Congratulations to our nine Woodbridge School athletes that competed for Suffolk Schools at the English Schools Cross Country Championship in Leeds on Saturday 16th March.
Rain and mud were the order of the day, but that did little to dampen spirits and the quality of racing was as impressive as ever. This remains the final winter fixture each year and is something of an elite event with only the top 8 athletes across two year groups competing for each of the 45 counties in each of the six races. So just 360, or about 0.1% (yes one tenth of a percent), of the fastest school athletes in England.
As has been the case throughout the winter, Woodbridge School athletes were more than capable of holding their own in this elite company:
Ruby – a year young in the Junior girls finished an incredible 10th, just missing top 8 and an English Schools vest by 3 seconds after two miles in the mud. Ruby will be able to compete in the same race next year and remains excited at the prospect. A great finish to a very special winter of racing for Ruby.
Amy – also in the Junior girls race, finished in 227th and 3rd Suffolk to close out her best winter to date.
Henry – A first race at this level for Henry who ran an excellent race to finish 144th and 7th Suffolk in the Junior Boys. This group of Suffolk youngsters are pretty incredible with the team finishing second to Surrey overall across the 45 counties. Considering the size of the Suffolk population, this is a remarkable result.
Kit – Running a year up in the Inter Boys, Kit closed out a remarkable season to finish 50th and 2nd Suffolk with the strong Suffolk team finishing 10th.
Charlie – Also a year young in the Inter Boys, Charlie was inside the top half of the talented field finishing 178th and 6th Suffolk. In doing so he contributed to the second best team result for Suffolk on the day.
April – Competing a year young in the Inter Girls, April finished well inside the top quarter in 74th place and 2nd Suffolk. Another very impressive performance with April holding on to the large leading pack for at least three quarters of the race.
Jess – A year young in the same race as April and a first experience at this level. Having achieved her aim of making the Suffolk Team to compete at this event, Jess was able to hold her own to finish a credible 253rd and 6th Suffolk.
Nathan – Nathan had just about recovered from a virus that kept him out of the UK Inter Counties the week before to finish 104th and 2nd Suffolk, running year up in the Senior Boys.
Sarah – Making a welcome return to competition at this level and running a year up, Sarah did extremely well to finish 219th and 6th Suffolk. The Senior girls were 16th in the team results, Suffolk’s third best result of the day.
To round off the day, Suffolk Boys were awarded the Category C (based on population size) trophy for the best overall results.
