Schools Cross Country League Race 6

Report: John Wharf -

Report of 6th Event – 28 February 2015

The final event in this winter’s race series was blessed with reasonable weather, but the conditions underfoot were harder than in previous races, although this was not reflected in the performances.

Please note that details of the Presentation event on 28 March 2015 are presented after the race report.

Girls Years 3-4:

Darcy Breen of Stockport Grammar who won each of the first five events and so won the league title, was absent from the race, which meant we would see another winner. Jasmine Reed of Rose Hill, who has been steadily improving through the series and came second to Darcy by one second in the fifth race, made the most of the opportunity and crossed the finish line first, 24 seconds ahead of Freya Murdoch of Pownall Green. Freya’s second place improved her league score, which confirmed her second place in the League, one point ahead of Jasmine in third place. Alice Blythe finished 3rd in the race and held onto her 5th spot in the league table. Georgina McGarr of St Peter’s missed the final race, but held onto 4th spot in the League.

In the team competition, Romiley A, came first with an excellent points total of 15 and confirmed their position as League winners. Overall, they had the best four point-scores of the race series. Lady Barn came 2nd and so finished 2nd in the League, while the steadily improving Bank’s Lane team came 3rd and secured their 3rd position in the League.

Boys Years 3-4:

Harvey Murphy of Romiley gained his 4th win out of the 4 races he has participated in and so claimed the league title from Matthew Haines of St Peter’s who came 2nd in the race and 2nd overall. Arthur Kennedy of Brabyn’s Prep had his best race of the series, coming 3rd, which gave him 3rd overall in the League. Sol Barlow of Romiley, who had a good competition with Arthur all season came 9th in the race and finished just off the podium.

In the team competition, Romiley, who had already claimed the League title by winning the 5th race, again finished first. Hazel Grove took 2nd place in the League by coming 2nd in the race, while St Mary’s held onto their 3rd place in the League, but were not able to improve their score on the day. High Lane, who came 4th overall did improve their League score, but not sufficiently to pull the team up to 3rd place. Third spot in the race was claimed by St Peter’s .

Girls Years 5-6:

Two runners with three races apiece coming into the final race of the season, both managed to claim 2nd spot on the League podium. Isabelle Burke of St Anne’s took her first win of season, coming ahead of the League champion Daisy Keigher of Stockport Grammar, while Leah Wilkinson of Vernon Park came 3rd. Esther Hulley of Hazel Grove, who had been 2nd in the table, was absent from the race and finished fourth in the League, while Libby Hill of High Lane, who had been third in table, slipped to 5th after finishing 5th in the race.

In the team race, Gee Cross took the win and with it the league title. Hazel Grove, who had been leading the competition, did not put out a full team and missed the opportunity to improve their score. They, nevertheless, finished second in the League. Stockport Grammar came second in the race, but slipped from second to third overall because of Gee Cross’s late surge, which also knocked 3rd place finishers, High Lane, off the podium.

Boys Years 5-6:

Henry Carne of Romiley Primary, who had already won the League title, achieved an excellent clean sweep of wins. Cathal O’Grady Smith of St Christopher’s, who was guaranteed at least a third place in the League, came 2nd in the race, but was unable to overtake Cameron Murdoch of Pownall Green, who held onto his second place in the League with a 4th place finish. Joe Byrne of Pownall Green claimed 3rd place in the race, which moved him up to 4th in the League.

In the team race, Lady Barn, who had already secured the League title, took their 5th consecutive win ahead of St Mary’s Marple and Romiley Primary who shared 2nd place and retained their respective 2nd and 3rd positions in the League.

Our congratulations go to the children and teams that topped the League and to all the children that participated and made the races come alive. Congratulations also go to the 190 children who did five or more of the six races and earned themselves an ‘Endeavour’ medal.

Next Event

The Presentation event will take place on Saturday 28 March 2015. It will start with 4 team races based on a 2 lap course – the 1.25km Team Dash. The races will take place as follows:

10:30 Girls years 3 and 4
10:40 Boys years 3 and 4
10:50 Girls years 5 and 6
11:00 Boys years 5 and 6

Each race will have 4 teams. Children registering to run (at the administration desk) will be allocated randomly to one of the four teams and given a coloured wrist band to designate their team colour. Team scores will be based on the finishing position of each runner in the team, just as they are in the league races. As the number of runners registering is unlikely to be divisible by 4, some teams may have one more runner than others. For the larger teams, we shall subtract their average finishing position from their team score to compensate.

We shall not be offering prizes for the races, but the children will be able to keep their wrist bands. We shall also announce the results of the races at the award ceremony and publish a report on our website.

Presentation Schedule

11:15 Girls years 3 and 4:
11:25 Boys years 3 and 4
11:40 Girls years 5 and 6
11:50 Boys years 5 and 6
12:00 Announcement of team positions in the 1.25km Team Dash races 

The following awards will be presented sequentially in each year group:

‘Endeavour’ medals
League certificates
League medals
Team shields

The schedule is ambitious, but we hope to keep to it as far as possible.

Finally, I would like to thank and congratulate all the children who took part in the league races and express my appreciation to their managers, family and friends for supporting them, St John Ambulance for tending to those needing medical attention and members and supporters of Stockport Harriers who helped put on a successful event.


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