Tom Adams and Megan Newton won the senior titles at the Suffolk Schools Area Cross Country Championships, staged at Royal Hospital School in Holbrook last Thursday.
An in-form Adams, fresh from winning the annual Martlesham 10K road race just four days earlier, won the senior boys’ race by 22 seconds in 18mins 26secs.
Alex Tripp, of Farlingaye, was second in 18:48, with Northgate’s Thomas Abbott a further 22 seconds behind in third position.
Newton was an emphatic winner of the senior girls’ event. The West Suffolk College pupil stormed home an impressive 73 seconds clear of the field. Culford School’s Olivia Allum was her nearest challenger in second spot.
The other age group races were split into two regions, with the North and West competing together in the morning, and the Mid and South in the afternoon.
As regards the North/West region, Lewis Sullivan was away and clear in the junior boys’ race. The Sybil Andrews (Bury St Edmunds) pupil had stretched his lead to a commanding 36 seconds by the finish.
Sullivan clocked 13mins 07secs, with Mildenhall’s James Peck second (13:43) and Culford’s William Smith in third (14:07).
Poppy Branton enjoyed a similar big margin of victory in the junior girls’ section.
In fact, she was even further ahead, clocking 12:05 to finish 39 seconds clear of runner-up Lila Battlee, of King Edward VI, with Horringer Court’s Lorna Coull in third.
Ben Peck, of Mildenhall, won the minor boys’ race by just six seconds from James Smith, of Culford. Gipping Valley’s Tom Taylor completed the top three.
Westley Middle’s Anna Cartwright won the minor girls’ equivalent by a mere three seconds, just pipping Gipping Valley’s Amelia Taylor, with Thurston’s Eva Marshall in third.
The North-West intermediate titles went to Charlie Wakefield and Mimi Salsby. Wakefield, of Culford, won the boys’ race by 16 seconds from Tom Henson, of King Edward VI, while Framlingham College’s Salsby was nearly a minute clear of runner-up Maisy Cailes (Culford).
Meanwhile, in the Mid-South section, just 11 seconds separated the top three home in the junior boys’ event.
Woodbridge School had the first and third-placed runners, Charlie Turner leading home the field in 13:21. His school-mate Kit Evans Lombe was third in 13:32, while East Bergholt’s Freddie Adams was just six seconds behind Turner in second spot.
Regular county winner Tilly Aldis, representing Debenham, won the junior girls’ crown in 11:47. It was a very competitive race, with Woodbridge’s April Hill in second (12:02) and Northgate’s Miam Dann in third (12:18).
Nathan Goodard enjoyed an individual victory and also led his Woodbridge School to first in the team stakes in the Mid-South intermediate boys’ race. Goodard clocked 16:37, finishing five seconds faster than Holbrook’s James Pettersson in second.
Tai Elvin Andrews, who had won the Martlesham 5K the previous weekend, took third spot in 17:30. He is a pupil at Thomas Mills.
There were some familiar names at the front of the intermediate girls’ field.
Holly Fisher, of Farlingaye, was a comfortable winner in 13:23, with Northgate’s Katie Challinor arriving at the finish 26 seconds later. Third place went to Stowmarket’s Millie Jordan-Lee, who was just two seconds further adrift in 13:51.
In the minor boys’ Mid-South race, Kesgrave’s Ryan Grady tasted victory by a 10-second margin from Farlingaye’s Max Fisher, with Ipswich & South Suffolk’s Aston Boswell in third.
Finally, there was no stopping Woodbridge’s Ruby Vinton in the minor girls’ age group. She was 27 seconds clear of the field in 18:48, although only one second separated second and third, with Farlingaye’s Hannah Gray just pipping Ipswich School’s Matilda Bogle.
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