In December Tameside Cross Country Grand Prix was held at East Cheshire Harriers Club, Richmond Street, Ashton.
This is the second year the event has been run by Tameside Athletics Development Group, East Cheshire Harriers and Tameside Athletics Club. The competition involved a series of races which took place on the first Saturday of the month during October, November and December; they included primary school children from all over Tameside. Our school entered teams in each of the four categories.
The teams had been training hard throughout the autumn and into winter taking part in stamina training and after school athletics sessions. Several of the runners also attend the East Cheshire Harriers Club with whom our school has close links. The children's efforts paid dividends - the teams achieved first place finishes in three out of the four categories (Under 9 Girls, Under 9 Boys, Under 11 Girls) and a second place finish in the fourth category (Under 11 Boys).
Some of our children ran exceptionally, gaining individual medals - Denver, Tess and Abby in the Under 9 Girls; Megan in the Under 11 Girls and Paolo in the Under 11 Boys. All of our runners fared very well indeed with many finishing in the top ten or top twenty. It was the whole team effort from all the children and the fabulous support from parents, families and friends that ensured another year of great success with this competition.
Below are photos of some of the runners receiving their team trophy. Children were lucky enough to be awarded their trophies by Gareth Raven, a member of the Team GB mountain running squad who achieved a seventh place finish in the European Mountain Running Championship held earlier this year in Austria.
In October our school entered four teams in the Catholic Schools Cross Country Championship. The championship took place over three consecutive Wednesdays at King Georges Playing Fields.
The Under 9 Girls team and the Under 11 Girls team ran exceptionally well and came first place in their category. In the Under 9 Girls Denver won the individual gold and Tess won the individual silver. Megan won the individual bronze in the Under 11 Girls.
Paolo also won the individual bronze in the Under 11 Boys. Many of the other children put in great runs with some of the Year 3 children showing that they are a forced to be reckoned with.
