Oundle's runners make it through to Nationals

Published on isbi School News dated Monday 10th of February 2014

On Saturday 1 February, four runners from Oundle School travelled to Abington Park, Northampton, having been selected to compete in the inter-county 'Anglian Trophy'.

Angus Dowie (17) and Natasha Crawford (16) both competed at U19 level and came 38th and 35th (6th and 8th for the County) respectively and qualified to compete in the English Schools Cross-Country Championships to be held in Castle Donington Park, Leicestershire, on 15 March.

Berry Campbell-Breeden (16), who finished in an amazing 2nd place in her U17 race in the County qualifiers but was unable to attend last week, was also selected to take part in the Nationals.

Ruby Goodall (15), who came 5th in the U17 County qualifiers unfortunately did not finish her race on Saturday, but will be a part of Oundle School U16 Netball team who have made it to the National Netball Finals tournament to be held on the same date.

Angus commented, 'It was a very difficult race at a very high standard, and to have made it through to a national event is brilliant, it wasn't something I was expecting. The London Marathon remains my main focus but x-country has given me a further challenge and is really helping me with my training."

In January, six runners from Oundle School travelled to Sevenoaks School to take part in the Knole run, competing against the best schools in the area.

Head of Girls' Games, Leti Brighton commented, 'The new course for this 18th anniversary run, set in Knole Park, was as beautiful as it was challenging, with 3.1 miles of steep hills and heavy terrain.'

The Oundle girls did very well finishing 8th out of 28 teams with Berry Campbell-Breeden (16) leading the way placing 25th, followed by Lily Nicholson (16), Natasha Crawford (16)and Amelia Cookson (16) coming in 48th, 49th and 52nd respectively and Emily Marshall (17) and Millie Marks (16) finishing 85th and 99th, out of over 225 girls.

Leti concluded, 'This Saturday, the Oundle School team also ran in the Senior Boys' and Open Girls' races hosted by Worksop and despite missing 3 of their best runners, managed to come 1st and 2nd. Such results in the 3rd of a total of 6 League races are extremely promising."