Cross Country Race 2

Cross Country Autumn Race 2

 Tewkesbury Primary Schools' Sports Network's Cross Country Race 2 - The Vineyards - Thursday, 4th October 2018

Another beautiful afternoon at the Vineyards in Tewkesbury greeted over 200 children for race number two of this year's cross country season. And this second race of the year most definitely did not disappoint! The warm sunshine was not the only thing to bring some autumnal cheer as the Tirlebrook team demonstrated even  greater determination and self-belief than the week before, pushing themselves to the limit in an effort to improve upon last week's team results and beat last week's individual race positions. Any improvement in finishing position this week would be an outstanding success with the larger field of runners - an increase of 18 and 16 in the girls' and boys' races respectively. 

This time, the boys were up first - a race that was certain to be competitive and close. Silas Fox picked up from where he left off last week, and despite the tough competition and in particular a very strong challenge from Joe from Ashchurch, he finished extremely well  to win the race and maintain his first position in the individual boys' cross country competition. Ewan Gosden, a current Y4 student, finished next for Tirlebrook, improving by ten places on last week's race as he stormed to a personal best of 5th! Aaron Lyon continued his consistent performance, coming home next to cross the finish line in a highly commendable 12th. Another of our Y4 runners, George Teasdale, also ran strongly as he jumped ahead of his last week's finishing position of 34th to cross the line in 25th. William Bethel, Finlay Whittard, Freddie Parsons and Y4 Paddy Mace, with an improvement of 13 places in 69th position, were next through the gates, followed closely by Joshua Smith, Harrison Turner, Edward Ferrier and Leland Pratley, who ran every metre with a giant smile on his face, improving on his last place position last time out. It was great to see him encouraging another young lad from Mitton at the rear of the field. Well done boys - it was another great success for you all. 

The girls were up next and it was amazing to see so many girls representing Team Tirlebrook, showing all of Tewkesbury their fantastically competitive and enthusiastic attitudes.  The girls' race was just as competitive as the boys' race, with each girl fighting for her position right to the finish line. The first girl home again this week was Charlotte Peirce, finishing in 5th position, an improvement of four places on last week. Gracie Janes came next, zooming past several runners in front of her to grab a top-10 position in 7th place, once more an improvement of four places on last week. Julia Gardiner was the third girl home in 15th position to complete a very competitive team score of 27 points for Tirlebrook, with Martha Simpson next in 19th, meaning four girls in the top 20. However, the success and personal bests did not stop there: Tilly Burton finished in 22nd position and Leah Trust came home in 29th. There were also first appearances of the season for Esme Burton, Chloe Carroll and Sophie Messenger. The girls' team all ran brilliantly and they should all be very proud of themselves for competing so well in such a challenging race. 

The final race of the Autumn Series takes place next week before a winter break, with the remaining races in the competition taking place after Christmas. 

Team: Hattie Akerman, William Bethel, Tianna Booth, Esme Burton, Tilly Burton, Chloe Carroll, Edward Ferrier, Silas Fox, Julia Gardiner, Ewan Gosden, Keira Hancox, Gracie Janes, Aaron Lyon, Paddy Mace, Isobel McLaren, Chloe Messenger, Sophie Messenger, Freddie Parsons, Charlotte Peirce, Leland Pratley, Poppy Radbourne, Martha Simpson, Joshua Smith, Harriet Taylor, George Teasdale, Leah Trust, Harrison Turner & Finlay Whittard