Hundreds of Young Runners Compete in Belhaven’s Challenging Cross-Country Championships
More than 350 boys and girls, aged 8 to 13 ran 2.5 to 3.5 km in Scotland’s most challenging prep schools’ cross-country competition.
Belhaven Hill School in East Lothian has recently welcomed runners back for the 39th annual Belhaven Cross-Country Championships. This is the biggest cross-country competition in the annual prep schools’ calendar.
The event is organised and hosted by Belhaven Hill School, the boarding and day school for 5 to 13-year-olds in Dunbar. Competitors run a course from the beautiful Seafield Pond at Belhaven Bay, overlooked by the school itself, out to the stunning John Muir Country Park and back. The routes run near the beach and through the woods, covering 2.5, 3.0 and 3.5 km.
Reimagining the starting location to be closer to Seafield Pond this year, Belhaven Hill hosted fifteen participating schools from Scotland and the north of England. The popular annual event attracted 364 runners this year. Schools entered four to six runners into each race for boys and girls, divided into age groups: Under 9s, Under 11s and Under 13s.
“The Belhaven Cross-Country course is the most challenging in the Scottish junior and prep schools’ calendar and is the highlight of the cross-country season,” says Belhaven Hill School’s Noel Curry, who has run the competition since 2017 and been part of the organising team for a further eight years.
The schools taking part included East Lothian schools, The Compass, Loretto and Belhaven Hill, as well as schools from Edinburgh, the Lothians and Borders: Longridge, Lathallan, Merchiston Castle, Fettes, Cargilfield, St George’s, Strathallan, St. Mary’s, Craigclowan, Ardvreck, and Edinburgh Academy. Local East Lothian primary and senior schools were also invited to take part, and Dunbar and Innerwick Primary schools both sent teams for the first time.
Team coaches and parents cheered the runners around a lake, over sand dunes and down woodland paths with the sea breeze in the air. Many stayed afterwards for tea and prize-giving at the finish line with the beautiful Belhaven Bay behind them.
Medals were awarded to the top three runners in each race and trophies given to the winning team in each category, with four records falling.
Noel Curry from Belhaven continues: “Belhaven boys and girls practice running every week and trained for the cross-country by running relays along our local beach and through the woods in their Patrol (house) competitions. Many of them manage the full 4.5-mile route from school out to John Muir Country Park over stiles, bridges, beaches, woodland in all weathers, from wind and snow to lovely coastal sunsets.”
In the 2025 run, the U-9 and U-13 boys ran simultaneously with St. Mary’s and Strathallan taking the team awards. In the U-9 race Finlay T. (left) of Belhaven Hill ran an impressive race taking individual bronze, to help his team to come in a creditable third position, as did the boys in the U-13 race.
The U-9 and U-13 girls’ races were up next, The Edinburgh Academy and Strathallan winning these, with Belhaven coming in third and fourth respectively.
The final pair of races was the U-11s, in which Belhaven excelled. Monty S. of Belhaven Hill won gold in the U-11 race, despite being a year young for the age category. He achieved a new course record of 11m 39s for 3k, with his teammate Patrick T. in second position, as the U-11 boys’ team won the trophy. St. Mary’s won the U-11 girls’ race, with Belhaven in third position thanks in part to an excellent run by Annie F. who picked up the bronze medal.
Above left: Patrick T & Monty S win U11 boys' race; Above right: Annie F runs to bronze position in U9 girls' race.
In a tight competition, Belhaven was the only school from the fifteen competitors which finished in the top three in five of the six team races.
The Belhaven organisational staff left with the huge satisfaction that their event, after Covid, storms, a venue change and a new start/finish, is now better, bigger and more successful than ever.
There is a long-established tradition of encouraging cross-country running at Belhaven Hill School.
All pupils take part in cross-country in Games sessions in the Autumn and Winter Terms. Children are challenged to run two or three laps of the school grounds, subject to age and ability. Their times are recorded as targets for future runs and they also do regular beeps tests to establish fitness benchmarks.
