CHESTER’S intermediate girls’ team are queens of the county!

They struck gold at Saturday’s Cheshire Schools Cross Country Championships, which were staged on the fields of Sts Peter & Paul Catholic Sports College and Wade Deacon High in Widnes.

The best of Cheshire’s up-and-coming cross country runners took part, with Chester taking on rival teams from South Cheshire, Ellesmere Port, Halton, Macclesfield, Mid Cheshire and Warrington.

The inter girls team from Chester finished top in their section. Upton High’s Tess McCormick claimed the silver medal and Chester had four other runners in the top 15 – Bryony Archdeacon (Bishop Heber, 11th), Lotti Frazer-Cox (Queen’s School, 12th), Rachel Hardy (Queen’s School, 13th) and Claire Perry (Chester Catholic High, 14th).

Chester claimed third place in the minor boys section, Don Hamp (Christleton High, 9th), George Bason (Bishop Heber, 17th) and Ben Curry (Bishop Heber, 19th) their highest finishers.

In the minor girls event, a sixth-placed finish for Amy Hinchly (Tarporley High) was the highlight as the Chester team finished third. Jessica Feely (Upton High, 14th) and Anna Willis (King’s School, 18th) also made the top-20.

Chester’s junior girls team finished fifth, with Alice Goulding (Christleton High, 15th) and Alice Carr (King’s Schhol, 16th) their leading pair.

Matt Sheen (Tarporley High, 7th) cracked the top-10 as Chester’s junior boys claimed fourth spot, while Chester had only three intermediate boys running – not enough to qualify for the team competition. Bradley Edwards (Upton High) led the way with an excellent fifth-place finish.

More than 80 runners lined up in some of the day’s races, but there were small fields for the senior sections.

For the senior girls, Chester’s Gemma Mayled (Upton High, 7th) and Lizzie Fletcher (Queen’s School, 10th) took part, while James Ellis (King’s School, 3rd) and Tom Booth (Upton High, 12th) flew the flag for Chester’s senior boys.

Coach Sandy Littler, from The Queen’s School, said: “The individual runners from Chester performed very well, with special congratulations to the inter girls for winning the team prize – Cheshire champions!

.............................“It was unfortunate that due to the postponement of the races from January 16, due to the bad weather conditions, several athletes had other commitments and our team results were not quite as strong as usual.”

The top 12 finishers in each race have been invited to represent Cheshire at this Saturday’s Inter-Counties Championships at Shepshed School, Leicester. Those who impress will be in line for a trip to the English Schools Cross-Country Championships at Manchester in March.

Helsby High School was well represented on Saturday, with runners turning out for the Halton district.

The school had a winner in the junior boys race – Matthew Hulse.