On Saturday several promising young athletes did themselves proud by competing in the Essex Schools Cross Country Championships, which were held in Benfleet in challenging conditions.

In Junior Boys, 14-year-old Rohan Dasoar dug deep to finish 6th to qualify him for the English Schools Cross Country Championships at Pontefract in March.

There was also an excellent run from Finley Greenleaf finishing 12th in the Inter Boys and he will now go through to the Southern Region Cross Country in February.

In the Inter Girls race, first-year Isla Widdowson finished in 5th position, also qualifying for the English Schools Champs. In the same race, Lily Tyler was 13th, Polly Paterson 26th, and Jemima Garner 31st.

In the Senior Girls, an impressive run by Alice Begg finishing 14th, qualified for the Southern Region.

Meanwhile, in the Junior Girls, Ella Simpson, was amazing as a first-year, only just missing out in 24th and Georgia Banyard 31st despite recovering from tonsilitis days earlier.