Super Sosseh spearheads excellent day for High Peak's cross-country kids

A superb bronze medal for talented youngster Sosseh Badjie was the highlight of an excellent day for High Peak Athletics Club at the Derbyshire Schools' Cross-Country Championships on Saturday.
Sosseh Badjie, who won a bronze medal at the championships.Sosseh Badjie, who won a bronze medal at the championships.
Sosseh Badjie, who won a bronze medal at the championships.

The club was well represented at Moorways Stadium in Derby, with all the athletes running very strongly and showing admirable resilience, considering it was a freezing cold morning.

But pride of place went to Sosseh, who underlined her potential with third place in the junior girls’ race for youngsters from school years eight and nine.

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Sosseh made her way to the front of the pack very early on and showed terrific determination to hold her place in the front three. She has now won qualification for the Derbyshire county team to run in the English Schools Cross-Country Championships, to be held at Norwich in March.

In the same race, Megan Harris-Wood also ran well, coming on strong on the second lap to take 13th position, while Cheyenne Wright finished in 55th place.

In other action at Moorways, High Peak’s William Stanway again showed what an exciting prospect he is as he finished eighth in the year-seven boys’ event, even though it was only the second competitive cross-country race he has tackled. He was closely followed by Gregor McGill, who enjoyed one of his best performances of the season to cross the finishing line in 14th.

In the year-seven girls’ race, the always reliable Jamie Lee Taylor finished in a commendable 22nd position, while Annabel Fletcher was 49th.

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Finally, Charlotte Sweetmore completed the morning for High Peak by running doggedly to finish 28th in the senior girls’ championship. She deserved a lot of credit because it was her first cross-country event of the season.

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As a successful cross-country campaign now draws towards its close for another winter, athletes are busy training for the upcoming Sportshall Regional Finals, to be held at Grantham on Saturday, February 4. No fewer than 14 members of the High Peak club have been selected to represent Derbyshire at the event.

Founded in 2014, High Peak are flourishing at present and boast a rapidly growing membership, under fine coaching, led by Stephen Finney, a previous winner of the East Midlands coach of the year award. Based in the heart of Buxton, the club offers children between the ages of seven and 16 the chance to train and compete in a wide variety of athletics activities.

Anyone interested in joining should pop along to a training session or contact officials via the club’s website. High Peak are particularly short of U11 boys at present.

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