National qualification for Woodbridge at ESAA Regional Round of the Cross Country Cup 

The ESAA Regionals Round of the Cup took place at Felsted School on Thursday 6 November, and as many will know, this is one of the most important races of the calendar for our cross-country runners as the teams all work hard to try and qualify for the Nationals’ Final in December.  Our Junior Boys and Junior Girls teams competed, alongside our Inter Boys and Inter Girls.  Our report from Elisa Bostock, our Endurance Running Coach, shares all the details below. 

“All of our qualifying teams headed to the Regionals Round of the English Schools Cross Country Cup earlier this month.  For the last nine years we have had at least one team qualify and this year we are proud to say two of our teams will race in the final in Rugby on the 6 December 2025.  

Our Junior Girls kicked off the day and gave a sterling effort with Year 8’s Chloe coming second to the UK’s top ranked U13 girl Madison.  Year 7’s Sofia was an impressive 8^th, a year young in this age group.  The rest of the team worked hard and came in as shared below: 

• Year 8’s Chloe – 2^nd 
• Year 7’s Sofia – 8^th 
• Year 7’s Florence – 34th 
• Year 8’s Tati – 62nd 
• Year 7’s Sophia – 63^rd 
• Year 8’s Juno – 65th 

Overall, the team finished in 7^th place which was incredible, well done girls.  

Our Junior Boys then followed, chasing a fast pack of runners from the strong county of Essex.  Year 8’s Ollie finished first for Woodbridge in 9th place, followed closely by his training partner Year 8’s Archie, who came in 11th.  A top eleven finish for the two, also a great result.  The rest also gave it their all for their team gaining another 7th place overall.  

• Year 8’s Ollie – 9^th 
• Year 8’s Archie – 11th 
• Year 7’s Kaydon – 44^th 
• Year 7’s Max – 50^th 
• Year 7’s Aiden – 56th  
• Year 8’s Miles – 59th 

Our Inter Girls headed off in their usual Kenyan-style pack, again chasing the incredibly strong Essex teams.  They chased and held on brilliantly coming home in 7th, 8th, 11th, 16th , 49th and 62^nd place.  This result not only qualified them for the Nationals’ Final, but won the age category as the first school to have four athletes cross the line in the race. 

• Year 9’s Alexandra – 7^th 
• Year 9’s India J – 8^th 
• Year 9’s Ella – 11^th 
• Year 9’s India B – 16^th 
• Year 9’s Imogen M – 49^th 
• Year 10’s Grace – 62^nd  

Final race of the day for Woodbridge School was the Inter Boys.  Our boys lead this race the whole way alongside the Essex schools. Year 10’s Hamish bravely took the race on in the first of this three-lap course.  Year 9’s Dex, a year young in this age category, chased our English Schools 800m finalist and moved into the lead and encroached, leaving just one runner to get in front.  Year 10’s Digby paced his race superbly cruising up well to join his training trio.  Dex moved into the lead towards the end of the second lap winning the whole race by a 17 second margin!  Year 9’s Josh stormed in in 22nd place off the back of very limited training, while Year 10’s Oscar and Year 9’s Ollie R put in a superb effort, coming home in 31st and 34th.  Another team win and well-deserved final around corner for our Inter Boys. 

• Year 9’s Dex – 1^st   
• Year 10’s Digby – 4^th  
• Year 10’s Hamish – 5th 
• Year 9’s Josh – 22nd 
• Year 10’s Oscar – 31^st   
• Year 9’s Ollie R – 34^th   

Huge congratulations to these two teams for qualifying and a massive well done to all teams and athletes for putting in their maximum effort on the day.