| The English Championship has now finished and James ended up 9th in the Under 16 Boys table, following a 7th place at Sedburgh on 9 August and 10 at Lantern Pike on 15 September. Fortunately he has a further year in the Under 16 age group and there are only three boys slightly faster than him at present, although he has beaten them all at some stage during the year.
James in the Sourton Scramble on Dartmoor
On September 2, James went to Edinburgh to compete in a Scotland qualifier for the British and Irish Mountain Championships. There were four team places going and he came 4th. Unfortunalely he later found out that the Scottish Team elected to take only three runners for each age group to these Championships.
James did compete as an individual at this event, held at the Sugar Loaf Mountain near Abergavenny, coming 12th over the 3.5 mile course, with its daunting 1000 feet of climbing. Dad John said “This was probably his best result of the season, finishing ahead of all the Northern Irish, Welsh and three out of the four Irish Runners. He was a shade behind the 4th English runner but the key point is that for his age he was 4th which bodes very well for next season. The plan is to do hard and focused training over the winter to try and target victory in the English and British Championships next year.”
Putting the disappointment of missing out on his first international vest behind him, James was delighted to win his first adult race at the Sourton Scramble (near Okehampton) recently, which was a ten kilometre 800 ft climb fell race. He finished in 38 minutes 36 seconds which was faster than his personal best over 10K on the road.
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