Cross Country

The junior girls cross country team of Beth Letherby, Holly Butt, Anna Roberts-Wray, Wendy Robertshaw, Maddie Gape and Lottie Willmore reached the English Schools Cross Country Finals in Leicestershire after a brilliant victory in the South of England qualifiers at Leweston School, Sherborne in November where they beat sporting giants Penair and Millfield.

In the final at Loughborough they again performed outstandingly, securing a brilliant sixth place. The first part of the course was run over fast ground and the second was very muddy and difficult to get past other runners. Beth Letherby and Holly Butt got a good start out of the pen and led the field over the first 400 metres. Anna Roberts Wray, Wendy Robertshaw, Lottie Willmore and Maddie Gape also got a good starts and found themselves in a good position after the first 400m which is always a free for all. Unfortunately Holly was tripped by another runner and took a heavy tumble, but showed great strength and courage to pick herself up immediately and join the chasing pack.

After 800 metres the field had spread out into distinctive groups with the current number one and two in Britain leading from the front. Letherby was positioned well in the chasing pack with Roberts Wray running her best race of the season, in the chasing pack. The Colfox girls showed their strength by making ground on the others in the final muddy part of the course.

Letherby led the Colfox team home finishing a fantastic 21st after overcoming heavy stitch with Roberts Wray finishing strongly in 28th. Robertshaw was another 20 seconds back with Butt a further 11 seconds behind in 67th place. Gape did superbly to come from the back of the pen to finish in 117th and Willmore 123^rd, a real achievement for a year 7 running against girls a year older. The school endorsed their victory in the South West Championships by again beating Newquay who finished 9th overall and Penair 15th.

Three junior teams and two inter teams also competed in the Leweston Schools Cross-Country Relays. The course was just as muddy as the day of the Southern England final, and this knowledge of the course and conditions proved golden. The Junior A team won their race by a whopping two minutes, and were the third team to finish overall, while the B team finished sixth and the C team ninth - emphasising the inexhaustible wealth of talent at the school.

In the inter age group, the Sixth Form team just pipped the Year 10 team by one place. The school has also been competing in the Poole schools cross country league with some outstanding individual and team performances. Overall league results will be published shortly.
 

Biathlon

HOT on the heels of the cross country triumph at Lewesdon, more than a dozen Sir John Colfox School representatives competed in the South West Schools Biathlon Championships at Millfield.  A record number of 650 entrants took part, making it one of the largest and most competitive regions in the country, and once again Colfox did not disappoint.

The outstanding senior girls' team, who have qualified for the national competition since Year 7, demolished the field to return with three gold and two bronze medals. Laura Bowen-Ashwin, Abbie Letherby and Lauren Podger all finished the 1km run within two seconds of each other, which put them a mere eight points behind the leaders. And once in the pool there was no stopping them as the girls secured their spot at the top of the podium with a total of 416 points, qualifying them for the national competition in Bath in March.

The best individual performance of the day was by Year 7 student Rhys Kirkpatrick, who with the third-fastest run and 11th-fastest swim in a field of 42 athletes finished in a very impressive third place. Year 8 girl Beth Letherby came sixth overall while Matt Fry - who clocked two personal bests - and Podger also emulated Letherby's feat in their respective categories.

Six athletes were fielded in the incredibly talented Year 8 girls' section, with the trio of Beth Letherby, Anna Roberts-Wray and Sophie Hall snatching silver. Experienced Oscar Tweed came home in a creditable eighth spot, while Honor Slade deserves special commendation for posting a new personal best on both the track and in the pool, finishing in 21st place.  Annabel Armstrong and Charlotte Willmore were 45th and 46th respectively. All of which means Colfox School looks set to send a sizeable team to the nationals next year..

Year 7 Rugby

The year 7 boys pulled off an outstanding victory when they beat All Saints 10-0 in the final of the Area 10-a-side rugby tournament. Having beaten all the teams in their pool, the boys performed outstandingly to beat rivals All Saints convincingly.

County Representatives