The Pocklingtonian 2018/19 | Page 76

SPORT// CROSS COUNTRY CROSS COUNTRY ANNUAL REVIEW This year a total of 52 students took part in 6 different cross country events. There were many notable performances. On Sunday 23rd September Lucas Walton competed in his first fell race in the English Schools Fell Running Championships hosted this year by Giggleswick School. The race had a large field of 173 junior athletes competing from all over England. The 4.2 Kilometre course was a real challenge for any athlete as it included a daunting 675ft sheer ascent and decent, a quarry and a stream crossing. . Lucas who was struggling for full fitness after an injury over the summer ran a powerful controlled race and was in the top 25 after the first mile. The hill proved a real challenge though with the descent especially needing real concentration and technique to manage. Lucas managed to complete the course in a fabulous 26 minutes and 08 seconds finishing in a highly commendable 52nd place against some seasoned fell runners. Well done Lucas! Four Teams of Pocklington students competed in the English Schools Cross Country Cup on Monday 1st October. Our students performed admirably against seven other schools especially as some of top athletes were required at other internal and external events . The outstanding performer in the Junior Boys team was Julian Brittenden 74 THE POCKLINGTONIAN showing true grit and determination to finish 6th overall with Luca Maude finishing in a commendable 29th place in his first senior school race. The Junior Girls team finished 4th overall and just missed out on a place in the next round of the competition. Sophie Brosenitz finished in 11th beating many students a year older than her. Issy Rowley finished in 14th , Evie Rennison closely followed in 19th and Ruby Donohue Day completed the race in 28th. In the intermediate team Lucas Walton finished 6th in his first race at intermediate level and Ollie Eagle with a strong run finished 13th. The Inter Girls again struggled against some strong athletes but a special mention must go to Emma Forsyth with a strong 9th place finish in her first race at intermediate level. The East Riding Cross Country Championships took place during our half term on the 23rd October so it is credit to our athletes that they took time out of their holiday to run. The stand out performer was Niamh Clements who won was crowned the East Riding Junior champion at the first time of asking beating girls from across the region who are a year above. Also a special mention to Henry Rodmell who came 3rd, Isabelle Scanlon and Lucy Hatfield who came 8th and 9th. Overall it was a great team performance. Thanks to the their superb performance at the East Riding championships 8 of our athletes qualified to run at the Humberside Championship finals and there were stand out performances from both Isabelle Scanlon and Henry Rodmell running in arctic conditions not conjusive to running. The annual Terrington Hall Cross Country race took place on Monday 4th February 2019. This year the race attracted a record 15 schools fielding more than 360 runners. Pocklington School entered a boys and girls U13 team for the challenging 5km race On the day the sun was shining and with only a light breeze it made for excellent running conditions and gave spectators outstanding views of the race across the Howardian Hills. The course however, was very muddy in places, and our runners found the race challenging, varied but rewarding. The boys team consisting of Arthur Cesbron Darnaud, Eddie Groombridge, Julian Brittendan, Stanleigh Stone and Tom Councell made a good start but found the course tough going at times. Julian ran a controlled race to finish 14th our first U13 finisher followed by Tom and Stanleigh in 20th and 21st. A special mention should go to Luke who stopped to assist a member of the girl’s