Cross Country (1975-76)

This must rank as our most disappointing season for many years. There were only eight people who opted for cross country at the start of the year. One of these, M. Billups, left after a few weeks to go to college after having turned in some very good performances, while another, J. Henley, injured his knee at Christmas, again after a very good start to the season. Thus for most of the season there has only bean a maximum of six to choose from, which for races of teams of eight runners presented one or two problems! Despite these difficulties and problems it is to the team's credit that it has not been last in the large high quality trophy races except on two occasions and has, at times, done remarkably well.

The most successful individuals have been N. Newton and N. Jones, both of whom have run consistently throughout the season and both of whom, along with J. Henley and C. Putt were chosen to represent the Borough in the County Schools Race. Given freedom from injury these four should find encouragement next year with the advent of this year's fourth year to the senior team and as a result it is possible to be genuinely optimistic about the future.

However, a team is not made solely by the star runners; it also needs the loyalty and reliability of its other members and this it has had in full measure from N. Johnston, S. Quigley and especially C. Horne. Obviously the team has had to call upon members of other options and has been very grateful for the valuable and good quality performances of J. Andrews, A. Paull and K. Rance all of whom have had an invaluable part to play in the team's overall performances.

The most encouraging part of the season came at the very last race at Alleyne's School, Stevenage where the master in charge of cross country for over twenty years at a well known local school commented that although the team was not as talented as some we have produced, it certainly ran with plenty of spirit. Hackneyed it may be, but it still remains true of this as of any sport that it is not so much winning as having taken part in the right spirit, that counts.

T. A. Ford

This year's team has been the most successful for many years. This has not just been due to the presence of one outstanding runner there has been a nucleus of seven runners who have trained hard and shown an excellent attitude throughout the season.

In inter-schools races, the team was only beaten once, by Wood Green School, last year's Junior 1913 Champions, and even here the margin was only 3 points. Richard Hale, St. Albans, Gunnersbury, Harrow County, Watford and Haber- dashers were all heavily beaten.

In both the Borough League and the Borough Championships, where fourth and fifth years are combined, the school finished second, doing particularly well in the Borough Race to finish only six points behind Bishopshalt. With a dearth of fifth year runners, all the scorers were fourth years. Johnson, 3rd, and Comwell, 5th, were both selected to represent the Borough in the Middlesex Schools Race. Johnson was unfortunately forced to drop out through injury, but Comwell did well to finish 22nd. Both these runners also did well in the Borough League, Johnson finishing 3rd overall and Cornwell 5th.

In the fourth year Invitation Races, the team won two trophies, the Skeeles and the Langley, setting up course records in both races, and finished third in the Joiner Trophy, second in the Highgate Race and fourth in our own Haste Hil Relay - overall, an excellent record. It was unfortunate that Comwell went down with 'flu the day before the Haste Hill with a full team, we would have been challenging for 1st place. Of the individual members of the team, M. Johnson's consistently good performances were a spur to the rest of the team. He finished 4th in the Highgate Race, had the fastest time in the Skeeles Trophy, 2nd fastest in the Langley Relay and 3rd fastest in the Haste Hill. He also reduced the junior course record to 13 minutes 54 seconds, improving 46 seconds on the previous record. Again C. Cornwell was never too far behind and raced consistently well. N. John improved greatly in the second term, whilst G. Woolnough and M. Naylor-Vane, newcomers to the team in September, made tremendous progress throughout the season. N. Sabley also showed great improvement, and D. Walton, although unfortunate in not quite making the top six, also improved greatly. 

R. Kraushaar

It was almost inevitable that after last year's third year cross country team's performances and record this year's team was going to look, by comparison, rather weak. However, once it is realised that last year was exceptional and comparisons are made with more "typical", if less spectacular, former years it can be seen that the past season has been quite a sound one.

In the Borough Championships we finished ninth out of seventeen teams and in the Borough League (which, despite its name, does in fact include teams outside Hillingdon Borough) fifth out of ten. The 1913 Grammar Schools race saw us finish 13th out of eighteen teams and in our own St. Nicholas Trophy race 10th out of fourteen. The general pattern in these large trophy races was to finish two thirds of the way down the field.

In leaving the start of the cross country as an option, as we do, to the third year it does mean that our teams usually have neither the training nor the experience of racing that most other teams, who have been representing their school regularly since the first year, possess. In addition other schools call upon athletes whose main sport is not cross country. The result is that, although they do comparatively well at this level, at Intermediate and Senior level we tend to overtake them as experience and training build up and team members' commitment to cross country has its effect.

In this year's team there are a number of promising individuals who could, given perseverance and freedom from injury, become useful members of future senior teams. The outstanding runner of the year has been A. Burland, who has consistently been first home for the team, a fact attested by his being fifth individual in the Borough League races, and who, in combined third and fourth year fixtures, has acquitted himself well, finishing amongst the fourth years, no mean feat considering the quality of the fourth years. A. Vigor has shown himself to be a talented runner who, with consistent training and greater race experience, should press hard for a place in any team. In the latter half of the season he has been closely challenged by D. Evans, who has gone from strength to strength and produced same excellent performances. P. Randall and S. Glanville have both had some good runs but the former struck a bad patch half way through the second term while the latter had a number of injuries which meant neither managed to sustain the level of performance throughout the year. These five were the regular team members, who were joined usually by P. Thomas who produced some solid performances as last scorer. Valuable support then came at various times from the remaining members of the top group such as P. Crowley, A. Pratt, M. Savage and G. Warner. Junior Colours were awarded to: Burland, Evans, Randall and Vigor.

T. A. Ford