THEY may have finished out of the medals but the runners from Skipton Girls High School and Ermysted's produced some determined performances in the English Schools cross country finals at Beauchamp Middle School, Bedford.

Each school had two teams competing and hopes were high after their performances in the recent North East of England round.

First away were the intermediate girls, who had qualified in third place at Stockton and were using the race mainly as preparation for next year when they hope to challenge again for top spot.

Katie Atkinson, last year's national champion at Year 7/8, was Skipton Girls first runner home in 27th place. Emily Jones 80th, Angelina Bairstow 87th and Eleanor Root 104th helped the team to 20th place with a total of 298 points.

Ermysted's junior boys got off to a bad start. There was a tight bend after about 200 metres and the whole team seemed to get boxed in.

To their credit the lads gave it a good shot and rose manfully up the field. Year 7 Alex Thompson was up for the challenge, taking place after place to eventually finish tenth.

Thompson had been the third counter in the previous rounds, but Harvey Lewis and Louis Hudson couldn’t quite match him on the day.

Lewis was 22nd with Hudson just behind him in 30th. The team’s final scorer was not decided until the run in as Arthur Peel had been ahead of Charlie Wood until the last half mile when Wood broke clear to finish 42nd with Peel 47th and another Y7 Will Atkinson in 77th.

Their team score of 103 points was nine better than last year, but heartbreakingly missed out on a medal by just three points.

Previous performances suggested that Skipton Girls juniors had a chance of a medal in both the team and individual race.

Lilli Carr is only a Year 7 but she gave it a really good shot. She set off just behind a front three and led a big bunch in the chase.

However, the leaders stretched away leaving Lilli in a real fight for fourth. She showed real grit in the blowy conditions to take the position.

This was three places better than Atkinson managed as a Year 7 and she returned to win the title the following year.

Ruby Firth,15th, Alice Jones 32nd and Lucy Fryers 93rd helped their team to a total of 144 points, five adrift of third place. The non-scorers were Amy Beanlands 112th and Freya Mitchel 122nd.

Ermysted's inters had also qualified as champions in their North East Regional round, but with a higher score than the two junior teams.

Tom Barrett was hoping for a top ten individual finish in his last National finals outing, but he had been struggling all week with a cold and set off easy intending to come through the field if his body proved up to it.

It worked a treat for Tom who did feel better than he expected and rose quickly through the runners and eventually finished a highly-creditable 12th.

Ben Jackson rans strongly on the second lap to take 35th place with Matthew Kenneth 40th, and Sam Jackson (50th) in close pursuit. The team finished in seventh place with 137 points, just four off fourth place.

Will Thompson 63rd and Jonny Thompson 115th who will hopefully be back to improve on their finishes next year.