Cross Country is a popular choice at Haberdashers’ Adams, under the stewardship of Robin Sedman-Smith. He has guided the squad since 2005 and is himself a stalwart of the Newport & District Running Club. Read on to learn about Adams' cross country success in 2023.
Telford Schools Cross Country League
Throughout September and October, thirty-nine boys from Haberdashers’ Adams competed in the four races that make up the Telford Schools Cross Country League. The Year 9 team were convincing winners of their age category in the league, winning all four races. Individual success was achieved by Jonathan Yang in Year 7, finishing 1st or 2nd in all of his races, and Ian Wang in Year 8 who won all four of his age group races.
English Schools Cross Country Cup
Round 1 - Shropshire
On 4th October, Haberdashers’ Adams hosted the Shropshire competition in the grounds of Longford Hall, home to our junior boarders and extensive playing fields. We qualified 1st and 2nd in the Junior and Intermediate categories respectively. Teams are made up of a maximum six runners with the best four scoring. The U14 Junior age group (Years 7 and 8) run 2,500m while the U16 Intermediate age group (Years 9 and 10) run 4,400m.
Round 2 - West Central Regional Finals
On 7th November, 11 boys competed in the West Central Regional Finals held at Bromsgrove School. The boys performed exceptionally well and both our Junior team and Intermediate team finished 3rd and thus qualified for the National Finals which take place in Suffolk in December. Ian Wang in Year 8 narrowly missed out on finishing 1st in the Junior race.
Mr Sedman-Smith said: “The teams beat off tough competition from the best cross-country runners across the region. This is only the second time in my memory that two teams from Adams have reached the finals and we can’t wait to go up against the best in the country in December!”
Round 3 - National Finals
While sports fixtures across the country were cancelled over the first weekend of December, the English Schools Cross Country finals have only ever been cancelled once due to snow! Schools travelled from as far away as Cornwall and Cumbria to compete. The temperature crept above freezing in time for the races, so the ground was soft enough to run on safely.
Ian Wang in year 8 put in a very strong performance to finish in 8th place out of 160 runners - a tremendous achievement. Jonathan Yang. in year 7 finished 37th. Also running in the junior team were Samwise Calnan, Seb Owen and Megh Shah. The Intermediate team mainly featured runners in Year 9 at the lower age range of the category. First home for Adams’ was William Hughes in 45th place. Also running in the intermediate team were Dylan Williams-Yaw, Arthur Pugh, William Farmer and Samuel Southall. Both teams placed 23rd overall.
