CRAVEN had excellent representation at the County round of the English Schools’ Cross-Country Cup.

The Skipton grammar schools had a successful day as they won three of the four team events with Skipton Girls High School juniors qualifying in third place.

They not only won three of the team events but they had very low scores in both of the older age groups for the total of their first four runners home, and therefore have realistic chances of making the final in November at Woodbridge School in Suffolk, but challenging at the head of the race.

The races were held at Giggleswick School, a venue with a run in across their playing fields and a testing undulating section through farmers fields.

Ermysted’s Inters (Years 9 and 10) were the most impressive team with Ben Rees, Alex Thompson, Jath Lee, Will Atkinson, Donnabhan Rudden and Andrew Robinson leading the way.

There were some good runners against them including Upper Wharfedale’s Sam Headley and Will Hugill from Harrogate.

As the race unfolded, Alex broke free with Will but proved too strong and came home a clear winner.

The team of four was completed by Jath Lee in fourth, Ben Rees fifth and Donnabhan Rudden in seventh.

With all scorers in the top seven they had the lowest winning score on the day with just 17 points for the total of the four positions.

The team also had Andrew Robinson in ninth and Will Atkinson 11th showing their strength in depth.

The other notable Craven performance was the aforementioned Sam Headley, who was third place individually.

Skipton Girls’ Inters (Years 9 and 10) were just as impressive as they had their four scoring runners in the first eight home.

Alice Jones led pretty much from gun to tape for an individual victory, with Lilli Carr third, Harisah Ghafoor in sixth and final scorer Emma Peel eighth.

Their total of 18 points also makes them stand out as challengers for the final.

Again their non-scorers Mia Petrucci 13th and Hannah Jackson 15th were well up the field and shows the team’s strength in depth.

In the Junior boys race, Ermysted’s had a good showing as Freddie Marsh was close to the leaders and the rest of his team just outside the top ten.

As the race developed Freddie was in a group of three battling just outside the podium places eventually coming fifth.

A great run from Oscar Smyth saw him charge through the field finishing strongly in seventh with a couple of Year 7 runners Lachlan Wills 12th and Sam Bentham 13th completing the team.

Their total of 37 points was good enough to win another unofficial county title and showed enough promise that they could make the final if they run well in the next round. Non-scorers Finlay Petrucci 22nd and Matthew Peace 38th finished highly in the 54 strong field.

Upper Wharfedale did have the best placed Craven athlete as recently crowned English Schools’ Fell Champion Jacob Reeday beat Ermysted’s Freddie Marsh in the sprint Skipton Girls High School Juniors (Years 7 and 8) may not have won but did have a good low total of just 49 points to qualify in third.

They were led home by Hannah Robinson in eighth. Elsa Birch was tenth, Megan Wilkinson 14th and running her best race yet for school Emily Butcher was 17th.

Their non-scorers Kate Boumphrey 32nd and Maggie Hudson 39th were well up the list of finishers.

South Craven’s Olivia Aldham came ninth and schoolmate Anna Fryers in 11th helped their team to joint fourth team and qualification for the next round.

So all four teams from the Skipton grammar schools qualified and the older teams with such low scores they should again make the final with good runs at the North East of England round at Stewart Park, Middlesbrough on November 10.