Belated Blog : Welland Academy Cross Country Saturday 4th March

With apologies for the late running of this Blog.....

On Saturday 4th March eighteen Copthill pupils from Years 3 to 6 volunteered to take on the challenge of racing against 10 local primary schools at the annual Welland Academy Cross Country Event. For some it was their first taste of competitive running, for others it was a chance to show their talents and go for a medal. For all it was a fun occasion, made even better by early spring sunshine.

  

Under 9 Girls Team

Many individual performances to note; Nicole and Georgia both ran beautifully in their first race, a few positions further up; Lexi 18th, Elsie 14th, and Holly 11th, but special mention to Annabel Hayes who was in close contention all the way round, and with a determined finish took a medal in 3rd place. Well done Annabel! Congratulations to all the girls; their efforts won the Copthill U9 Team 2nd place in the Team Result. What a great performance by you all!

Annabel (and James) showing off her gong!

U9 Boys Team

An impressive 91 runners assembled for the Boys U9 race! The start was like the Grand National.... fortunately the Copthill boys stayed out of trouble at the start and ran hard in a very competitive race. Well done to William Ibbotson, Euan, Monty, Seb and Harry for some excellent running. Further forward we saw strong performances by William Wood 23rd, and James 21st, but the Sprint of the Day came from Marcus Oliver, I thought he had left it too late... but he flew up the finishing straight to finish in the medals in 3rd. Congratulation Marcus and all the boys!

Marcus with his well deserved medal

Boys U11 Team

With no U11 Girls attending this year, we waited for the final race of the day; the Boys U11. An enthusiastic team of Copthill boys set off for their 1 mile race. As expected Reuben and Felix were front runners from the off, but not far behind were Raife, Harley and Lawrence. It was a very competitive race up front, some serious running talent just knocking Reuben off the podium in 4th, and Felix hot on his heels in 8th. Raife worked hard and was rewarded with a top half finish, 31st, Harley ran exceptionally well for a well deserved 37th, and Lawrence showing determination and enjoyment all the way to the line came in a creditable 55th, way ahead of the final finishers. A great performance by you all. Well done Boys!

Nick T