Year seven boys shine at Lee Valley event

Coopers Coborn’s year seven boys produced a superb effort to win the Lee Valley Cross-Country relay title for the first time.

Oliver Woods ran the first leg to get Coopers into contention and Harry Jones overtook several rivals to hand over to John Adolphe in the lead.

Adolphe extended Coopers advantage before Daniel Hawkes finished in style, stretching their lead over Southend to secure the silverware.

Teacher Mark Duncan said: “The students were very enthusiastic in their support for one and other and it was an exciting event to witness, especially when the lead kept changing.

“The year seven boys a team did exceptionally well to beat Southend Boy, who regularly finish in the top five at the National Championships, and it was the first time Coopers had won the trophy.”

Coopers fielded three other teams in the race, in a 22-strong field, and all finished inside the top seven.

“It was a superb effort by all involved and really shows the depth of cross country running in the year sevens this year,” added Duncan.

The three year seven girls teams were all inside the top 10 in their race, while Coopers claimed second place in both the year eight/nine boys and girls races.

“It was an excellent meet, our first cross country race of the season, and involved some of the top schools at cross country racing.

“After some superb turnouts for practises and trials we took 50 students to the event and managed to field A, B, C and D teams in some races.

“The event involves each students running a 1200m leg in a relay-style format around Lee Valley golf course.

“All students put in a tremendous amount of effort for the school and produced some very good results.

“All in all it was a great day, a brilliant start, and we look forward to more cross-country races coming up shortly.”

Year 7 boys: Oliver Woods, Josh Adolphe, Harry Jones, Daniel Hawkes, Adam Aboim, Daniel McGill, Lewis Jolly, Ben Hamberger, Freddie Maloney, George Hill, Jamie Bixby, Sam Little, Tom Peckett, Jake Giddings, Sonny Climpson, Luke Batty.

Year 8/9 boys: Flynn Astbury, Oliver Morter, Tom Keevil, Ted Buchanan, George Hurley, Billy Barker, Ben Walledge, Harvey Linnen, Kieran Davison-Pearce, Kieran Davies, Bayly Williamson, Joe Wright.

Year 7 girls: Chloe Morter, Rosie Gospage, Rosie Brown, Katie hoggart, Eloise Dietz, Kate walker, Holly Nicholls, Jeannie Hurley, Imogen Williams, Amy Buckley, Chloe Carter-McKeer, Milly Hodges.

Year 8/9 Girls: Rebecca Brown, Katie Mitchell, Sophie Rand, Emily Marshall, Isabella Purdie, Rachel Knight, Victoria Bishop, Anna Manning, Emily Crown, Grace Macleod, Hannah Ramanathan, Bethan Isherwood.