National Final of The English Schools Cross Country Cup – Woodbridge School Athletes are National Champions!
On Saturday, three Woodbridge School Cross Country Teams travelled to Leeds to compete in the National Final of the English Schools Cross Country Cup.
Schools need to navigate a County round and a Regional round to earn the right to line up at the start of the Nationals; the event is open to all schools across the Country. With over 6,000 secondary schools in England, only 27 were at the start of each race. Woodbridge School had teams in three of the six age group races, an achievement which in itself matches a best ever for the school.
Woodbridge School has now qualified one or more teams for the Nationals every year since 2016. And wow, what a day it turned out to be!
Saturday saw the National Final of the English Schools Cross Country Cup in Leeds, in the centenary year of English Schools Athletics.
Turns out a school so often celebrated for its academic and arts achievements can also compete with the very best athletic schools in England, with team Gold for our Junior Girls, team Gold for our Junior Boys and an Individual Gold for Dexter. A brilliant run by Year 8’s Dexter to take the win at a national event. Senior Boys were 27th last year, and a much improved 16th this year.
It was announced at prizegiving that the double Junior victory is unprecedented at this national event. They mentioned that they were so pleased it went to a school that had twice hosted the national final in recent years on behalf of English Schools, which is obviously great PR for Woodbridge School on the national stage.
There were so many happy athletes and parents, and well-deserved, after training tirelessly through all weather, weekends and holidays.
Full results:
Junior Girls – Team Gold – National Champions:
India J (Year 8) 9th
Alexandra (Year 8) 13th
Chloe (Year 7) 16th
Ella (Year 8) 22nd
India B (Year 8) 55th
Imogen (Year 8) 76th
(Woodbridge win with 60 points, second was 92 points and third 94 points)
Junior Boys – Team Gold – National Champions:
Dexter (Year 8) 1st
Olly (Year 8) 18th
Josh (Year 8) 24th
Alfie (Year 8) 26th
Otis (Year 8) 35th
Archie (Year 7) 56th
(Woodbridge win with 69 points, second was 97 points and third 108 points)
Senior Boys – 16th:
Iwan (Year 13) 28th
Angus (Year 12) 47th
Bruce (Year 13) 68th
Jasper (Year 11) 97th
Sam (Year 12) 119th
Congratulations to every single athlete, out there competing with the very best in the country!
A special day for the profile of Woodbridge School on a national athletic stage, and a huge thank you to all staff and parents supporting the team in Leeds.
Looking ahead, this coming weekend, 13 of our athletes will compete for Suffolk County at the UK Inter County Cross Country Championship in Nottingham and we wish them every success!
