Stratford AC athletes impress at the 2025 English Schools’ Cross Country Championship at the Ardingly Showground in West Sussex
Runners from Stratford AC impressed at the 2025 English Schools’ Cross Country Championship at the Ardingly Showground in West Sussex on Saturday.
In perfect conditions, the event kicked off with the Inter Girls (Years 10 and 11) event over 3.75km. The club had two athletes running in Marijke Tear-Verweij and Annie Silvers. Both found themselves in the pack on the first of two laps and managed to make progress throughout the race to finish 194th and 277th respectively. Fellow Warwickshire athlete, Olivia McGhee (Rugby & Northampton), ran well to finish third overall.
The Junior Girls (Years 8 and 9) featured Stratford’s Lucia Ogilvie-Putt who ran strongly and pulled out an incredible sprint finish to attain 124th position on the 2.85km course. Elle Weir also ran strongly to finish 324th, a big improvement on her last race. Weir was followed by Portia Nabney (330th) in a rare cross country outing.
The Inter Boys event was stacked with Stratford AC athletes and included arguably their best performance of the day.
Sam Lambert ran a hugely impressive race to finish 12th, demonstrating his increasingly mature approach to competing at this level. This excellent run resulted in him being selected as a non-travelling reserve for this weekend’s SIAB Schools International Cross Country Championships in Falkirk with international teams from England, Scotland, Wales and All Ireland competing.
Also in the Inter Boys race, despite starting fourth in the pen, Tom Fisher ran well to come home 148th. Fighting illness and starting seventh in the pen, Will Hovell honoured his selection with a battling performance to finish 315th. Teammate Archie Lane (Leamington) finished the highest of all Warwickshire athletes at the Championships, with an impressive second place.
Stratford’s two Senior Girls (Years 12 and 13) Niamh Hillard and Abbi Cooper competed in their final ESAA Schools Cross Country after several years of Warwickshire selection. After a busy competitive few weeks for both, the fast 4.1km course did not necessarily suit either athlete but they both worked hard to achieve 110th and 222nd respectively.
The finale of the Championship saw the Senior Boys race over an arduous 6km, with a total of five athletes from Stratford competing.
Zak Lambert claimed the bragging rights, showing his usual grit and determination to finish 89th in a time of just over 19 minutes. The other three athletes running for Warwickshire showed similar stamina to finish strongly – Will Mayes (180th), James Day (248th) and James Mayes (283rd). The club’s recent recruit, Dougie Garnett, was representing West Midlands and fought illness to finish in 270th position.
