Sporting pupils at Harrogate’s Belmont Grosvenor School notched up a first when their U11 girls team took the trophy in an annual inter-schools Cross Country Championship.
Pupils from the ‘outstanding’ independent prep school, based at Birstwith, near Harrogate, beat off tough competition from seven schools from across the region to scoop the winner’s trophy in the 2km event – the first time a girls team from the home school had taken the title since the competition began.
Eight schools from across Yorkshire were competing in the championship, which has been held at Belmont Grosvenor School for the past 14 years.
And the school’s girls team, captained by Emily Belcher, took the winners trophy for the first time in the competition’s history.
Belmont Grosvenor’s boys team, who had won the title in 2012, came second in the competition, behind a team from Lyndhurst School at Pocklington, near York, with pupils from Westville House School at Ilkley taking third position.
Other schools competing in the Championships included Giggleswick, The Frobelian School at Horsforth, Leeds, and Highfield and Brackenfield in Harrogate.
Chris Dight, PE teacher at Belmont Grosvenor School, said both the girls and boys teams deserved a great deal of credit.
Mr Dight said: This challenging course over 2km with its steep climbs and descents was made even harder with the heavy overnight rain.
Belmont Grosvenor won the girls race for the first time in the event’s history, with some terrific performances from all six runners who finished in the top 18 places out of 45.
And the boys finished a creditable second – a fantastic achievement from both teams.
Belmont Grosvenor School, along with its Magic Tree Nursery, caters for children from three months to 11 years and is set in 20 acres of grounds just three miles from Harrogate.
