go to the Home Nation International, at Junior and Inter level the top 10 are selected to race for English Schools, just to give Henry’s performance some context! It’s been an incredible six months for the young athlete!

Year 12’s Iwan had his debut at this event and racing a year young he was very close to the top 100 at his first attempt. A great performance in 117th and 5th Suffolk.

The end of a busy winter, and time for our athletes to rest and recharge before starting to prepare for the summer track season.

A massive thank you to all parents and staff who have travelled far and wide to support our young athletes.

2023/24 Cross Country Summary
A Woodbridge School season to remember!

• Two Great Britain representations
• An individual British trial victory, followed by a 6th at the European Championships and team silver for Britain’s U20s
• Representing Great Britain at the World Cross Country Championships to follow, on 30 March
• Woodbridge School were hosts to the National Final of The English Schools XC Cup
• Three School teams qualified for the National final of the Cup, and at those finals we had two team 4ths and an individual 4th. (Woodbridge School has qualified one or more teams for the Nationals every year since 2016)
• Woodbridge School were hosts to the Final Suffolk Schools XC Trial
• At the King Henry V111 Cross country Relays (the largest XC schools relay event in England) our girls team finish 4th (equalling their 2nd best ever) and the boys finish 6th (their best ever). Year 13’s Henry runs the fastest individual leg ever run in the 52 year history of the event!
• 23 athletes selected to represent Suffolk Schools at Anglian Schools (our second highest representation to date), Suffolk win the event and our athletes secure three individual medals
• 13 athletes selected to represent Suffolk County at the UK Inter Counties XC, our highest ever representation. An individual 3rd and five athletes with top 100 finishes
• Six athletes selected to represent Suffolk Schools at English Schools and Henry makes the top 10 for the third time, finishing 5th