Sidmouth Running Club members Kate Marriott and Toby Garrick were involved last weekend at the English Schools Cross Country Championships held in Norwich, Norfolk, writes Toby Garrick.

After a 10-hour journey to East Anglian from their East Devon homes the pair managed to shake off tired legs to finish 196th and 244th respectively, on a

very flat course.

The two athletes were very proud to finish fourth and sixth in their Devon team. This event followed the Inter-County Championships, held in Loughborough the week before.

Again, the pair had an arduous journey to the event which saw them tackle an extremely challenging course that had plenty of mud and lots of hills!

Both runners were at the bottom of their age group, and were very nervous to be competing with over 350 runners per race.

The day was successful with Kate finishing second in the Devon team and 202nd overall, whilst Toby got pipped in a sprint finish to end up fourth in the Devon team and 192nd in the testing field.

The pair are both very pleased the cross country season is now over which means no more mud, sweat or hills, but what the end of the cross country season does mean is that the hard work is about to begin for the looming track season!