Cross Country Success at Longridge

Belhaven Hill wins 5 out of 8 trophies!

On the last full day of term Belhaven took eight teams of four to this year’s Longridge Cross-Country Championships. We entered all eight of the races and performed spectacularly well, winning five out of the eight races and coming second in the other three. There were roughly 60 runners per race.

First up were the U10 boys and, individually, Finlay took second place, Sigi 9th, Rory 11th, Lochie T. 12th and Lochie O. 14th. Overall we were just pipped into second.

In the U10 girls it was a similar story as Annie won the event with Coco in 6th, Holly a place further down and Jemima 11th. Jemima showed real grit in pinching two places right on the finishing line. Remarkably, given this excellent showing, we finished only second in the team event, again.

The U11 girls also finished second, losing out in the tightest of runs despite Mary’s 3rd position, with Flora a place further back, Eliza in 7th and Heidi in 16th.

We dominated the U11 boys, however, with Monty winning the event by an English country mile, Brixton in 4th, Archie B. in 6th and Woody in 12th. A special note to Brixton for completing almost the entire run in just one trainer, having lost it early on!

The U12 races were a tale of incredible symmetry. We won both team events and, in fact, took gold, silver and bronze positions in both runs, along with 5th as well. Huge congratulations to Patrick, Xander, Santiago and Toby in the boys’ event, and Anastasia, Rose, Blanche and Sophia in the girls’, who claimed those positions in that order. What a year group!

The U13 events were also hugely impressive, as we took team golds in both, with Clemmie (3rd), Emily (6th), Maggie (8th) and Cecily (11th), and Wilbur (1st), Bertie (5th), Geordie (6th) and Tristan (8th) well deserving their golds. Wilbur deserves great credit for running on through injury, which flared up during the run.

So we left Longridge with 5 trophies in the team events, and were a whisker away from 3 more, as we took second place. We also won 4 individual gold medals, 4 silvers and 4 bronzes in addition, which is testament to the ability of this group of runners and a great way to finish off a fantastic running season.

Cross Country Longridge Towers 2026

Very well done to everyone indeed.