BEAUMONT School fielded four teams in the County Round of the National Schools Cross Country Championships at Barnet Coptall Stadium on Thursday, October 9. The leading three teams in each category qualified for the Regional Round. The St Albans-based sc

BEAUMONT School fielded four teams in the County Round of the National Schools Cross Country Championships at Barnet Coptall Stadium on Thursday, October 9.

The leading three teams in each category qualified for the Regional Round.

The St Albans-based school's most successful team of the afternoon was the Inter Girls team who last year won through each round and eventually finished third in the National Finals. The girls once again demonstrated their outstanding abilities by taking the first three places in this year's County round. Karis Mimms finished first, Izzy Thompson took second and Harriet Clifford finished third. Steph Lam was the school's fourth runner home, finishing ninth, with Lottie Rayburn 28th and Anna Naylor 33rd. The team scored an excellent 15 points, finishing in first place overall and thereby qualifying for the Regional Final.

The Inter Boys team lost a runner during their race when Matt Pepperdine pulled a hamstring on the first lap. The other four runners ran hard with Chris Hilton finishing a strong fourth, Max Neads 15th, Bernhardt Zondargh 36th and Callum Murfet 38th. Overall the team finished a creditable sixth but unfortunately missed qualifying for the next round.

The school also fielded two teams in the Junior age group. The Junior Girls team finished fifth overall with Niamh Quinn the school's first runner home in 10th place. Sioned Armstrong 31st, Alice Webster 32nd and Flo Almond 36th followed shortly behind. The Junior Boys team also lost a runner due to injury (Jack Nevin) but still managed to finish in fourth place, just missing qualification for the Regional Final. Josh Clifford (14th), Amine Harti (21st), Jack Gage (22nd) and Josh Berry (24th) all impressed to give the team a score of 81.

Glenn Stewart, PE teacher at Beaumont, expressed his delight with the performances. He said: "We are really proud of all our athletes who gave their best and put in strong performances on the day. It is fantastic to have a team in the Regional finals and we are confident that they will do well there. They are a really committed group of youngsters and they deserve their success. Our Inter Girls team has been successful over the last couple of seasons, and it is great to see some talented Year 7s and 8s coming through the Junior squads to carry on the tradition of athletic excellence at Beaumont.