ENGLISH SCHOOLS NATIONAL XC CHAMPIONSHIPS

8TH MARCH 2008

ENGLISH SCHOOLS CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Mendip Athletics Club's Aoife Thorogood, a former pupil at St Joseph and St
Teresas junior school in Wells, had the race of her life last Saturday at
the English Schools Cross Country Championships. After a second place in the
Avon schools and a fourth in the South West Schools, Aoife made the trip to
Liverpool's Sefton Park with hopes of another good run. After seeing several
of her club-mates struggle after slow starts on the narrow and twisting
course, Aoife lost no time in charging to the front and rounded the first
bend in the top half dozen of over 350 junior girls. As the runners wound
their way out into the park Aoife maintained a strong pace just outside the
top dozen, a position she maintained into the final quater mile. Showing
some great determination, Aoife launched herself at the finish line and
passed half a dozen girls on the run-in before narrowly being edged out of
ninth on the line. Aoife's tenth place was the highest placed finish by any
Avon or Somerset athlete on the day and has earned her a reserve place on
the England team for the International Schools event taking place at the end
of the month in Edinburgh. Two other Mendip runners were in action in the
junior girls race, with Emily Derrick (Kings of Wessex) going for Somerset
and running solidly throughout to finish in 165th place, while first year
junior Ruby Kelly (who like Aoife goes to school at St Gregory's in Bath)
produuced an encouraging 245th placed finish. Ottalie Day (Whitstone) was
the only other local girl to compete, finishing 288th in the inter-girls
race.

Mendip has three boys running at Liverpool, Nathan Young (Whitstone) and Tom
Derrick (Kings of Wessex) in the inter boys race and Dan Layton (also of
Kings of Wessex) in the senior boys. Winner of the junior title two years
ago, Nathan had had a checkered season before Liverpool, with some great
runs and some disappointments, including a lowly seventh in the south west
event. An unhelpful pen draw on the left of the course saw the entire
Somerset team badly blocked as the bulk of the field swept around the
opening left hand bend that was both too sharp and too narrow. After finding
himself back in the thirties on the crowded course Nathan was forced to chop
his usual long flowing stride and only started to stretch in the last mile
of the race where he ran down over twenty athletes to grab a very well
deserved 14th place at the finish, frustratingly only four places down on
local Taunton AC rival Charlie Maclean who became Somerset's highest
finisher of the day. Tom Derrick's pre-race plan of running through the
field after a slow start was thwarted by the tight course, with Tom
finishing a disappointing 290th.

After five races a dry clear conditions, the senior boys had only run for
two minutes before the heavens opened, and they raced the remaining four
miles in cold driving rain. Dan Layton started well, holding a position just
outside the top sixty throughout the first of two large laps. With the
course cutting up badly on the second circuit Dan started to struggle and
slipped back, just missing out on the top hundred as he crossed the line in
102nd position.

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