It has been a good season for Oundle Runners who, on the last week of their season held their nerve to win the East Midlands Schools Cross-country League in what should have been a close contest. Both the Oundle boys and girls teams managed to finish on top of the 4 match competition in which 11 other schools also competed.

In the girls competition there was no contest, as the girls stormed through to claim all four out of four league victories. Local runner Jess Varley, competed against girls who were more than four years older than her and lead the team by regularly finishing in the top two. This placed Jess first overall, while her teammate Charne Gill received the Silver Medal. Jess has represented both her school and Peterborough Athletics Club this year and is due to represent the Northants County in the English Schools’ National Cross Country next month.

In the boys competition there was more of a title race with a faceoff between Oundle and Welbeck School in which either could have claimed the title. However an independent source described Welbeck has ‘having nothing’ while Oundle’s strength and depth secured the victory and the title, a first achievement by the boy’s team. Notable performances were shown by local boy Nick Kernick who finished fifth in the final, followed by respectable runs from team Captain Tim Gibson and Santiago Andany.