ENGLISH SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS, WEST SUSSEX – RICHMOND STUDENTS PERFORM WELL, BUT INJURIES TAKE OUT TWO RUNNERS 

Earlier on in this cross-country season, through an increasingly competitive series of events, four Richmond School students qualified for the English Schools Cross Country Championships, held this year at the South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex. They were Tomas Hoole, Year 10, Isaac Lamb, Year 11, as well as Wilf Lamb and Aiden Johnson, both Year 9. 

Andrew Rickard, Chairman of North Yorkshire Schools Athletics Association and Alastair Scholey, Team Manager of the North Yorkshire cross country team, wrote to Mrs Potter, Headteacher, explaining what a fantastic achievement this was – they were four of only 48 students from across the whole of North North Yorkshire to be selected. 

Unfortunately, a badly sprained ankle meant that Isaac Lamb couldn’t compete, but the other three athletes were able to travel down to Sussex with the rest of the North Yorkshire team on a coach the day before the event. 

Emma, Aiden’s mum, was kind enough to provide us with some details about the event: 

“Following the North Yorkshire Schools Cross Country Championships at Skipton and the Northern Schools Inter County Cross Country Championships at Stewart Park in Middlesbrough, four students from Richmond School had qualified to represent North Yorkshire at the English Schools Cross Country Championships. 

The event was held on 15th March at Ardingly Showground in Sussex. Due to the distance, the athletes travelled on the North Yorkshire team bus the day before, staying overnight at a Premier Inn. The weather on the day was bitterly cold and windy, but thankfully dry and quite sunny. The grass course was well marked and had a few hills but wasn’t wet or muddy. It had previously been used for equestrian events, however, so wasn’t exactly smooth! 

Aiden and Wilf were racing in the Junior Boys’ race, with a distance of 2,850m. Sadly, Wilf was unlucky to sustain a significant injury involving a competitor’s spikes while still in the start pen and unfortunately was unable to finish the race. 

Aiden had a good run, finishing 109th out of 334, and 3rd for North Yorkshire. 

Tomas raced in the Intermediate Boys’ race, running 4,800m and also finishing well.” 

Hannah, Isaac and Wilf’s mum, gave us a bit more detail about their injuries: “Isaac’s sprained ankle was pretty horrible (physio etc.) but Wilf outdid him with 8 stitches across a sizeable slice in the back of his ankle. Not the outcome he’d hoped for!” 

Congratulations to all four athletes for managing to qualify for the event – the highest level schools’ cross-country event in the UK. Well done to Aiden and Tomas for giving it their all and putting in their best performances on the day. Bad luck to Isaac and Wilf – we’re absolutely sure they’ll be back next year – they’ve got unfinished business at the English Schools!