HARVEY Lewis and Alice Jones both gained superb individual victories in the North-East England round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup.

Lewis of Ermysted’s and Jones of Skipton Girls High crowned a good day for their schools at Middlesbrough’s Stewart Park and will now be looking to impress in the national finals at Sevenoaks on November 25.

Ermysted’s, led by Lewis, won the under-15 team race while the impressive Skipton GHS combination won the under-13 girls event

The Skipton GHS under-15 and Ermysted’s under-13 teams both finished as runners-up and will be joining them at the national finals.

Jones set the tone for the day as she bounced back from a rare defeat in the previous round. It proved to be a tough race but she dug deep and took the victory with a decisive sprint finish.

Her team-mates Lilli Carr and Ruby Firth finished fifth and eighth respectively and set the foundations for a good score.

Emily Kenneth who battled hard over both laps to come 45th gave the team 59 points and earned them

runners-up spot.

Donnabhan Rudden led the challenge for the Ermysted’s under-13s. He was determined to improve on the disappointing 51st place finish he achieved last year and took seventh with a good run.

Rudden was well supported by Andrew Robinson in 11th, Rohan Smith 17th and Freddie Marsh in 27th.

Their team score of 62 points saw them finish second.

Their non-scorers were Aryaan Ghafoor 41st, and Dougie Seggar-Staveley 47th.

Skipton Girls under-13s were impressive with Harissah Ghafoor running a fine race to finish second with team-mate Emma Peel finishing third.

Mia Petrucci eighth and Hannah Jackson 21st, enabled their team to win with an impressive score of 36 points. Non-scorers Emily Shuttleworth 27th, and Genna Boothman 38th

Ermysted’s under-15s followed up their North Yorkshire championship success by securing another win.

Lewis led their challenge, but their team is incredibly strong with five of the six runners winning individual medals in the Harrogate & Craven Championships.

The race resulted in an Ermysted’s one-two with Lewis just holding off team-mate Sebastian Seggar-Staveley.

Alex Thompson pulled through for fourth place and Arthur Peel came tenth for an incredibly-low team total of just 17 points. Non-scorers Joe Carnelley 17th, and Jath Lee 18th also had strong runs.