More than 200 youngsters faced gruelling conditions at Newquay Sports Centre at the 2018 Cornwall Schools Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

The relentless rain over the previous week soon created more mud than grass, which, together with a few short steep climbs, produced a course to test the fittest athletes.

This was clearly evident in the day’s first race for Senior and Intermediate Girls, with Helston School’s Katie Hughes dominating the race and winning the senior title by almost a minute, ahead of the rapidly improving Imogen Wood (Truro & Penwith College), with Sian Temple (Wadebridge School) in third place.

The intermediate race was won by Tilly McDowell (Callington Community College). One of the most encouraging features of the Championships was the highest number of Senior Girls competing for very many years, with eighteen on the start line.

Quality certainly shone through in the Senior and Intermediate Boys race with two of the county’s English Schools Internationals, the Truro School pair Finn Bernie and Falmouth’s Harris Mier opening a gap over the pursuing pack from the gun.

After the first small lap Birnie began moving into a clear lead, which he continued to extend over the 5600metre course, winning by exactly one minute from another rapid improver Falmouth’s Sam Goodchild, (Truro & Penwith College), with Truro School’s Alex McCartney in third.

Mier, gradually working his way back from injury, which has interrupted his winter build up, won the Intermediate title comfortably, ahead of Rees Stewart (Bodmin College), with Benji McCartney (Truro School) following in the muddy footsteps of his older brother, also in third position.

The winners of the Junior race, Abby Jose (Mounts Bay Academy) and Isaac Murray (Truro School) both coped admirably with the tough underfoot conditions, moving into clear leads early on, achieving, perhaps not comfortable but clear victories, ahead of Choire Lister (Mounts Bay Academy) and Zac Clemens (Penryn College) in their respective Girls and Boys events.

The two Year 7 races once again attracted the largest field with well over forty runners in each race. Truro School’s Ted Phillips completed a clear sweep of four out of four individual titles in the Boys age groups, winning the Year 7 race by twelve seconds.

In the equivalent Girls race Mari Ward (Mounts Bay Academy) was an even more emphatic winner, finishing thirty five seconds ahead of Hayle Community School’s Holly Jenkin.

Truro School emerged at the top of the table in the team competitions winning the Intermediate Boys, Junior Boys and Minor Boys (Year 7) races. Truro & Penwith College made their mark in the Senior competitions winning both the Boys and Girls team races.

There were also wins for Callington Community College (Intermediate Girls), Newquay Tretherras (Junior Girls) and Richard Lander School (Minor Girls).

The results from these races will contribute towards the selection of the Cornwall teams at both the South West Schools Cross Country Championships on Saturday, February 3 and the English Schools Cross Country Championships on Saturday, March 17.

KEY FOR SCHOOLS

BOD Bodmin College, BRAN Brannel School, CALL Callington Community College, FAL Falmouth School, FOW Fowey River Academy, HAY Hayle Community School, HEL Helston School, MB Mounts Bay Academy,Penzance, NT Newquay Tretherras School, PEN Penair School Truro, PENY Penryn College, PENR Penrice Academy, St Austell, RL Richard Lander School Truro, STI St Ives School, T& PC Truro & Penwith College, TS Truro School, WADE Wadebridge School.

LEADING RESULTS

Senior Girls: 1 Katie Hughes HEL 17.21, 2 Imogen Wood T&PC 18.18, 3 Sian Temple WADE 18.51, 4 Elowen Penfold T&PC 20.16, 5 Olivia Carthew BOD 20.34, 6 Trinity Earnshaw HEL 21.43. Teams: 1 Truro & Penwith College 13 points, 2 Truro School 40 points. Intermediate Girls: 1 Tilly McDowell CALL 19.09, 2 Louise Mitchell PEN 19.21, 3 Grace Davidson CAL 19.30, 4 Ellen Kenny PENR 19.41, 5 Lauren Webster NT 19.49, 6 Kezia Elliott STI 20.28. Teams: 1 Callington Community College 11 points, 2 Truro School 33 points. Junior Girls: 1 Abby Jose MB 14.41, 2 Choire Lister PEN 15.01, 3 Jess Spry BRAN 15.09, 4 Kerrie Shanley NT 15.35, 5 Freya Perkin STI 15.50, 6 Anna Sklise PEN 15.58. Teams: 1 Newquay Tretherras 61 points, 2 St Ives School 73 points, 3 Richard Lander School, Truro 74 points. Minor Girls (Year 7): 1 Mari Ward MB 11.02, 2 Holly Jenkin HAY 11.37, 3 Agata Jecna FOW 11.43, 4 Evie Groves PEN 11.59, 5 India Angove MB 12.02, 6 Nell Gray NT 12.06. Teams: 1 Richard Lander School, Truro 50 points, 2 Newquay Tretherras 58 points, 3 Mounts Bay Academy, Penzance 63 points.

Senior Boys: 1 Finn Bernie TS 21.05, 2 Sam Goodchild T&PC 22.05, 3 Alex McCartney TS 22.26, 4 Abu Gupta T&PC 22.38, 5 Michael Barton T&PC 23.09, 6 Archie Vingoe T& PC 23.10. Teams: 1 Truro & Penwith College 11 points. Intermediate Boys: 1 Harris Mier TS 21.48, 2 Rees Stewart BOD 22.14, 3 Benji McCartney TS 22.44, 4 Jacob Macalone HEL 22.57, 5 Bradley Stevens CAL 23.53, 6 Bradley McLellan NT 24.37. Teams: 1 Truro School 17 points, 2 Bodmin College 28 points, 3 Penryn College 30 points. Junior Boys: 1 Isaac Murray TS 17.26, 2 Zac Clemens PENY 17.59, 3 Jack Jenkinson NT 18.05, 4 Tristan Garvin BOD 18.16, 5 Chris Lowe SJS 18.21, 6 James Horton FAL 18.23. Teams: 1 Truro School 48 points, 2 Bodmin College 63 points. Minor Boys (Year 7): 1 Ted Phillips TS 12.32, 2 Jude Hardy MB 12.44, 3 Luke Mills RL 13.05, 4 Josh Mohner PENR 13.19, 5 Ben Wodskou TS 13.27, 6 Blake Grant Williams PENR 13.35. Teams: 1 Truro School 44 points, 2 Richard Lander, Truro 52 points, 3 Newquay Treviglas 85 points.