Runners from Larkbourne Valley School have qualified for the county cross-country final for the first time in ten years, after a rain-soaked qualifying round on the slopes below Corn Hill.
Conditions were, by all accounts, filthy. Overnight rain had turned the lower field into a bog, and the finish funnel had to be moved twice as the ground gave way. None of it seemed to slow the junior squad, who placed three runners in the top ten.
How they got here
The result caps a season built on unglamorous groundwork:
- Weekly hill sessions on the bridleway above the reservoir
- A parents’ rota ferrying runners to away meets across the valley
- A borrowed set of spikes shared between the younger years
The team’s coaches were quick to spread the credit to the volunteers who marshalled the course in the wet and the grounds staff who nursed the field back into a runnable state.
The county final takes place next month at a venue yet to be confirmed. The school is asking for supporters to travel, and for anyone with a spare gazebo to get in touch before the group heads off.
Related: Schools & Sport
Further reading: Cross country running
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