Colfox's Inter boys cross country team finished in the top 15 of all schools in the country after competing at the English Schools Cross Country Championship - with one student gaining the highest finishing place the school has ever had.

Continuing from where they left off pre covid, the team of boys from Bridport's Sir John Colfox Academy produced a number of impressive performances to make their way to the finals, which is reserved for only the three best teams from each area of the country.

The first round was for Dorset Schools only and was hosted by Canford School in Wimborne.

A spokesman for the school said: "Each member of the team performed impressively, with the first four runners out of a team of six counting. Colfox finished first with an unbelievable winning score of just 30 points, helped by some exceptional running from Jonny Styrin, Kieran Coombs, Kiran Wills and Archie Elliott, with Dan Hedges and Taylor Gee making up the team."

Through finishing first, this meant qualification to the South West regional finals was secured, which was held at Kings College, Taunton. The South West event is a step up from the previous round, with counties represented from Dorset, Hampshire, Wiltshire, Devon, Berkshire, Somerset and Cornwall.

The spokesman added: "The quality of runners on show was extremely high, and each of the students knew they had to be at their best to secure the top three finish needed to reach the National Final. In what was the performance of their life, the students produced some astonishing running to lead all the schools in their age category with a winning score of just 34 points.

"This was even more remarkable as it included Jonny Styrin finishing first, Kieran Coombs second and Kiran Wills third - three Colfox school runners in the top six in all of the South West."

This meant Colfox would be travelling to Cornwall to face the other 27 schools that had qualified from all around the country - many of which have specialist running programs and coaches.

The spokesman said: "The conditions on the race day were absolutely horrendous, with winds gusting at over 25mph and a hail storm occurring in the middle of the race. Despite this the runners battled through and worked hard to finish in as high a place as possible.

"As you would expect, there were some exceptional runners on show, but all of the Colfox students on show can be proud of how they run and how hard they have worked to get the final round of the competition.

"At the final count, Colfox finished in an exceptional 15th place out of 27 Schools. This is an absolutely outstanding achievement that has created many memories for all of us to remember over the next few years.

"A special mention must go to Jonny Styrin for his performance in the final. There were 143 runners in the race and he managed to finish 14th overall. This is an outstanding achievement for a Colfox runner as it is the highest position that a boy has finished in for over 20 years of running – a truly remarkable achievement."

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