Annual cross-country champs sees dominant performance from Devon athlete as Olivia Forrest wins dramatic inter girls title from Shaikira King

Pontefract in has staged top-class horse racing for an incredible 375 years, but rarely has the two-mile long racecourse in West Yorkshire witnessed quite so many thoroughbreds as it did on Saturday (March 16).

A couple of weeks before the flat season kicks off at the venue, hundreds of the nations fastest creatures with two legs, as opposed to four, took to the turf for the English Schools Cross Country Championships.

They included Innes FitzGerald, who limbered up for the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade on March 30 with an emphatic win.

The 17-year-old from Devon successfully defended her senior girls title as she beat Eliza Nicholson of London by 49 seconds as 800m specialist Phoebe Gill of Hertfordshire enjoyed a fine run in third.

It was a really good run, said FitzGerald, who had won the Inter-Counties title the previous weekend. I liked the course. With it being the last one, I wanted to defend my title. And before the World Cross I wanted to turn my legs over.

FitzGerald crossed her hands above her head as she crossed her line in a protest against unnecessary private flights. She is expected to get the train from Devon to Serbia next week for her clash against the best teenage distance runners in the world.

I was just trying to get some speed in my legs today as you can push yourself more in a race than in training, she said.

The most exciting race of the day came at the very beginning with the inter girls event. Shaikira King of Leicestershire & Rutland built up what appeared to be a winning lead but entering the final few metres she stumbled and fell, seemingly out of exhaustion, allowing Olivia Forrest to storm through to take victory.

Forrest has been unbeaten this winter over the country and said: Im really happy although I feel terrible for Shaikira after what happened. I was closing anyway and still wanted to win. I just thought nows my chance. I feel really bad for her, though.

The duo could clash again at next weekends SIAB Schools International in Ireland.

Elsewhere Aron Gebremariam, an Eritrean refugee who now represents the West Midlands, repeated his recent Inter-Counties win over James Dargan of Hampshire by taking the senior boys title in Pontefract by four seconds.

In comparison to the inter girls race, the inter boys event saw Jake Meyburgh of Surrey run out a clear winner over Joseph Scanes. Meuburgh said he was delighted to be back to winning ways after an injury-hit 2023.

The junior titles, meanwhile, went to Kitty Scott of Surrey and Yaried Alem of West Yorkshire, the latter being a local victory.

You can view all the races at Vinco Sport / Runnerspace with commentary from Rob Walker and Rosie Tinbergen.

Leading results

Senior girls: 1 Innes FitzGerald (Devon) 14:22; 2 Eliza Nicholson (London) 15:11; 3 Phoebe Gill (Herts) 15:13; 4 Isabel Holt (Lancs) 15:30; 5 Zoe Gilbody (Shropshire) 15:33; 6 Sophie Jacobs (Beds) 15:36

Senior boys: 1 Aron Gebremariam (West Mids) 19:15; 2 James Dargan (Hampshire) 19:19; 3 Quinn Miell-Ingram (Oxfordshire) 19:26; 4 Miles Waterworth (Sussex) 19:34; 5 Henry Dover (Suffolk) 19:41; 6 Daniel Van Aardt (Leics & Rutland) 19:48

Inter girls: 1 Olivia Forrest (Essex) 12:30; 2 Shaikira King (Leics & Rutland) 12:39; 3 Katie Pye (Surrey) 12:42

Inter boys: 1 Jake Meyburgh (Surrey) 15:02; 2 Joseph Scanes (Kent) 15:15; 3 Alex Hughes (Bucks) 15:20

Junior girls: 1 Kitty Scott (Surrey) 10:45; 2 Jorjia March (Middlesex) 10:58; 3 Poppy Guest (Surrey) 11:00

Junior boys: 1 Yaried Alem (W Yorks) 9:58; 2 Freddie Gibson (Kent) 10:03; 3 Fred Jones (W Mids) 10:06

Full results here