R&N runner stars at English Schools Cross Country Championship
Rugby & Northampton Athletics Club’s Josh Lay collected an excellent 20th-place finish in Saturday’s English Schools Cross Country Championship.
Josh, competing for Northamptonshire, came home in the junior boys race with a time of 14.56 – less than 40 seconds behind the overall winner.
He was joined by three of his R&N club-mates in helping Northamptonshire finish 17th in the team standings with Adam Searle (120th, 15.51), Joe Musgrove (147th, 16.01) and Ewan Roberts (242nd, 16.30) all putting in good runs across the 3.5k course.
The junior boys category also saw R&N runners competing for Warwickshire; Thomas Haynes (223rd, 16.25) and Rhys James (238th, 16.29) helping the county to 38th in the team event.
R&N were represented in four other categories in the championship races, which took place at Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Jack Bond came 46th in the inter-boys race, completing the 5.2k course in a time of 20.27, at a little over 90 seconds behind the winner, with his colleagues Ben Musgrove (229th, 22.01) and Oska Potomski (235th, 22.05) both following him over the finish line. The trio were all running for Northamptonshire, who finished 32nd in the team tally.
R&N had one runner in the senior boys 6.9k race – Hizam Sheekh – who came 277th in 28.54 for Northamptonshire, helping his county to 37th.
And there were also plenty of excellent performances by R&N’s young female runners, headed by Kirsty Goddard finishing 64th in the inter-girls race in a time of 14.01.
She was racing for Northamptonshire, the 34th-placed team, with R&N’s Emma Bond (195th, 15.02), Lily Carmichael (262nd, 15.02) and Nicole Johnson (321st, 16.31) all contributing to the team total.
They were joined on the 3.5k course by Warwickshire’s Ella Bromley (122nd, 14.41), who helped her county side to finish 42nd overall.
The junior girls runners competed over 3.1k with Poppy Carmichael (109th, 11.38), running for Northamptonshire, the leading R&N athlete to cross the finish line.
Her county colleagues Amy Walker (164th, 11.44) and Charis Hayes (313rd, 12.24) helped Northamptonshire to finish 41st, one place ahead of Warwickshire – whose team contained R&N’s Angharad Wylie (296th, 12.18).
The senior girls race saw R&N’s Genevieve Roberts cross the finish line to complete the 4.4k course in a time of 19.04. She was running for Northamptonshire, who ended up 30th in the team standings.
