On a cold winter afternoon at Beech House, Rochdale, the ISA Cross Country Championships took place last week. Bridgewater took a larger team than usual in order to recognize the achievements of all those who had ran on a Saturday morning in the Salford Cross Country League. Consequently, 47 runners were selected from Prep 3-6 and the decision was to pay off ultimately.
With over 100 competitors in all 6 races, getting into the top half of the event was going to be difficult, whilst getting into the top 25 was going to be a real achievement. Races took place in U9, U10 and U11 age groups for boys and girls, with individual and team points on offer in each race.
The U9s raced first and it was to prove to be the most successful of all age groups for the Bridgewater team. The boys finished 6th as a team out of 18 schools who entered the event. Performance of the day care from one of our youngest runners with Alfie T coming home in an impressive 16th place. Thomas and Jaydon raced each other across the finish line in 32nd and 33rd respectively. In the girls race, Anya continued her Salford form with another great run and finished in 24th, whilst Yasmeen can be delighted with her position of 35th.
In the U10 races, Jess also brought her Salford successes to the race with a 24th spot, closely followed over the line by Ellen in 25th. Harrison and Matthew H were the best performers in the boys race with a 30th and 35th finish, whilst in the U11 races only Kynan could breach the top 40 for the boys and girls of Prep 6.
However, in a team event individual achievements are always notable, but the real strength comes from the team collectively. Therefore, when all the results were calculated it was a huge pleasure to see that every runner had played their part in allowing Bridgewater to finish in second place in the Overall Team Event! A fantastic result for everyone who took part and played there part in ensuring Bridgewater could achieve a podium position in such a competitive event.
I was in the cross country, it was very hard and tiring.