Race report – Thanet Schools Cross Country final

My name is Maisie, I am 10 years old and in year 6 in Primary school.

It was the year 3 Thanet Schools Cross Country in 2018 that first inspired my love of running. I came 11th the first time and then 4th the next and then in year 4 managed 3rd.

From there I found Junior Parkrun and then Thanet Roadrunners.

Because the events were not able to be held in recent times, this was my last chance to win, as I am going to secondary school next year. In the morning I woke up quite nervous but also excited, hoping that I would do well, as 10 members of my family were coming to cheer me on!

When we got to Quex park the weather was cloudy and cold, but luckily it wasn’t raining.  I watched the boys year 5 race before me to see what the course was and to see where would be a good place to start. By the time I finished my warm up there were already lots of people on the start line, but I managed to push in a bit to get to where I wanted.  I am very grateful that my coaches Gary and Ian came to help me before the race and they gave me some really good advice. 

When the gun was fired it made me jump and everyone started to run. I got a good start and managed to get into the top 4 by the first bend.  After the second turn I overtook 2nd and then I was against my friend from my football team who was ahead of me in first place. I overtook her and got into first place, where I managed to stay for the rest of the race. I was now behind the pace runners.  I still felt like I had lots of energy.  As I got close to the finish line I started to speed up as everyone was clapping me on. Once I finished I got a place card which said 1st!  I couldn’t believe it, I had actually won!

My dad came over and gave me a big hug. Once second and third finished we all went over to the back of the hut. We then got our medals. I got 2. One that said cross country 1st place.  The other one was a picture of 2 people running. Then some people took some pictures of us and I felt really happy. My P.E teacher was happy as well. My friends from school were about to start their race so I watched them start and finish. They were very surprised that I came first.

My time was exactly 7 minutes for 1.6k and I finished 35 seconds ahead of second.

What a fantastic race report !  Well done to Maisie and all the TRAC juniors who took part in this race.  We all look forward to hearing more about how the juniors are getting on in their races.  Andy.