A total of nine pupils from Shoreham College qualified to represent the London South Region at the national cross-country finals after ranking high in the London South Region event in Shoreham on Friday January 25.

Some 200 students from nine schools across the London South region took part in a cross-country event held Buckingham Park in Shoreham.

The hosts, Shoreham College, took home two individual gold medallists and were the winners of the under 14 and the under 16 boys’ team events.

Finley Bigg, 14, gave a great performance in the under 16 category. Finley was always following close behind the front runner throughout the whole race, but it was in the final stretch of the race that he broke ahead to claim victory.

Colleague Marcus Law, 14, finished in third place behind Finley in the Under 16 boys’ race. In the under 18 race, Spencer Thomas, 15, covered the 4,500 metre course in a record time and beat his nearest competitor by one minute and 48 seconds.

There were other notable performances from Joshua Firsht, 12, who finished fourth in the under 14 boys’ event, Jake Solomon, 12, who finished sixth and Ben Townley, 11, who finished seventh out of 50 runners.

Amelia Paul, 13, came in fourth place in her under 16 girls’ race.The nine pupils who qualified will be representing the London South Region at the national finals, to be held at Princethorpe College in Warwickshire in March.