Cross-country success at Guildford

It was not the big trip up to Coventry we had planned - a combination of notable absentees owing to other commitments and concerns from some members at missing a whole day of school at this crucial time of the year, saw the Eltham Cross-Country team making a trip instead to Surrey for the RGS Guildford 7km friendly cross-country fixture.

There was nothing friendly about the course or the level of competition.  To describe it merely as undulating would not do the long steep hills justice and yet the Eltham College team of Joe Selley, Daniel Finch, Laurence Hill, Tom Bassett, Matthew Burgess, Abdulla Zaman, Callum Stoodley, Alex Walters, Aakesh Desai and Josh Parry took this all in their stride.  In addition to our regulars, we were pleased to welcome three of the German exchange students - Dario, Noah and Nico - as honorary Eltham College boys for the day.

The longer, hillier course clearly played to Eltham's strengths and finally all the hill training came in use with Eltham College A team of Dario the German Exchange student finishing 5th, Joe Selley finishing 6th, Daniel Finch 13th and Laurance Hill in 18th, finishing in our highest ever position of second to Charterhouse A's and ahead of Charterhouse B's and Hampton School. Tom Bassett came close to finishing in the A team placing 20th. Nine teams closed out the course, with some schools fielding additional runners or incomplete teams.

All the boys ran extremely well on a course, described the former England Cross Country Champion at Senior men's level as, well beyond what is normally expected of boys their age. We hope we can build on success next week when we participate in the Judge Cup.