On Sunday 2nd March, Malvern College hosted the sixteenth annual National Preparatory Schools’ Cross Country Championship. Thankfully the weather was much kinder to us this year and, although a little windy, Malvern was bathed in glorious sunshine.

A record number of schools entered (47) and over 890 runners took part.

This year saw the reintroduction of the Small Schools’ Trophy, awarded to the highest placed ‘small school’ in each race. Spratton Hall made a clean sweep in this category by finishing highest in all of the four races.

It was great to see so much support for the runners around the course and many families decided to make a day of it bringing a picnic for Mother’s Day. All the athletes performed extremely well on a difficult hilly course.

In the U/11 Girls’ race Charlotte UNDERWOOD from Spratton Hall set the standard for others by leading in the first race in a time of 7.51, ten seconds ahead of her closest challenger, Natasha SEATON (8.01) from Thomas’s Battersea. Emily SPENCER from Stockport Grammar followed closely in third place in a time of 8.02. In the team event Danes Hill finished one place higher than last year and took the title convincingly with a total of 83 points. Spratton Hall was second (126 points) and Moor Park third (132 points).

In the U/11 Boys’ race Will ROUD from Dulwich College Prep School retained his title with a convincing win in a time of 9.13 (over a minute faster than the time he achieved last year). Nathan GROVES (Spratton Hall) finished in second place in a time of 9.35, and James FOORD from the Dragon School came third (9.46) The team event saw last years winners St. Piran’s Prep just beaten into second place by the winners Spratton Hall. Rose Hill, Tunbridge Wells and Dulwich College were both placed third.

In the U/13 Girls’ race there was another convincing victory, this time for Rebecca STRAW from BROMSGROVE, who finished in a time of 9.51, over ten seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Danielle MORGAN from Millfield was second in a time of 10.05 and Lilly OWSLEY (10.14) from Clifton College was third. This was the closest event in the team competitions and the victory from Rebecca may have helped her team, Bromsgrove Preparatory School, to secure victory with 60 points. Spratton Hall finished just one point behind in second (61 points) and third place was tied by Clifton College and Danes Hill both finishing on 63 points.

The U/13 Boys’ race saw Thomas JOHNSON from Eagle House School finish as champion in a time of 13.07. Sam BEDFORD (Millfield Prep) finished second, completing the course in 13.25. In third place was Casper DICKINSON (Thomas’s Battersea) just beating his twin brother Joshua who finished forth. This was definitely the year for twins with LIDBETTER sisters Sarah and Hana from Danes Hill also finishing in the top six in their race, the U/11 Girls’. The U/13 Boys’ team event this year was won by Millfield Preparatory School with a very impressive score of 42. This reversed the order of last year’s top two. Cheam School took second place with a score of 71 points. Spratton Hall finished in third (80 points) completing their clean sweep of the “small schools” trophies.

Full results are available in pdf fomat: -

U11 boys results
U11 girls team results
U11 girls individual results
U13 boys team results
U13 boys individual results
U13 girls team results
U13 girls individual results

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