The very talented Ruby Vinton posted the biggest victory of the day, opening up a huge gap in the junior girls’ race on a cold but dry morning at the annual Suffolk Schools Series B Championships, held at Woodbridge School.
The very talented Ruby Vinton posted the biggest victory of the day, opening up a huge gap in the junior girls’ race on a cold but dry morning at the annual Suffolk Schools Series B Championships, held at Woodbridge School.
Vinton surged around her home course, at Woodbridge, clocking 12mins 28secs to finish more than a minute ahead of her nearest rivals, having made short work of the many testing climbs.
Her Woodbridge team-mate, Amy Goddard, was a good runner-up in 13:32, followed by Lila Battell, of King Edward VI, who was 20 seconds further adrift in third.
Lewis Sullivan also enjoyed an emphatic win, in the junior boys’ category. Sullivan, a pupil at Sybil Andrews and a member of Saint Edmund Pacers, won the county title in 13:09, finishing 36 seconds clear of runner-up James Peck, of Mildenhall College Academy, with his younger brother Ben Peck just one second behind.
Tom Henson, of King Edward VI School, had opened up a big lead of 23 seconds by the end of the intermediate boys’ race.
A member of Saint Edmund Pacers, Henson stopped the clock at 20:38. His KEGS school-mate Will Lowden (21:01) was second, followed by the Woodbridge School duo of Kit Evans Lombe and Charlie Turner.
The intermediate girls’ title went to April Hill, of hosts Woodbridge School. She clocked 15mins 27secs, finishing 22 seconds ahead of Northgate’s Mia Dann, with Framlingham’s Mimi Salsby a further 42 seconds behind in third spot.
The closest race of the day was in the minor girls’ age group, where just seven seconds separated the first three home after a good battle throughout the 2,300m course.
Maia Green, of Kyson Primary, had the best finishing kick to win in 9mins 44secs, just two seconds ahead of Amelie Taylor, of Thurston, with her younger sister Bella Taylor in third with 9:51. The Taylor sisters are members of West Suffolk AC.
There was a good finish behind these top three, with Isabelle Last, Phoebe Harpur-Davies and Amelie Crabb all crossing the line within two seconds of each other.
Liam Davison, of Hartismere, had more in hand in the minor boys’ section, winning the 3,200m race by a comfortable 12 seconds from the KEGS duo of Archie Taylor and Tom Taylor.
The first race of the day, the senior girls’ event, saw a big victory for Philippa Unthank, of Farlingaye HS. She was out on her own, 26 seconds clear of Stowmarket’s Millie Jordan-Lee, who herself was more than a minute ahead of third-placed Niamh Perry.
The senior boys were the last in action, Woodbridge enjoying a one-two. Nathan Goddard (24:50) reached the finish-line, after a testing 6,900m route, 22 seconds ahead of Alex Evans Lombe.
Attention now switches to the Anglian Schools Championships, which are to be held at Abington Park, Northampton, on Saturday, February 2.
Results
Minor girls (2.3km): 1 M Green (Kyson Primary) 9:44; 2 A Taylor (Thurston) 9:46; 3 B Taylor (Gipping Valley) 9:51; 4 I Last (Saint Felix) 10:01; 5 P Harpur-Davies (St Benedicts) 10:02; 6 A Crabb (Holbrook) 10:03; 7 E Rufford (Woodbridge) 10:03; 8 P Gaunt (Orwell Park) 10:16; 9 F Wilcox (Claydon) 10:21; 10 R Saise (Northgate) 10:24.
Minor boys (3.2km): 1 L Davison (Hartismere) 12:56; 2 A Taylor (King Edward VI) 13:08; 3 T Taylor (KEGS) 13.10; 4 H Fasey (St Ben) 13:20; 5 R Hammond (KHS) 13:22; 6 S Melero (Abbotts Green) 13:23; 7 B Currie (Framlingham College) 13:23; 8 S Tilley (North) 13:26; 9 J Lugo (Ipswich & South Suffolk) 13:29; 10 Z Barber (Benjamin Britten) 13:32.
Junior girls (3.2km): 1 R Vinton (Wood) 12:28; 2 A Goodard (Wood) 13:32; 3 L Battell (KEGS) 13:52; 4 F Mann (Ipswich High) 13:57; 5 I Alexander (Farlingaye) 14:28; 6 N Ong (Culford) 14:34; 7 C Gilbert (Kesgrave) 14:35; 8 A King (Debenham) 14:37; 9 M Lansdown (Clay) 14:38; 10 A Bell Cobbold (Ipswich H) 14:44.
Junior boys (3.8km): 1 L Sullivan (Sybil Andrews) 13:09; 2 J Peck (Mildenhall) 13:45; 3 B Peck (Mildenhall) 13:46; 4 O Hitchcock (Ipswich) 13:56; 5 J Davison (Hart) 14:19; 6 E Gladwell (Ips) 14:31; 7 H Dinwiddy (Wood) 14:33; 8 M Berry (KEGS) 14:50; 9 D Marsh (Sybil A) 15:04; 10 W Everall (Orwell) 15:14.
Intermediate girls (3.8km): 1 A Hill (Wood) 15:27; 2 M Dann (North) 15:49; 3 M Salsby (Fram) 16:31;4 B Oram (St Felix) 16:4l 5 J Elmer (Wood) 16:35; 6 D Brooke (North) 17:04; 7 K Cuddihy (RHS) 17:08; 8 R Morley (County Upper) 17:11; 9 C Cavill (KEGS) 17:37; 10 B Thomas (Wood) 17:41.
Intermediate boys (5.7km): 1 T Henson (KEGS) 20:38; 2 W Lowden (KEGS) 21:01; 3 K Evans Lombe (Wood) 21:19; 4 C Turner (Wood) 21:26; 5 S Burkitt (Farl) 22:14; 6 D Fothergill (Chantry) 22:25; 7 O Woodward (County Upper) 22:49; 8 J Spooner (Ormiston) 22:59; 9 C Johnson (Clay) 22:59; 10 D Anderson (Beccles Free) 23:04.
Senior girls (3.8km): 1 P Unthank (Farl) 15:23; 2 Millie Jordan-Lee (Stowmarket) 15:49; 3 N Perry (KEGS) 17:10; 4 M Clarke (Thomas Mills) 17:31; 5 S Barker (Wood) 17:44; 6 G L-Wood (North) 18:04; 7 K O’Brien (KEGS) 18:31; 8 E Sullivan (Thurston) 18:55; 9 M Calles (Culford) 19:05; 10 I Bowyer (St Joseph) 19:19).
Senior boys (6.9km): 1 N Goodard (Wood) 24:50; 2 A Evans Lombe (Wood) 25:12; 3 S Stevens (Lowestoft 6th) 25:27; 4 J Robson (TGA) 25:32; 5 S Q-Smale (Thurston) 25:33; 6 R Joiner-Handy (Mild) 25:48; 7 T Mead (St Ben) 26:14; 8 J Chevin (One) 27:52; 9 T Abbott (North) 28:12; 10 J Fletcher (One) 28:21.
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