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Photos - Georgie Cooper (Year 3 girls winner) - Will Perkin and Claire Buttivant (Year 4 boys and girls winners) - Evie Gardner (Year 5 girls
winner) Starts of the year 4 boys race and the year 4 girls race. |
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The fourth and final race of the winter primary schools cross country series took place at Hawridge Cricket Club on Saturday with schools from as far afield as Chipperfield and Wycombe, Gerrards Cross and Chesham taking part. Hawridge and Cholesbury School were hosts and the soft going, sharp hills and the last of the previous night's gusty winds made for challenging conditions.
The cool and blustery morning turned into warm sunshine for the older age groups, and although several schools had regular runners missing with other sports commitments, there was an excellent turnout. Chiltern Harriers athletes are underlined.
The Year 3 boys were off first and a good race had Freddie Bowcock of The Beacon scoring a second win, ahead of Elangeni's Charlie Stevens and Gayhurst's Sam Phippen. The Beacon were first team followed by Elangeni in second and Gayhurst third. The Year 3 girls race was won by Chalfont St Peter's Georgie Cooper with Rhiannon Ward from Elangeni second and Chalfont's Zara Smith third. Chalfont St Peter were team winners with Elangeni second and Heatherton House third.
The Year 4 races saw a clean sweep of victories for the series by Will Perkin of Elangeni in the boys race and Claire Buttivant of Chalfont St Peter for the girls. Following Will home were The Gateway's Barnaby Smith and Jamie Franks, whilst Claire had Elangeni's Rachel Padwick and Jessica Empson behind her. The boys team victory went to The Gateway, followed by The Beacon and Chalfont St Peter, whilst Elangeni were girls team winners, second were Chalfont St Peter and third Heatherton House
The Beacon's Oliver Porter was a convincing victor in the Year 5 boys race, second was Gayhurst's Connor Worrell and third was The Beacon's Woody Bowcock. The Beacon were team winners, Gayhurst second and Chalfont St Peter third. The Year 5 girls event saw a second win of the winter for Godstowe's Evie Gardner, thriving again on a tough and hilly course. Second was Heatherton's Mia Poplawska with a third top three place in the series, and third, and a first podium finish after a great season for school and for Chiltern Harriers, was Robyn Lisle of Chalfont St Peter
Yet again Chalfont St Peter dominated the Year 6 boys race with Andrew Stenning first, Sam Butcher second and Toby Jones third. The Chalfont St Peter team was unsurprisingly first, followed by Little Kingshill and The Gateway. Elangeni had their fourth team win of the series in the Year 6 girls event. Connie Lewis and Rosalind Firth ran from the front, with Connie just edging victory. In-form Claudia McInerney was third and led the Chalfont St Peter team to second place. Godstowe were third.
The four events have again been very popular and provide a great forum for the area's young runners to come together to compete, whether for fun, or for healthy competition. They also act as a great feeding ground for the nearer athletic clubs in the region, particularly our local club, Chiltern Harriers. The recent Chiltern Cross Country League Under 11 victories for the Harriers were in no small part a product of the schools races and the club acknowledges the time and effort put in by the schools in staging these excellent series of events.
Steve Perkin