Skipton Girls High School’s Year 8 team were crowned Northern Schools Cross Country champions at Stret-ford on Saturday.

They took the title by a single point in an event where the top four teams were covered by just five points.

Ruby Schofield worked through the field well in the second half of the race to pull off a wonderful second-place finish.

She was ably supported by Eleanor Root who came 12th and Emily Jones 14th, while Angelina Bairstow’s sprint finish – which saw her pass four runners – enabled her to take 20th position and that was crucial to the team’s success. Their non-scorer was Hannah Raistrick who was 28th of the 46 finishers.

Skipton Girls High School only had three runners in the Year 10 girls race and the trio performed admirably. Geor-gia Flaxman, Lizzie Joynson and Hannah Thom were fourth, fifth and sixth respectively.

The absence of a fourth runner meant they didn’t have a final counter for the team event, The Year 7 Ermysted’s boys team were depleted in numbers but still managed a battling fifth place.

Will Thompson was again the best of the Ermysted’s runners as he claimed sixth place while Jonny Thompson marked his return to form by coming seventh.

Joel Phillip ran slightly under par as he was 20th, but Jack Whitaker had a strong run as he came 25th to complete the scorers. Bradley Hardesty was the non-scorer in 42nd place.

Their total of 58 points matched the return of the fourth-placed team and was one more than the total of the third team.

Ermysted’s Year 8 team produced a battling performance to take second place.

Tom Barrett was 12th last year and hoped to get inside the top ten. He set off just outside that mark but fought through to finish eighth. Ben Jackson and Patric Valentine were just behind Barrett and worked through the field together.

Valentine finished strongly to get a top ten finish while Jackson held on for 13th.

Their fourth counter was Niall Ratcliffe in 26th place. Charlie O’Connor was just behind in 30th after a good run.

Jimmy Lund was tipped as Ermysted’s best chance of individual glory in the Year 9 race. However, it was soon clear that he would have his work cut out as he was only in sixth after the first half mile.

Lund worked hard and caught and overtook one runner to take fifth place. Ermysted’s only other runner was Alfie Spain who had a fine run as he came 13th.

The Year 10/11 team were decimated by injuries and a host of other commitments.

They did still have a decent team out but needed them all to perform well if they were to win honours.

Rob Thompson and Matt-hew Jackson set off well and were in the mid-teens after the first lap. George Roe and Ben Archer were just behind them with Max Nicoll, returning from illness, making up the team.

Thompson and Jackson both moved forward to finish ninth and 13th respectively. Unfortunately Roe and Archer slipped back down the field to finish 29th and 31st respectively to give Ermy-Eleanor Root, Emily Jones, sted’s a score of 82 and fifth place on the day. Nicoll was 40th.

The Ermysted’s Seniors have had a successful season but this was not to be their day Sam Laycock and Tom Fryars ran well and finished 17th and 18th.

Oscar Clements and captain Harry Whyte both ran well to finish in the low 20s as the team came fourth.