Local Schools' Cross Country Meet, 22 November, Chartridge

Chartridge Junior School hosted the second in a series of four local cross country events. The conditions were mild to begin with but a band of rain soon made running, and spectating, more uncomfortable. This year’s course was set at 1.1 miles for the juniors (years 3 and 4)and 1.4miles for the seniors (5 and 6). After running out of Chartridge School the children headed into open farm and woodland in very muddy conditions. Just after the halfway point, a long steady incline of about 800m challenged the children further, as they began to tire, before heading back into the school grounds.

Medals were awarded to the top ten finishers and team positions are calculated by adding the scores of the top three runners from each school. Medals were awarded to the first four schools.

80 children were selected to run for Gateway with 56 available on the day.

In the first race of the day, William St C-B ran extremely well to finish 6th, in his first run of the season, followed in by George C (18th) and Henry G(19th). These boys secured the 3rd placed team medals. Year three girls ran very well with Amber O impressing in 5th place, Penny D finished shortly after in 19th and Marea L in 30th.

In the year 4 boys’ race, Oakley D paced himself superbly, taking the lead in the latter stages and finished strongly to win this event. Oliver L finished 11th and Adam Y recorded his best place (13th). These boys deserved their Silver team medals. In the girls’ race, Jemma T also showed her class by finishing 5th, Abigail H was 27th and Lily P 30th.

In the year 5 boys’ race, Cormac N showed his improvement (21st last year) in another well judged finish that saw him snatch 2nd place with a sprint and dive for the line! Brandon N-T also finished strongly in 8th, and Jamie W, who had only stepped up as a reserve for the squad, at the last moment, grabbed the 3rd team spot in 30th. He was surprised and delighted to win a Bronze team medal for his endeavours. In the girls’ race Esme Y was just outside the medal positions in 11th, Jessica Cl was 16th and Daisy S 19th. The girls finished with 4th place medals.

In year 6, Zach R was cheered on to a very impressive 2nd place by parents and Gateway runners. Harry O’ C ran well to finish 18th and James P finished 30th. These runners also received Team Bronze medals. The Y6 girls’ team only had two of the normal squad this year so were not able to compete in the team event: Helen N run her heart out to come 23rd and Maddi S also did well in 35th.

As usual, congratulations go to all the runners who gave their best to compete and complete this long, muddy and tiring course, especially Hannah M who hobbled over the line with just one boot! The staff and parents are always impressed by the performances throughout the whole squad.

The next inter school event will be held at Hervines Park, Amersham, 24 January 2014, so please keep an eye on the notice board for team selection when returning to school next term.