YEAR 11 King’s Ely pupils Harry McWilliam and Emily Grapes have qualified to represent Cambridgeshire Schools at the National Cross Country Championships next month after impressive runs at the regional championships, which took place in Lincolnshire on Saturday (2).
Harry finished 14th and Emily 39th in their respective age group races, where they competed against the best runners from Northamptonshire, Suffolk, Norfolk and Lincolnshire in cold but dry conditions.
The course was not a particularly easy one, but both runners showed real determination to finish high enough to qualify for the Nationals, which are being held in Derbyshire on March 16th. Both runners now have six weeks of hard training to arrive
at the finals in peak condition while also revising for their GCSEs.
King’s Ely Junior’s Rebecca Daniel finished third in her age group race and duly won the bronze medal. Year 7 athletes do not enter the Schools’ National Championships, but Rebecca will be representing Cambridgeshire at the club National Championships in Birmingham in March; deserved success for a very talented athlete, who will also need to train hard over the next month.
Molly Jones finished 48th in the same race as Rebecca and Owen Cole finished 67th in his race, gaining much experience and a determination to improve for next year.