Matt1s time of 10 min 46 secs for the1.7 km course at Farleigh Mount, Winchester gave him just 4 seconds in hand over the nearest of his 66 rivals. It put behind him the disappointment of the recent South West Championship event which was voided after he had 3won2 two trophies at Longleat in the Under 11 class. Clearly one and a half matches for the school soccer teams the day before had not, quite, blunted his speed !
Kingswood Day Prep also collected Team Bronze medals in the boys Under 11 Boys class with good runs by Oliver Hathaway (22nd) and David Dowling (29th) to back up Matt1s victory. The school finished 5th place overall in the Primary Competition thanks to the extra contribution from Katharine Hathaway (31st Under 11 Girls).
The 1997 British Schools Championships attracted just short of 1.000 competitors from over 160 schools to run this year in Hampshire. In 1998 the event will move to Cannock Chase in Staffordshire.
Th senior team from Kingswood School also did well, finishing as runners-up in the Small Schools (Under 600) class. This was a reminder of the days at the beginning of the decade when the school had an unchallenged record: 1990 2nd, 1991: 1st, 1992:1st, 1993:1st, 1994:2nd, 1995:3rd.
Kingswood1s top performer, Helen Debenham (10th Under-16), with a 45 mins 10secs time for 4 km and 70 metres climb, remembers the good days of 1993 well, as she failed to score at Clumber Park . This time she was ably backed up by Gold standard Tim Johns (16th Under-13), rookie Lucy Sparrow (14th Under-12) who started just a month ago, Rebecca Lyle (18th Under-12), Marco Raabe (30th Under-17) who came to Bath from Germany in September and Charlotte Hathaway (33rd Under-12). Clearly the school has the potential to be challenging with the best at Cannock.