10 March 2016
Abingdon Prep travelled to The Oratory School with both an Under 11 and Under 13 squad consisting of four runners per team. We arrived with plenty of time to spare and took the opportunity to walk the course. Shortly followed by a gentle jog around the ‘undulating’ Oratory School Estate. A team warm-up consisting of extended sprints to open up the lungs and kick start their aerobic systems and Abingdon Prep was ready and raring to participate in their respective races.
The Under 11 boys line up first for a 2.6km race, which consisted of one lap of the course. The race started at a fast pace, but all of the Abingdon team members held good positions towards the front of the race from the gun. All of the Abingdon Prep runners which included; William, Quinn, Johnny and Freddie were in the leading group from start to finish. William (1st) stretched his lead towards the end but was closely followed by Quinn (2nd), Johnny (3rd) and Freddie (7th) completed the quartet of runners and secured 1st place in the team competition.
The Under 13 boys’ race was over 3.5km. Again the race started at a phenomenally fast pace, but the Abingdon runners avoided any potential clashes by grouping themselves at the front. Nicholas maintained a consistent pace at the front of the group with Rowan close behind. Both Thomas and James maintained a good pace in the top 20 runners of a field of 60. Rowan found a second wind, overtaking all but the winner to finish in 2nd place, closely followed by Nicholas (4th). Thomas finished a very creditable 15th but an unfortunate fall, knocked James back into 33rd place.
All of our runners look forward to the IAPS National Preparatory Schools’ Cross Country Championships (Malvern School) on Sunday.
Results:
U11 – 1st Place
U13 – 4th Place
U11 Team
1st William
2nd Quin
4th Johnny
7th Freddie
U13 Team
2nd Rowan
4th Nicholas
15th Thomas
3rd James
