Saturday 19th January
Over 200 athletes competed for 30 Cornish secondary schools on a windy, and intermittently wet, morning at Truro School, though conditions were firm and fast after the recent dry spell.
In the combined Senior and Intermediate girls race, Truro & Penwith College’s Imogen Wood took a classy victory overall and the senior title, with Choire Lister (Penair), just holding off Truro School’s Izzie Leigh for intermediate gold. Louise Mitchell and Mary Knowles (both Truro & Penwith) were next, in second and third in the senior field, with Callington’s Tilly McDowell third inter girl.
Both the Minor Girls and Boys races involved over 50 competitors. The girls produced a tight finish, with Torpoint’s Poppy Northcott taking the win, from Saltash’s Holly Reid and Georgie Clarke from Bodmin. Richard Lander’s Jacob Webb won a comfortable boys’ gold from a fast finishing Reen Bowden-Inoue (Tretherras) and Archie Mallet (Truro School).
Classiest race of the day was the combined Senior and Intermediate Boys race. The first four finishers were seniors, with internationals Finn Birnie and Harris Mier (both Truro School) placing first and second and Sam Goodchild eventually wearing down Floyd Ratcliffe (both T & P) for third. There was a great race to the finish for the inter crown, with Isaac Murray (Truro School) paying for his brave attempt to go with the seniors, and Penryn’s fast improving Ed Mitchell timing his finish to perfection to snatch gold in the last 200m. Truro School’s Benji McCartney had probably his best ever race to take bronze.
Maisy Luke (Richard Lander) took a dominant win in the Junior Girls race, with Mounts Bay’s Abi Jose placing an equally comfortable second and Agata Jecna winning bronze for Fowey. Penryn’s Zac Clemens was victor by the biggest margin of the day, taking gold in the Junior Boys by 41 seconds, with Penrice’s Blake Grant-Williams finishing a strong second and Luke Mills (Richard Lander) winning bronze.
Of the competitions, Richard Lander came out on top overall with wins in the Junior Boys, Minor Girls and Inter Girls races and second in the Minor Boys. Truro School and Newquay Tretherras always feature prominently, Truro taking wins in the Inter and Senior Boys races and Tretherras in the Minor Boys and Inter Girls, with silver in the Senior Girls to back them up. Truro and Penwith College were strong in the senior events, taking the win in the Senior Girls and a close second in the Senior Boys.
Results from these races have been taken into account to select teams for the South-west Schools Championships at Bath Racecourse on Saturday February 2nd and after that for the Enfgland Schools Championships in Leeds on March 16th.