English Schools Athletics Association ‘Cross Country Cup’

Regional Final – Leeds Grammar School

Saturday 12^th November 2016

The English Schools Athletics Association ‘Cross Country Cup’ is an annual team competition for young athletes aged between 12 years and 16 years of age. It is open to both boys and girls who represent their schools in two age categories. Junior boys and girls who must be aged at least 12 years but under 14 and inter boys and girls aged at least 14 but under 16 years of age. It is a national competition and the opening round sees all the entrants competing in their local area with the highest placed teams going forward to compete in the regional final which was held on Saturday the 12^th of November at the Leeds Grammar School.  A total of 1661 teams from 579 schools nationwide were entered for the competition.

Four teams from the Hull and East Riding area qualified to compete in the regional final and the schools represented were Longcroft , South Hunsley, Hymers and Wolfreton.

The South Hunsley junior boys team finished in 3^rd place in the regional final and qualified for the cup final which will be staged at the Range High School in Formby, Lancashire on Saturday the 3^rd of December.

Sixteen Kingston athletes were in action at the regional final and details of their personal performances are as follows.

Junior Boys Race

Six of Kingston’s  young athletes were involved in the junior boy’s race which was contested by 11 teams and a total of 58 runners.

The highest placed finisher was Thomas Smales who was running for the South Hunsley team. He is in his second year with the Kingston club and is developing into a fine distance runner both on a cross country course and on the track.  He covered the course in a time of 10:57s crossing the finishing line in 11^th place. Running for Longcroft was his training partner Adam Fox who came home in 18^th place running a time of 11.07s. He is another talented young athlete not just a good distance and cross country runner, he is also the reigning County 200 metres champion. Four members of the Iversen family were running for the Wolfreton team, the triplets Thomas, Harry and James and their cousin Jake. First of them home was Thomas Iversen a good sprinter and middle distance runner who crossed the line in 21^st place and covered the course in a time of 11:13s. Jake Iversen was the next Kingston athlete home running a time of 12:27s  to finish in 46th spot with Harry Iversen finishing in 57^th in 12:55s and James Iversen 58^th in 13:00s.

Junior Girls Race

The junior girls race was contested by 12 teams and a total of 65 runners.

Jessica Waugh was the first Kingston athlete to finish she was running for the South Hunsley team and covered the course in a time 09:31s to finish in 28^th place. She joined our junior training group in June of this year and made her debut in a Humber track & field league meeting in July, this competition was only her third competitive outing. Finishing in 47^th place and running for the Hymers team was Lydia Newell who was making only her second competitive appearance and she completed the course in a time of 10:03s. Two places behind in 49^th was Ella Shaw-Hall on her third competitive outing and running for Wolfreton, she completed the course in a time of 10:06s, with Eve Anderson of South Hunsley finishing in 53^rd with her run of 10:09s.

Inter Boys Race

The inter boys race was contested by 10 teams with a field of 52 runners.

Two Kingston athletes were involved in the race with both of them running for the Hymers team. Joseph Seed has been a mainstay in the Kingston junior team for the last two seasons he is a good middle distance and cross country runner and has represented the County at both track and cross country championships. He finished in 34^th place in this race and crossed the finishing line in a time of 16:36s. One place behind in 35^th was Sam Westhead another member of the Kingston junior team who completed the course in 16:47s.

Inter Girls Race

The Inter girls race saw 12 teams in competition and a field of 65 runners. Four Kingston athletes were involved in the race, three of them running for Wolfreton and the fourth for Hymers.

Katy McCabe running for Wolfreton was the first of the club’s athletes to complete the course coming home in 29^th place and running a time 12:37s. Katy won her first County honours in March of this year when she competed at the national cross country championships in Birmingham. Two places behind her in 31^st came Megan Hatfield who was also in the Wolfreton team and she covered the course in a time of 12:41s. the next of the clubs  athletes over the line was Becky Chivers in 36^th position and her time for the race was 12:50s. This has been a good year for Becky who took the javelin gold medals at both the Northern Championships and the County Championships. The third Wolfreton runner was Abbie Haigh who completed the course in a time of 13:39s for 53^rd place. Abbie is currently making good progress in the hurdles event and we hope to see her in the youth team in 2017.