The 2024 schools cross-country season came to a close with the English Schools Championships this weekend. A cross-country season which started with 218 young athletes competing in the Inter-Schools Championships at Rowley Park, followed by the unfortunate cancellation of the Inter-Counties, which all lead up to the County Championships at Betley. 47 athletes were selected to represent Staffordshire at the English Schools Championships, with 42 taking on the tough course at Pontefract Racecourse.  

A brilliant venue for such a big event and a great day, which I’m sure all our athletes enjoyed. As team managers, we hope all athletes gained something from the championships. Whether that be their highest finish at these championships, their first experience of an English Schools National event, or learning from a performance when they knew they could do better. All the athletes have worked extremely hard to earn their position on the team and they should be very proud of their efforts. 

Special mentions go out to Lottie McLaren who finished 64th (out of 307 runners) in the senior girl’s race. Ben Allen also had a great run finishing 50th out of 329 runners in the inter boy’s race. Grace Burge finished in 75th place in the inter girls competition (out of 304 runners). In the junior girls race, Holly Turner finished 65th out of 339 runners. But our highest place finisher of the weekend was Tilly Thursfield in the inter girl’s race, who finished in a fantastic 34th place and helped the team finish 25th out of 43 teams. 

The English Schools Championships brings a close to the 2023/24 cross-country season. There were some promising performances at the weekend and the possibility of further improvement next year, with several of our athletes remaining in their current age categories. 

With 113 year 7 runners taking part in our inter-schools' cross-country competition back in October and 89 year 7 runners competing at our county championships in February, we look forward to them filtering through into the junior age groups next year and hopefully pushing into our English Schools team.  

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us during the cross-country season. Whether that was as a parent, a spectator, an official, a committee member or a volunteer, we really couldn’t run our events and manage our county teams without your help. We look forward to next year's cross-country season and hopefully we will see some of you in the summer for the track season. 

A fantastic day at Betley Farm on Saturday (3rd Feb) for the Staffordshire Schools Cross-Country Championships. With 247 young athletes taking part, it meant that there were more pupils taking on the tough course compared to last year, which is brilliant to see. A big well done to everyone that took part and congratulations to those athletes finished top three in their races and those who received selection letters for the English Schools National Cross-Country Championships.

District team winners per age group (with 6 runners to count):

• Year 7 Girls - Cannock (40)
• Year 7 Boys - Cannock (38)
• Year 8&9 Girls - Staffs Moorlands (50)
• Year 8&9 Boys - East Staffs (48)
• Year 10&11 Boys - Cannock (66)

A big thank you to everyone who supported Staffordshire Schools Athletics Association. Whether you were an athlete, a teacher, a parent, a spectator, an official, or a volunteer, we really did appreciate your support at Saturday's event.

I'm sure athletes selected for the English Schools National Cross-Country Championships will be looking forward to the day. Please can selected athletes return their reply slips ASAP.

Below are the results from Saturday's County Cross-Country Championships:

As most of you will be aware, the Staffordshire Schools County Cross-Country Championships will take place on Saturday 3rd February. We are delighted to say that we we will be again hosting our championships at Betley Court Farm.

District team managers are in charge of selecting a team for this competition and they have all the necessary information for this event.

There will be a charge of £5 per car when entering the venue. This money helps us to cover just some of the costs needed to run our events throughout the year.

Pupils should speak to their PE teachers, if they think they should be selected to compete at the county championships.

We look forward to seeing you all in a couple of weeks time!!

Once again, congratulations to all those athletes who were selected to represent the Staffordshire Schools Cross-Country team in the Dave Sunderland Inter-Counties match at Princethorpe College. A particular shout out to those athletes who are representing Staffordshire for the first time. It is a huge achievement and privilege to represent the county in any sport and that is down to your hard work throughout the year.

 The competition will be taking place on Saturday 18th November 2023, with the first race starting at 1:50pm. We wish all of our athletes the best of luck and hopefully a successful day for the Staffordshire team. 

Yesterday was the first cross-country meet for the 2023/2024 season, which was a great opportunity for pupils to show off their talent in front of the county team managers and hopefully gain qualification for the Dave Sunderland Inter-Counties XC match next month.

It was great to see so many schools entering the event, with many pupils taking part in the races. Compared to the 2022 event last year, there was over 100 more young athletes taking part in the event this year, which is absolutely brilliant to see.

• Year 7 boys - 53 competitors (compared to 22 in 2022).
• Year 7 girls - 60 competitors (compared to 30 in 2022).
• Year 8/9 boys - 48 competitors (compared to 37 in 2022).
• Year 8/9 girls - 57 competitors (compared to 39 in 2022.

Not only were numbers in each race up from last year, but we had a more schools entering teams of 4 runners per race than last year too.

• Year 7 boys - 9 complete teams (compared to 1 in 2022).
• Year 7 girls - 9 complete teams (compared to 3 in 2022).
• Year 8/9 boys - 7 complete teams (compared to 2 in 2022).
• Year 8/9 girls - 4 complete teams (compared to 3 in 2022).

