On Saturday 16th March, Thomas Whorton and Connor Foley represented Surrey at the English Schools Championships. Having also raced last year, they use their prior experience to make the most of the race, starting with Thomas deciding to hang back and get off to a flying start. Swooping to the left to outflank the column of 377 of the nation’s finest runners, he re-joined the line halfway up the field in an outrageous and courageous manoeuvre; Mr Shaw’s advice, after watching over 100 national race starts, would be to zig to the right at every possibility, allowing you to cut in on the left turn on other athletes. Whilst Thomas may have felt frustrated that other athletes completed this manoeuvre and cut in front of him, he circumvented over 200 runners with his race plan and found the strength to surge up the field.
Connor smiled his way to a superlative performance. Striking up the field from 5th in the pen, he flowed through his competitors, getting stronger each lap. He slalomed his way through the field to be the 4th Surrey athlete home. The top 3 counties were separated by 4 points; Surrey scoring 90 and the others scoring 89 and 86. A bronze team position for the Surrey squad was a great way for Connor to sign-off his highly successful tenure as part of Tiffin’s Cross Country team. We’re looking forward to the track season and wish Connor well with his proposed expedition across the pond next year. With continued fitness, we also hope he gets the opportunity to do more representative races, either before or after his transatlantic travels.
We also wish Max (Y7) the best of luck this weekend representing Surrey for the first time.
