Sussex Youngsters battled the strong winds and heavy rain to come away with some brilliant results at the English Schools Cross-country Championships at Newsam Park in Leeds on Saturday.
Some of the highlights included four top twenty finishers, an overall bronze for all the boys’ teams, a senior boys team silver and the inter girls getting silver for the Best 8 Runners category.
Tomer Tarragano led the senior boys and didn’t fail to impress finishing in a fantastic 7th position. First year in the age group, Leo Brewer, also wasn’t put off by the muddy course coming 19th. They were both well supported by team mates Jacob Cann (21st), George Pool (23rd), Ethan Fincham (26th) and Leo Stallard (69th).
The Sussex star of the day was Bethany Cook winning the gold medal in the Inter Girls race. Cook set the bar high from the start and managed to finish 13 seconds ahead of Wiltshire’s Bea Wood, who had not only won gold in 2018 but had beaten Cook the previous weekend at the National Inter-counties in Loughborough.
Poppy Palmer-Malins, Olivia Toms and Maggie King all gained top one hundred placing 66th, 84th and 89th respectively to help the team into 7th place. Both Palmer-Malins and Toms will still be in this age group next year which bodes well.
Atticus Mohapi-Dobouny was the other top 20 finisher having the run of his season to come 18th in the Inter Boys. Like the girls in this age category, there were three others who managed top one hundred positions. Adam Dray 52nd, Isaac Elam 78th and Ashley Williams 87th. The team placed 8th overall.
The senior girls were also 8th overall with Olivia McDonald 27th, one better than last year when she was 28th as an Inter Girl. Alexander Richer was 38th, Ellie Farrow 47th and Alice Cox-Rusbridge 77th.
Nicholas Hollan-Ellidge and Ben Connolly led the junior boys to 16th placing 51st and 59th respectively, with Henry Yelling 85th.
There were two top sixty runners in the junior girls with Eleanor Strevens 34th and Daisy Burton 55th, and the team finishing 26th.
Judy Lasis, SSAA Chair, said: “Mud, wind, rain did not dampen the Sussex Schools Cross Country teams’ spirits!
“The teams were brilliant, even those who were disappointed made the most of the experience; they were always appropriate, polite and willing to help each other and the managers.
“My team managers Leanne, Tim, Sue and Linda are absolutely wonderful. They give their time and experience voluntarily, they made the whole day run smoothly and ensured the best possible preparation and experience for the athletes. That is why we had the best results this year for many years and I'm thrilled, it makes all the hard work worthwhile and it is why we give our time in order to give these young athletes this special experience!”
The 48 selected Sussex athletes were among 1992 in total who competed on the day. Tarragano and Cook have now been selected for the Home Countries International event in Dublin next weekend.
Watch the races below:
Inter Boys
Inter Girls
Junior Boys
Junior Girls
Senior Boys
Senior Girls
Some of the team filmed a vlog. View it here: https://youtu.be/4Bg_DprnSQw
If you have any queries or want more information regarding this post, please Email Kate Matthews.