English Schools Cross Country Championships
Temple Newsam, Leeds
Saturday 16th March 2019
For the second successive year West Yorkshire Schools hosted the English Schools Athletics Association Cross Country Championships in the picturesque surroundings of Temple Newsam Park. With Temple Newsam House providing a magnificent backdrop well over 2,000 competitors aged from 12 to 19 years of age were greeted with all that is best about cross country in England – rain, strong winds, hills and copious amounts of mud! The course has been described as one of the most testing that most of the athletes have encountered in recent years with its undulating nature and numerous tight turns providing exciting racing in all 6 age groups contested throughout the day. A huge army of officials and helpers of all kinds ensured that despite the inclement weather both before and throughout the championships the day ran like clockwork much to the organisers’ relief.
The first race of the day featured the intermediate girls (15-17 years) who faced a course of 3,800m which included a steep climb of some 300m close to the finish. The leading local athlete in the Humberside team was Jodie Martin of Kingston upon Hull AC & Holderness College. The versatile 16 year old was Kingston’s leading under 17 sprinter in 2018 as well as being an English School’s finalist over 800m and a Northern Athletics bronze medallist over the same distance. She is already very experienced over the country with this being her 4th English Schools Championship. She made her debut in 2016 at Wollaton Park Nottingham finishing 231st as a first year junior. The East Anglia Showground in Norwich hosted the 2017 event when Jodie showed a huge improvement to place 89th in her final year as an under 15 before progressing still further last season on her first visit to Temple Newsam finishing 43rd in the intermediate event. With over 350 girls from 46 county teams crowding into the starting pens Jodie’s task was made harder by being on the second rank of runners due to having been beaten in the Humberside Schools Championships by the rapidly improving Emma Waudby from Pocklington who therefore claimed the beneficial leading slot. Jodie however used her experience to good effect and quickly established herself just behind the leading pack and continued to work her way through the field as it snaked around the increasingly muddy heathland. The finishing speed of an 800m runner also proved extremely useful with further places being gained in the finishing straight with Jodie eventually crossing the line in 24th spot in 14 minutes 21 seconds. So tight was the battle for places that this was only 15 seconds slower than the 10th placed athlete, with the leading 8 selected to represent England in the Home Countries International later in the month. Jodie’s performance was also the counties’ highest placing over all 6 age groups. Such was the quality of the opposition that no other Humberside competitors managed to break into the top 60 places in their respective events.
Hermione Pickering was also in action in the intermediate girl’s race. She has been with Kingston, since the summer of 2016. This was her second appearance at the English Schools Championships cross country championships, having made her debut at the 2018 event, which was staged at the same venue. She has been busy during the 2018/19 cross country season. Competing in both the Northern Counties, and the National, relay championships. She also ran in the regional final, of the English Schools cross country cup. Her first run out of 2019, saw her win the gold medal, at the Barton cross country event. Her second outing of the new year, came at this championship event. Running in a field of 341 athletes, she covered the 3800 metres course, in a time of 15:28 sec, crossing the finish line in 180th place.
Thomas Smales was Kingston’s representative in the intermediate boys (15 to 17 years) race which was contested over a 5.22 kilometre course, with a field of 331 runners. This was his third consecutive appearance, at this annual meeting, having debuted at Norwich in March of 2017. He has been busy throughout the autumn and winter, covering all of the championship meetings, as well as competing in the South Yorkshire cross country league. He picked up the silver medal at the County championships, and was the gold medallist at the Barton event. He covered the Temple Newsam course, in a time of 19:11 sec, to take 193rd position, in the race.
By the time the junior girls (under 15) race was due to start the course had not only been pounded by many hundreds of pairs of feet it had also had a further hour of rain to absorb so was becoming extremely greasy with the tight bends and steep slopes proving especially problematic for the athletes, many of who were making their first appearance at such a major event. The 3,100 metre race was contested over 2 small laps enabling the large crowd to see most of the action from start to finish.
This meeting saw Kingston’s Georgina North, make her debut appearance, at the English schools cross country championships. She ran in the Junior Girl’s race. Like her training partner, Hermione, she also ran in the two big cross country relay Championships. Her first competition of 2019, took her over the Humber to Barton AC, where she was the bronze medallist, at the clubs cross country event. Her next action came at the National cross country championships, in Loughborough. The following weekend she was here at Temple Newsam, for this championship meeting. The race was contested by a field of 353 athletes, with Georgina running the 3100 metre course, in a time of 12:38 sec, to finish in 289th position.
Emma Hoggard (St Mary’s Sports College) was Kingston’s second representative in this event. One of the youngest athletes in the field Emma suffered the daunting experience of having lost a shoe in the mud while contesting the Inter Counties Championship at Loughborough the previous week. Undaunted by this and also having to contend with starting on the 7th rank of 8 in the pens Emma ran with her usual determination and completed the race without mishap, placing 344th, Humberside’s 6th counter from the team of 8.
Such is the scale of these championships that next year’s event is already in the planning stage with Sefton Park Liverpool being the venue with Merseyside Schools Athletics Association taking on the mantle of hosts. Already an established venue for major cross country events there is no reason to doubt that another superb day’s racing can be anticipated in 12 months’ time.
