St Benedict's Junior School are Ealing Cross Country Champions

Published on isbi School News dated Friday 23rd of November 2012

St Benedict's Junior School have won the Ealing Primary Schools Cross Country Championships in which twenty-three schools competed. Twenty boys and twenty girls represented the school, competing in three two mile races held at Horsenden Hill over a period of a month. The boys finished first overall, a repeat from last year, and the girls came second, a huge improvement on previous years, when they hadn't featured in the top 10. As a result, St Benedict's were crowned champions overall.

The boys had an individual star performer in Isaiah Henry (Year 6) who finished third in the first race and second in the third race, sprinting home in a tremendous finish after the final bend, having been seventh up till then. Henry missed the second race through illness and the team had to dig deep to gain valuable points in his absence. Nikolas Frost (Year 5), who finished twenty-first in the first race, rose to the challenge in the second to finish ninth.

The St Benedict's girls showed great team spirit. In the first fixture, Tallulah Pilgrim (Year 4) finished 12th, and in the second Charlotte Kirwan (Year 5) came 15th. They may not have had the individual star runners, but they were consistently strong and, as a team, deservedly came second, behind Notting Hill and Ealing High School. Florence Aitken (Year 3) typified the girls' performance. As one of the youngest competitors she was running against girls three years older than her, but still managed to finish in the top 50 and secure vital points for her team.

Head Coach Alison Yates said 'I am delighted with the performance of all the boys and girls, who were outstanding in all the races. The girls were very impressive and have developed much more than expected and deserve their praise as much as the boys. It was great to be the overall winners.'