Hull Collegiate School Pupils are National Cross-Country Champions
Hull Collegiate School pupils were part of the winning North of England cross-country squad at the ISA Cross-Country Championships, held near Coventry last week
Twelve-year old Andrew Hess achieved his own individual glory by winning his event and becoming the National ISA Cross-Country Champion for his age group. Andrew, aged 12 and a pupil at Hull Collegiate School is also a member of the Kingston Upon Hull Athletics club and is to represent the area at the English Schools Athletics Association cross-country meeting in Manchester later this month.
Charlotte Dodds, aged 15, ran to victory with a second place medal in the Under 16 girls race. Charlotte will also be attending the ESAA meeting in Manchester with Andrew, together with fellow pupil, Grace Midgely.
The team events also produced a series of winners, with the Under 14 and Under 16 North of England girls team winning their races and the Under 12 and Under 19 North of England girls team placed 2nd.
The Hull Collegiate School athletes made up nearly half of the North of England cross-country squad, with 11 of the 24 members of the Junior squad coming from the Prep School and 16 Senior School pupils joining the Senior squad. This is a huge achievement for the local runners as the North of England territory covers a huge area ranging from Durham, the whole of Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire, over to Cumbria and North Wales. Regional qualifying heats were held earlier this year to select the top ten athletes from each region and the Hull-based runners achieved their first taste of success by dominating the final North of England line-up.
“We are immensely proud of our pupils,” says Mr Andrew North, Sports Co-ordinator at Hull Collegiate Prep School. “The school is set in 5 hectares of grounds and we have our own cross-country track. Our pupils are out in all weather running across the 3 km route and this hard-work has definitely paid off as pupils from the school made up nearly half of the final North of England squad.”
The Cross-Country Championships were held at Princethorpe College, near Coventry in wet and cold weather. Although the sleet did stop just long enough for the junior runners, Mrs Dot Feszczak, from the Senior School, admits that the conditions were appalling.
“Virtually everyone surpassed themselves on the day in extremely difficult conditions,” says Mrs Feszczak. “The course was very slippery and it was difficult to run well. One of our parents came to support the North of England Team and she was superb by encouraging the runners at a particularly challenging part of the course.”
The results of the Junior and Senior Teams were combined and at the end of the Tournament the North of England were placed overall winners.
