The 2023 English Schools Cross-Country Championships took place at Wollaton Park, Nottingham on Saturday 18th March.                                                           

On a testing course with intermittent showers at Nottingham’s Wollaton Park all members of the Bedfordshire team gave of their best, but the undoubted stars of the show for Bedford and County were Noah Campion and Lyla Danobrega.

In the Inter Girls race over 3900 metres, Lyla Danobrega ran the race of her life. With half the race gone, she had worked her way up into the top twenty, steadily picking off other runners to be in 15th approaching the finish, where she gained another place to complete the course in 14th place in a time of 12 minutes 42 Seconds. Disappointed at not making the top ten and getting an international vest, but nevertheless happy with an exceptional run in such a prestigious race.
 
Experiencing a heavy shower and a much churned up course previously pounded by over 1600 runners, Noah Campion matched his seventh place finish at the Inter-Counties Championships with another magnificent run in the Senior Boys race. Always in the large bunch at the front of the field, he moved through into the top ten after about a quarter of the race. With a group of four making a break with almost half the distance still to run. Noah maintained his position in the top ten. A strong finish saw him prevail over a group nine runners who were within 7 seconds of his time of 19 minutes 41 seconds. Although there is no international for seniors, he was delighted to have rounded off his best ever season in such superb style.
 
Other top 100 performances came from Lily Farr - 53rd in Inter Girls; and Imogen Chesterton  - 88th in Senior Girls.
 
The team managers reported that “Aside from the running, the boys and girls were an absolute pleasure to be around all day. Behaviour and attitude was excellent.”
 
The team managers were Rob Heaney, Tanya Fearon, Jodi Henderson and Andrea Campion.  Full results can be found on the internet: look up English Schools XC 2023 results.  A video of the races can be found on you tube: look up English Schools XC 2023.

Bedford and County Results

Junior Boys   (Y8 & 9)         4200 metres                                       Junior Girls (Y8 & 9) 3500 metres

105      Harry Scott                                                                 242      Eleanor Smith            

240      Archie Henderson                                                       310      Juliette Smith             

314      Barnabe Faysse                                                           319      Ellie Harper               

                                                                                                326      Megan Reynolds        

Inter Boys      (Y10 & 11)     5700 metres                                       Inter Girls (Y10 & 11) 3900 metres

185      Oliver Wilson                                                             14        Lyla Danobrega         

209      Sam Bosher                                                              53        Lily Farr                     

235      MacKenzie Kotrys                                                    295      Jessica Parrish                        

240      Daniel Smith                                                              

Senior Boys    (12 & 13)        7000 metres                                       Senior Girls (Y12 & 13) 4500 metres

7          Noah Campion                                                            88        Imogen Chesterton    

132      Euan Supple                                                                298      Riona Wiles               

233      Ethan Cairns                                                               DNF    Maddy Webb             

302      Tom Deardon