Alex and Emily's commitment is rewarded

ALEX Adams and Emily Field both ran exemplary races in the South West Schools Cross Country Championships at Newton Abbot.

The event at Stover School involved a round trip of more than 300 miles for the Stratford AC duo, but their commitment was well and truly rewarded.

The tough and muddy course certainly gave them the opportunity to reap the rewards for all of the hard work and effort they have both put in during winter training.

Adams has enjoyed a truly outstanding cross country season. He recently became the under-13 boys’ cross country champion in the West Midland Young Athletes’ Cross Country League, by winning all of the three races he competed in.

Just a couple of weeks ago, he ran another superb race to come second in the under-13 boys’ race at the Midland Cross Country Championships.

In this race over 2,800m, the competition really was of the highest calibre.

Despite this, Adams still managed to secure a magnificent second place out of 65 runners competing, in a time of 11.22.

It is worth noting that the race winner, William Rabjohns of Dorset, is currently ranked second in the UK in the under-13 age group. It is a measure of how well Adams did, when you realise that when these two athletes competed last year, in both the National and Inter Counties Championships, more than 60 places separated them on both occasions.

Also, Rabjohns’ parkrun PB is the quickest of the two by some 98 seconds and the fact that Adams was able to halve this, in a race of a similar distance, puts his performance into perspective.

In the inter girls’ race, Field also ran superbly over 3,600m, although she would probably have preferred an even longer course.

She finished in 24th place out of 62 finishers and was the fifth Gloucester runner to finish, in a time of 16.38. Her race was won by Amelia Wills of Somerset, in a time of 15.04.