Kent Schools' Cross Country Championships at Wilmington

6th February 2010

TWGSB cross country runners had mixed fortunes at the Kent Schools' XC Championships, representing Tunbridge Wells Borough, at the weekend.

In the year 7 race, Chris Cohen had been hoping to follow up his excellent performance at the Knole Junior Run with a top-10 finish. Unfortunately, an ill-advised rugby match the day before left Chris battered, bruised and sore and not his normal fluent self. The stiffness stopped him from going with the lightning-fast early pace and after the opening small lap, Chris was placed in the mid-20s. Determination, and a nifty piece of footwork on a tricky turn, saw Chris snatch a top-20 finish on the run-in. Starting slowly, Marcus Pattenden was with the back markers over the opening lap but his long-raking stride pulled him through to a mid-pack 42nd position at the finish.

In the Junior Boys' race Alistair Bishop lead the Tunbridge Wells runners in about 20th position over the opening half mile of the two-lap race. Over the remaining part of the lap Alistair pulled up to 15th position but looked to be tiring. Despite his fast-pace mid-race, Alistair managed to maintain his stride length and cadence to hold his position to the finish. Tracking Alistair over most of the race was Luke Bohanan and with half a mile to go a top-20 place finish looked possible but he faded on the run-in. However, Hamish Wyatt pulled through very strongly over the second lap, showing an excellent level of fitness he's gained through his main sport of swimming to come home in a pleasing 24th place, despite being in the lower half of the age-group. An out of sorts Luke followed home in 34th position, with Zachary Burgess picking off several personal targets on the way to 79th position.

Results

Y7 Boys

18 Chris Cohen 12-19

42 Marcus Pattenden 13-10

Junior Boys

15 Alistair Bishop 14-03

24 Hamish Wyatt 14-22

34 Luke Bohanan 14-39

79 Zachary Burgess 15-46