Cross Country Report
King’s Invitation, The King’s School, 25 May 2024
It is always fabulous to make the trip out to Kings for their Cross Country each year. The King’s Ground staff put on a show, and although I’ve never been to the Cross Country World Championships the way King’s lays out theirs, it can’t be far apart. As well as the course’s impeccable setup, it is a real Cross Country test, a mixture of surfaces including some nasty rough trails, testy sharp hills and rolling grassy inclines and descents; it has it all. The Blue Street Boys were keen to put on a show and had possibly their best outing so far in our 2024 campaign.
After some very interesting ‘warm-ups!’ we were led out by the 14s and in no time, Toby W had established himself upfront on course with Henry Grieve not far adrift. Unfortunately, Toby took a nasty tumble on a tight turn on his last lap to give up eight or so places to his rivals. He was able to quickly get going again, minus some ‘bark’, and still finished a very solid 18th. Henry dodged misfortune and again secured a fine result as he was 20th, with the pair inside the GPS Top Ten in 7th and 8th amongst the GPS competitors. George Harvey continues to show that he is one to keep an eye on, as he attacked the course, struggling probably a little on the last lap, yet snavelled a tenacious 31st to be 14th amongst the GPS, ten places better than last week to boot! ‘Mr reliable’, Archie Watson, never disappoints and always races well. He completed our team in the Juniors as he was 37th, 17th GPS. The team finished 5th overall and 2nd amongst the GPS Schools. Harrison Thomas also deserves a ‘shout out’ as he had a tough race going over on his ankle yet was still 20th amongst the GPS – made of nails, that fella!
Our Intermediates were next on course, and although not overly looking forward to their three laps of Cross Country luxury… they were quick to show that they were ready to race. Will ‘Iceman’ B stepped it up a gear last week and led the Shore contingent, with Jonty Jagger and Hugo Stewart never too far behind. They finished 21st, 27th and 32nd, respectively, to be 11th, 14th and 17th in GPS. James Warren is proving to be keen to ‘put it on the line’ each week as he pushes himself hard in his racing, and it is reaping rewards as he was 26th in the GPS and completed our 16s team result, finding ourselves in 4th, to be 3rd amongst the GPS Schools. Ben Frantz had another fine run. However, he is yet to record that confidence building performance commensurate with his athletic ability. I’m sure that it is just around the corner!
The Opens were buoyed to have their, still under the weather, Captain Lachy Brown back on the start line. Thankfully he ran conservatively and didn’t damage himself further. The boys were led on course by the ever-improving Ryan Gilmour, who is in love with his running atm. He was sensational as he was 7th overall, 4th in the GPS at the finish. Isaac Lanham continues to impress with another tenacious performance, closing in on a Top Ten in 14th, 8th GPS. James Bestic was solid as he was 19th, three places ahead of Lachy, who was 22nd, 11th and 12th GPS, respectively. Lachy completed our Open team result of 3rd overall, to be 2nd in the GPS to Scots… Thomas Gray is running into ever improving form (pun intended…) as he was 29th and remains a fine support to be the Opens aspirations.
GPS CIS Cross Country Trials
The King’s Invitation also included the GPS Trials to select a GPS Team to compete at the CIS Cross Country Championships. We were thrilled to have 17 Blue Street Boys qualify, with a couple missing out narrowly. Ryan Gilmour, Isaac Lanham, Lachy Brown, James B, Daniel Becker, Mack Haddow, Thomas Gray, Will Bestic, Jonty Jagger, Hugo Stewart, James Warren, Toby W, Archie Watson, George Harvey, Leon Field, Henry Grieve and Harrison Thomas. We trust these blokes will compete well at the CIS Championships, where the standard is super high! I’m sure a few Blue Street Boys will be near the front of some of the racing!
Balmoral Burn 2024
We sent a fast team of Ryan Gilmour, James Bestic, Isaac Lanham and Hugo Stewart along to the Balmoral Burn to support Gillespie House in their assault on Awaba Rd. Shore the defending Champions, finished one step lower on the podium this year in 2nd. Congratulations to the team from St Aloysius on hoisting the silverware. As Arnie said, ‘We’ll be back!’
Shore Cross Country Machine of the Week
It is fabulous that depth of talent causes so much debate amongst the coaches in selecting the Machine of The Week each week. Though we were pretty much unanimous in selecting Will B as our Machine for his fine performance as he ‘stepped on the gas’ in the Inters last Saturday! Nice!
See you at St Ives Showground tomorrow for another ‘Cross Country’ test!
Good running,
Mr M Spratt
MIC Cross Country
