Running and Cross Country here at TPS continues to grow with the Cross Country season well underway and so many students continuing to train and enjoy their running. There are regularly 60+ attending Cross Country (XC) club on Tuesday evenings and many more other sessions taking place for a variety of abilities.

In terms of competitive XC, we qualified at Downside School in the first round of the English Schools Athletic Association (ESSA) Cup, and then competed at Leweston School for the regional session, with the Junior Boys and Junior Girls lining up in hopes of qualification for the national final.

Amidst some exceptionally capable runners those representing TPS raced a challenging course well. The junior girls team, whom were mostly a year younger than their age range, finished a very respectable 4th showing real promise for next year’s event with Erin finishing 9th overall. The boys equally ran well after a tough start; Noah was the highest finisher coming in a very respectable 7th place. A great achievement for both individual runners and the team!

This then lead onto the qualifications for the Somerset County Competition. We took 34 enthusiastic competitors to Kings College with hopes of qualifying to represent the Taunton Area in the Somerset Championships. Huge success, with 20 of our pupils qualifying for the event to be held at RNAS Merryfield. This race, in tough, muddy and cold conditions against several highly skilled runners was a great experience for all. Again, from this race we had five athletes finish in the top 8 to gain automatic qualification to race for Somerset in the South West Championships.

Great races from Noah who finished 1st and George who raced really well to finish 2nd. Erin finished in 3rd and another stunning race from Cate who (finishing in 5th) with Olivia not far behind, gained automatic qualification. These five athletes then headed off to Exeter on 7th February to compete in the South West Championships and we are proud to share that despite the rain and mud each pupil battled through with the girls team coming second and the boys team coming third! A special mention to Erin who came 10th and Noah who came 6th overall.

We look forward to lots more races throughout the rest of the season, with the ‘Larkman Cup’ and ‘Interhouse Cross Country’ just two of the highlights.

Well done to all those who commit to training and to those who compete. You are all stars!!