KENT Schools overcame a double burden to win the intermediate boys team gold and place third for bronze medals in the junior boys race at the English Schools Sainsbury’s Cross Country Championships.

The mission was made doubly difficult when Kent Schools were forced to cancel their own championships at Tonbridge last month due to a waterlogged course, making selection for this event something of a lottery.

The other hurdle in the way of success was Operation Stack which added to the already lengthy journey time to Sefton Park in Liverpool, where Kent joined 43 other counties to do battle for national titles.

The senior boys finished in a respectable seventh place through Sam Bradley (24th), Frank Kilama (49th), Nick James (50th), Alex Bruce-Littlewood (68th), Tim Burt (90th) and Isaac Harland (112th).

The intermediate boys triumphed by 16 points over Bedfordshire and the rest with Seb Harding leading the team home in ninth place. Support was close to hand through Andy Combs (16th) with Michael Mason (62nd), Philip Sesemann (71st), Josh Bentham (82nd) and Josh Elderfield (99th) completing the squad.

The bronze medals were won by Hugo Hayes (22nd), Alex Newson (27th), Luca Rosso (32nd), Robbie Farnham-Rose (43rd), Jake Rodgers (74th) and Jamie Bryant (82nd) in the Junior Boys race behind West Yorkshire and North Yorkshire.

The senior girls got off to a great start with Amy Smith (11th) and Lowri Richards (54th) but slipped to finish twenty-second overall as Amelia Jobling (109th), Catherine Symons (173rd), Rachel Salway (177th) and Rosa Sampson-Geroski (219th) completed the team.

The intermediate girls fared much better and missed the bronze medals by one position to go fourth behind Surrey, Hampshire and Greater Manchester. Beth Carter (6th) and Grace Nicholls (19th) were in great form and there was excellent back up provided by Danielle Critchley (46th), Amanda Shepherd-Baron (90th), Dunia Pavlovic (96th) and Petra Pavlovic (110th).

The junior girls were led home by Rebecca Weston (43rd) with Emma Cottrell (84th), Pandora Banbury (95th), Lucy Blackstone (129th), Ellen Holmes (196th) and Amelia Jones (216th) completing the team that finished sixteenth overall.