The extraordinary pupils at Bromsgrove Preparatory School have once again proven their outstanding sporting skills with their exceptional performances at the 20th National UK Preparatory Schools Cross Country Championships 2012, held at Malvern College on Sunday.
The U13 girls and boys teams proved themselves to be among the best young athletes in the country with the girls’ team winning the tournament and the boys’ team finishing as runners up. Bromsgrove was the only Preparatory School nationally to have both boys’ and girls’ teams qualify for the ESAA National Cup Final at Princethorpe in December.
The U13 boys went into the race with the realistic possibility of finishing in the top five as their target. They achieved more than they hoped for with Kieran Walker finishing 14th, Nikolaos Papaioannou 17th, Finley Evans 32nd, Alex Dew 42nd and Nathan Boothroyd 58th, securing a silver medal and with the team only three points behind the winning school. With 36 schools participating and just under 200 runners in the field, the result showed just how impressive their achievement was.
The U13 girls finished top of the competition, making them the strongest girls’ team in the country. The team consisted of girls who are all still under twelve-years-old: Abigail Saker, Eleanor Childs, Niamh Donovan, Claudia Moberley, Charlotte Campbell and Elouise Brookes. Abigail and Eleanor received a trophy for their positions in the top six runners with Abigail coming 3rd in the country and Eleanor 6th. Niamh Donovan came in 14th and Claudia Moberley 36th. Charlotte Campbell was 76th and Elouise Brookes 80th. All runners did exceptionally well but the first four runners gave Bromsgrove a total of 59 putting them well ahead of any other school in the country and securing the championship.
The U11 boys also ran magnificently to finish in 13th position out of 44 schools that took part. The runners finished as follows: Charlie Sapwell 24th, Tristan Hall 71st, Morgan Hammond 86th, Sam Osborne 87th, William Upton 88th, and Tom Maidment 117th. There were just over 250 in the U11 race. The U11 girls also competed against a record number of schools (45 in total with 270 runners). The positions were Mollie Trow 24th, Jessica Ward 73rd, Kitty Luscombe 75th, Orla Walker 115th and Charlotte Harmer 150th.
Coaches Jenny Danks and Gareth Jones both praised the teams for their hard work and the dedication of trainer Mr Bob Skipp who trained the boys and girls teams during lunch times and holiday times.
Mr Jones said: “A magnificent day for the school. A huge well done to all our children and a big thank you to all our parents for being there on the day supporting in various ways. Last, but by no means least, a huge thank you to Mr Skipp for all his tireless energy, enthusiasm and devotion towards all our children during training sessions.”
All results of the race can be viewed at www.malcol.org.