There were fireworks from the outset of the six-stage boys’ race, a magnificent run for Dover (10:45), who stormed round to lop five seconds off Neil Appleby’s historic mark. Judd were further back than hoped. Fortunately, Mark ran a pleasing 12:03 to gain ground on the main contenders on leg two. At the front, Abingdon were in the lead, but only for a matter of moments, before Bourne swept by, Woodbridge returned to the front on stage three as Bourne’s challenge faded. Tom (11:34) ran a captain’s leg to move Judd ominously into second, while deep in the field, his Tiffin rival was the only other sub-12.

It was business as usual for Judd on leg four, as Josh expectedly ran his fourth sub-12 clocking on this course to move into a commanding lead, and the race now settled. Abingdon appeared safe in second, Woodbridge fell back, and the Judd B-team were remarkably holding their own in the battle for bronze.

The experienced George (12:10) extended the Judd lead beyond a minute on stage five, Jack had the honour of bringing it home for Judd, and he did so in serene style with the stage-fastest 11:38. The Judd School made it four boys’ wins in a row, the Judd B-team faded to a still-creditable 10th.

The concurrent girls, four-stage, race took place with credible efforts from Carys on first leg and Ruby on the second. On leg three but Jess (14:20) was gaining on both, and more importantly, building a safe buffer back to fourth. The Judd girls were delighted with another fine result in third, Polly defying illness to make it a consistent sub-15 quartet for the event specialists. If you would like an even more comprehensive report please click on the link for the Athletics Weekly article.