Shropshire stars set sights on more glory

3 Midland Champions and a silver medallist will be on show at this years Shropshire Schools Cross Country Championships being held at Oswestry School on Saturday 1st February.

Three Midland champions will be chasing more glory in the Shropshire Schools Cross Country Championships tomorrow.

Oswestry School is the venue for the event, with hundreds of students from over 30 schools and colleges across the county taking part across a series of races.

And topping the bill will be the trio of stars who excelled in the Midland Counties Cross Country Championships at Prestwold Hall in Loughborough last weekend.

Liam Rawlings, Beth Rawlinson and Dan Galloway all struck gold in Leicestershire and will be looking to add to their medal hauls.

Rawlings now a sixth form student at Thomas Telford School, took the under-17 boys' title at Loughborough in fine style running for his club Oswestry Olympians, after finishing second for the previous two years.

And he has an incredible record in the Shropshire Schools Championships having won his age group for the last five years, starting as a Year 7 in 2015. He will be aiming to continue that unbeaten run in the senior boys' race tomorrow.

Wenlock Olympian Rawlinson was crowned Midland champion in the under-15 girls category, having finished fourth 12 months ago and having won the under-13 title in 2018.

She also boasts an unbeaten record in the county event. As a Church Stretton School student, she won the Year 7 title in 2017 and has lifted junior girls' title for the last two years. She steps up to intermediate girls' level for the first time tomorrow.

Galloway, from Oldbury Wells School, has an identical record with three schools titles to his name as he moves into the intermediate boys' age group.

He goes into the race in fine form having followed up a fourth-placed finish in the UK Cross Challenge at Stirling by winning the Midland title at Loughborough, improving from ninth in the same race last year.

Bridgnorth Endowed School's Zoe Gilbody also impressed in the Midland Counties showdown as she came home in second place.

Gilbody heads to Oswestry on the back of some superb performances having won the Dave Sunderland Inter Counties race at Lilleshall in November and Shropshire AA title in January.

She won the Year 7 Shropshire School title last year and will start as one of the favourites in the junior girls' race.

In the team event, Shrewsbury School, the oldest cross country club in the world, have another strong entry and start as favourites in many of the boys' age groups having won three titles last year.

The team spent a few weeks away altitude training in Kenya and Ethiopia over Christmas.

They also have Francesca Harris, who won the intermediate girls' title last year, among their ranks and she will be one of the favourites for glory in the senior girls' event.

Tomorrow's action starts at 10.30am with the race for intermediate and senior girls.

The senior boys follow at 10.50am before the intermediate boys take to the course at 11.15pm.

The Year 7 girls are in action at 11.35am with the boys' equivalent at 11.50am.

The junior girls' and junior boys' races complete the programme at 12.05pm and 12.20pm respectively.