Archie’s great race wins him a bronze

Archie Pearson and Maisey Kent represented Hampshire and Vectis Schools at the English Schools Cross Country Championships held in Kent on Saturday.

The championships bring together the best athletes from 48 different counties, who compete for both individual and team prizes.

First to race was Maisey in the intermediate girls’ race. With 384 athletes competing, overtaking was difficult on the tight fast course. Despite this, Maisey produced a strong run in the warm but breezy conditions. In a blanket finish, with two of her Hampshire team-mates, Maisey crossed the line in 131st place with all three Hampshire girls given the same time of 15 minutes 38 seconds.

Archie was next on the course in the junior boys’ race, held over a distance of 4.4km. He got off to a fast start, and was in the initial leading group of six that started to break away from the rest of the field. As the race progressed the leading group had shrunk to 4 athletes with Archie running strongly to maintain his place in the group. With two runners from Surrey, working as a team, the athlete from North Yorkshire was dropped leaving Archie in a medal position. In an exciting finish to the race, Archie claimed the bronze medal in fine style.

Archie’s run helped the Hampshire and Vectis team claim first place in the team event.

On the back of this performance, Archie has been selected to represent England at this weekend’s Home International, when he will compete against the leading athletes from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.