Congratulations to all those athletes who finished on the podium yesterday and winning schools:

Year 7 boys

1. Finlay Stanton - Cheslyn Hay
2. Rocco Hawley - Penkridge Middle
3. Seb Palmer - Stafford Grammar

Winning school for year 7 boys - NULS

Year 7 girls

1. Lila Pearce - Parkside
2. Molly Forrester - Endon
3. Lily Crompton - Hart

Winning school for year 7 girls - Walton High

Year 8/9 boys

1. Callum Pearson - King Edward, Stafford
2. Charlie Brown - Clayton
3. Richard Maamoun - Weston Road

Winning school for year 8/9 boys - King Edward, Lichfield

Year 8/9 girls

1. Lexi Dundas - St Joseph's
2. Zara Bratt - Endon
3. Holly Turner - Blythe Bridge

Winning school for year 8/9 girls - St Joseph's

A total of 218 young athletes from across the county took part in yesterday's event (compared to 108 in 2022) and as a county association, we are hoping that many of these athletes will be looking forward to the Staffordshire Schools Cross-Country Championships, which will be held in February 2024.

Congratulations to all those athletes who finished in the top 10 and were selected for the county team next month. A reminder for those athletes to get their reply slips in as soon as possible.

A big thank you to all parents, spectators, teachers, volunteers and marshals for their support yesterday and we hope it was a valuable experience for all the athletes. 

The first county schools cross-country competition of the 2023/2024 season takes place this week at Rowley Park, Stafford. The Staffordshire inter-schools XC is for any young athletes in years 6-9 and provides an opportunity for runners to qualify for the Dave Sunderland Inter-Counties XC and represent in the county.

More details for the event can be found below.

The 2023 schools cross-country season came to a close with the English Schools Championships at the weekend. A wonderful venue for such a big event and a competition, which I’m sure all of our athletes enjoyed. It is down to all the hard work throughout the winter from the athletes and their coaches, and the support from parents, which has meant that all the runners were able to gain valuable experience from the weekend. It really is a huge achievement to represent Staffordshire at such a prestigious event and all of the athletes should be proud of their achievements. 

Special mentions go out to Tilly Thursfield and Georgia Griffiths who finished 31st and 64th respectively (out of 338 runners) in the junior girl’s race, with the Staffordshire team finishing 23rd out of 43 teams. Sam Thursfield also had a good run finishing 65th out of 329 runners in the junior boy’s race. Owen Ulfig finished in 31st place in the inter boys competition (out of 327 runners). In the senior girls race, Aria Aberley-Barker finished 98th and Paige Barker finished 100th out of 300 runners. But our highest place finisher of the weekend was Sian Duval in the senior girl’s race, who finished in a fantastic 12th place and helped the team finish 21st out of 38 teams in her final English School XC. Overall some really promising performances and the full set of results can be found on the following link: MYLAPS Sporthive Event Results 

The English Schools XC brings the cross-country season to a close for another year, which all started with the inter schools competition at Rowley Park back in October. It lead to some fantastic individual and team performances at the Dave Sunderland Inter Counties Event at Himley Hall in November, which set us up for our county championships which we hosted in February at Betley Court Farm. In those county championships, over 230 young athletes took part, with the best fighting it out for English Schools qualification. 

With 97 year 7 runners taking part in our county championships this year, we look forward to them filtering through into the junior age groups next year and hopefully pushing into our English Schools team. A huge thank you to everyone who has supported us during the cross-country season. Whether that was as a parent, a spectator, an official, a committee member or a volunteer, we really couldn’t run our events and manage our county teams without your help. We look forward to next years cross-country season and we look forward to seeing some of you in the summer for the track season. 

Staffordshire Schools County Cross-Country Championships 2023 (Results)

A fantastic day at Betley Farm on Saturday (4th Feb), with over 230 young athletes taking on the tough course. A big well done to everyone that took part and congratulations to those athletes who received selection letters for the English Schools National Cross-Country Championships.

A big thank you to everyone who support Staffordshire Schools Athletics Association. Whether you were an athlete, a parent, a spectator, an official, or a volunteer, we really did appreciate your support at Saturday's event.

More details regarding English School Cross-Country to come, but please can selected athletes return their reply slips ASAP.

Below are the results from Saturday's County Cross-Country Championships:

On Saturday 19th November, Staffordshire cross-country athletes took part in an inter counties event at Himley Hall. The athletes had all qualified for this event last month and were rewarded with the opportunity to compete for Staffordshire against six other counties including Cheshire, Surrey and West Midlands. The weather was most definitely on our side and it meant that athletes, spectators and team managers could enjoy six high quality cross-country races. 

There were individual and team places up for grabs, so this was as much about quantity, as it was quality. Staffordshire were one of only three counties to have six scoring runners in each race and finished in second place in the overall standings behind Warwickshire. This is a brilliant result, considering the size of the counties we were competing against. Every single athlete played their part in this result, so well done all.

There were some other notable results from the six races:

• In the minor girls' race, Zara Brett finished 4th, with Annaleigh Harrison finishing in 6th. The girls also came second in the team event.
• In the minor boys' race, Freddie Hutchinson finished in 8th position.
• Tilly Thursfield and Georgia Griffiths both finished in the top 10 of the junior girls' race, finishing in 5th and 7th respectively.
• Sam Thursfield also finished in the top 10 of his race, finishing 5th in the junior boy's race.
• In the inter boys' race, Luca Keeble snuck into the top 10, finishing in 10th position.
• But the performance of the day came from the inter girls' team, as they finished first in the team event (pictured below), and we also had Scarlett Williams who finished 3rd overall and Patience Lamb who finished 4th.

Every athlete represented the county exceptionally well and there were some really promising results. A big thank you to the athletes for running and parents/carers for bringing the athletes and watching.

We look forward to seeing you in the New Year for the Staffordshire Schools County Cross-Country Championships 2023.