King Henry VIII Cross Country Relays – January 2024

Students travelled to Coventry this week to take part and compete in the 52nd running of the King Henry relays. It turned out to be quite a spectacle, and the fastest leg in history for Henry Dover in his last ever race in a Woodbridge School vest.

The relays are a national event, the largest schools’ cross country relays in England, with strong cross country athletes competing from schools all around the country.

The format is teams of four for the girls and six for the boys, with each athlete running 2.3 miles. There are no age groups so it is just the best selection from across the senior school.

For the sixth year in succession our Girls team finished in the top ten, equalling their second best result in fourth place; quite something with the top four called up on stage to receive team medals and badges.

Not to be outdone, our Boys team were able to compete with the leaders for half of the event and were justly rewarded with their best ever finishing result in 6th place. Just seconds away from the top five and an amazing achievement in this company. The team were awarded with top ten badges for only the second time in Woodbridge history; our previous best result being 9th.

For Henry Dover, this was his last ever representation in a Woodbridge School vest and what a day it turned out to be. Henry won the first leg and in doing so he recorded the fastest leg ever run in the 52 year history of the event, taking five seconds off the course record!

Previous winners of the fastest leg trophy include: Sebastian Coe, who just a few years after setting his record in the mid 70s went on to set three world records in 41 days in 1979; Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, multiple world Triathlon Champions; Dave Moorcroft, previous 5000m world record holder; Richard Nerurker, 2:08 marathon runner and multiple Olympian and World Championship competitor!

Congratulations to every one of our young athletes on a special day of racing.

Girls:

Year 9’s Romilly (14:35)

Year 7’s India J (15:02)

Year 7’s Ella(15:25)

Year 9’s Felicity (15:21)

Boys:

Year 13’s Henry (10:45)

Year 11’s Angus (12:36)

Year 12’s Iwan (12:04)

Year 8’s Digby (13:26)

Year 10’s Jasper (13:24)

Year 12’s Bruce (13:14)

Whilst this is the final race for Woodbridge School teams this winter, there are still a number of regional and national events to follow, the first of which is this Saturday, 3 February, where 23 of our athletes will race for Suffolk Schools at the Anglian Schools Championship in Lincolnshire. A five county event with 80 athletes in each race and for Juniors (Year 8) and above, the final selection race to compete for Suffolk at English Schools in Pontefract in March.

Congratulations to our relay runners and good luck to everyone competing on Saturday!