Over 200 athletes competed for 24 Cornish secondary schools on a beautiful sunny morning at Newquay Sports Centre on Saturday 18th January, though conditions were very wet underfoot after all the recent rain.
In the combined Senior and Intermediate Girls race, 2019 England Schools silver medallist Maisy Luke (Richard Lander) took an early lead and defended it relatively comfortably from a charging Abby Jose (Mounts Bay), with Choire Lister rounding off a strong top 3 not far behind. Newquay Tretherras student Erin Burt took victory in the Senior race, with Callywith College’s Issy Edworthy placing second and Lauren Webster (Tretherras) placing third.
Jessica Brown (Truro School) was a comfortable winner of the Minor Girls race, with Truro High School’s duo of Poppy Turriff and Hannah Hautot producing a tight finish, with Poppy just edging out Hannah for silver. Jessica led her school to team victory, ahead of Tretherras and Penrice.
It was a good day for the Luke family, with Charlie just hanging on for victory in the Minor Boys race, ahead of a fast-finishing Fraser Abbiss (Wadebridge) and Truro’s Harry English. Truro School took the team win narrowly from Wadebridge and Penryn.
For the second year in a row Ed Mitchell (Truro & Penwith College) and Isaac Murray (Truro School) had an enthralling battle, with first year Senior Ed eventually pulling away for the win, with Isaac having to settle for the Intermediate Boys title in the combined race. Zac Clemens (Penryn) took a strong silver in the intermediates with team-mate Llewin Head showing the value of consistent training under wily coach Dave Collins as he improved from last place 2 years ago to gain a great bronze medal. Bodmin took the team gold from Penryn in second. Louis Ratcliffe (T & P College) was second Senior Boy, with Truro School’s Benji McCartney taking a clear third and Truro & Penwith College taking team honours.
The Junior Girls were next up, in the increasingly muddy conditions, and Bodmin’s Georgie Clarke reversed last year’s order to place first, ahead of Saltash’s Holly Reid. Anna English (Truro) was an isolated third, with Richard Lander packing well to take a deserved team victory.
Blake Grant-Williams (Penrice) was a clear winner of the Junior Boys title from Reen Bowden-Inque (Tretherras), who just out-lasted Luke Mills (Richard Lander) in a tight finish, with Luke having the consolation of leading the Lander team second place behind Truro School, with Tretherras third.
Results from these races have been taken into account to select teams of 10 for the South-West Schools Championships at Kings Park, Bournemouth on Saturday February 8th, with results from both events used to select teams of 8 for the England Schools Championships in Liverpool on March 14th.