Cross-Country Report Kennedy Cup Easter 2015

This term has seen the continued excellence of our elite cross-country runners alongside the further improvement of our developing younger athletes. In what is a hard, lonely sport, run in all kinds of weather and which is as much a battle with your own mind and body as well as with the course and the other runners, John Fisher has confirmed its place as one of the best cross-country schools in the country.

The Senior Knole Run in January - which is in effect the National Cross-Country Championships - run over a demanding 6 mile course saw our team of 6 runners from Year 10 and 9 – therefore 3 or 4 years younger than the competition – excel and finish 17^th out of 47 teams. Alex and Ryan Galvin, Ricky Lutakome, John Erne, Gianluca Ercolano and Ben Brant all ran brilliantly.

Having secured 7^th place at the Habdasher’s Aske School Relays another extremely young team travelled to Coventry for the National Cross Country Relay Championships which see 5 runners form a team and each run a lap of the 2 mile course. With four Year 10’s and one Year 9 alongside a single 6^th Former finishing 16^th out of 53 teams was a remarkable achievement. Ricky Lutakome recorded the 36^th fastest lap on the day even though he is 4 years younger than many of the competitors.

Further success was gained at the Wellington College Relays, where the Juniors finished in 2^nd place and the Inters in First, beating a number of highly regarded schools.

The Local League Relay competition, against Tiffin, Oxted, Whitgift and Trinity saw some great results.

The Senior Team finished the season in 2^nd place so can

Robert Spalding, Sean McAllister, Matthew Lucas and Joe Halfacre come and collect their medals.

The Inters Team finished the season unbeaten and gave more evidence of their undoubted potential, so can

Ricky Lutakome, Alex Galvin, Ryan Galvin, John Erne, Fabian Daburn, Gianluca Ercolano and Ben Brant all come forward and receive your medals.

The Junior Team finished strongly to claim 2^nd place overall, so can

Harry Smith, Jude Watson, Joe Logue, Liam Gent and Peter Edwards come forward and collect your medals.

Both the Galvin brothers and Ricky Lutakome qualified for the Inter Counties competition and Ricky qualified for the English Schools National Finals in Blackburn, where, representing Surrey he finished 118^th in big field despite being one year younger than the vast majority of those running. If they can stand up and given a round of applause.

The Cross-Country shield this year is awarded to someone who has run consistently and consistently well, for 4 years, representing John Fisher with distinction. He shows guts and determination every time he runs – Alex Galvin.