Head's Newsletter 14 July 2017

Of all the races throughout the season, one of the most memorable has to be the King’s Trophy at King’s College School, Wimbledon. This race is infamous amongst the seniors, and is the race that truly transforms a student from a runner into a Cross Country runner. The length of the course, 8km, is not its only difficult aspect. What must also be mentioned is the somewhat dangerous first corner, and the famous water feature. Nothing says Cross Country like a course that takes you through a foot-deep river halfway round and then makes your run other half with soaked feet. This hazard, however, was not enough to deter the Senior team, especially returning Wednesday Warriors Ferdie Krammer and Joe Brown, and new recruits George Neville- White, George Birch and Max McGarrigle. The team placed 13th overall with notable performances from Humphrey Allen, Luca Jackson and Chris McDonald, who all finished in the top 65. Then the team faced yet another challenging course, this time at Charterhouse, a race whose name is practically synonymous with ‘very big hills’. King’s Trophy (From left: Tom Jackson, Ferdie Krammer, George Neville-White, Humphrey Allen, Luca Jackson, Marc Tidon, Joe Brown, Chris McDonald, George Birch, Max McGarrigle)

As the team arrived at the Hogwarts-esque school, nothing could have prepared them for the enormous slopes, and the almost insurmountable challenge of climbing them twice. As usual, the performance of the Tiffin Senior team was nothing short of superb. While Tiffin may not have won the main race, their spirits were renewed by their efforts to win ‘the most important race of all, the race for tea.’ In spite of their difficulty, incline and ability to crush morale, the hills of Charterhouse will always be home to some of the fondest memories for the Tiffin Cross Country Team. An unfamiliar track and tough competition at the Borough Championships were not enough to stop us and overall it was a splendid display with juniors Eyoel Abebaw- Mesfin, Tom Armstrong and Will Murphy, intermediate Eric Williams, and seniors Humphrey Allen and Luca Jackson all finishing highly. Tom and Will continued their streak of strong runs with a great display at the South East Regional Cup, along with teammates Euan Sinclair, Matt O’Donovan, Joe Murphy and Jack Hartrey.

The Judge Cup saw the Seniors perform strongly, as did the Tiffin Relay. A strong team of Humphrey Allen, Luca Jackson, Eric Williams and Eyoel Abebaw -Mesfin saw a convincing win for Tiffin. The most challenging race of the season, was, as usual, the Senior Knole Run, not least of all because of the snow. Eric Williams and Humphrey Allen were the