Ben & Tegan represent England

juniors, news

HH juniors Tegan and Ben recently represented England in the Junior Home Internationals.  A great achievement by both!
Here is Ben’s account of the weekend:

This October I, Tegan and other juniors from around the United Kingdom traveled to Northern Ireland to compete in Junior Home Internationals. I was excited as this was the first time I was representing England. I traveled up on the Friday ready to run on the Saturday.

On the Saturday we woke up early to see the start of the INEOS 1:59, the attempt to break a sub 2-hour marathon. We then left for Cassy Water in the Mourne Mountains, the site of the individual race. When we arrived, we had to wait to catch a minibus as the arena, start and finish were remote in the mountain range. However, waiting was not a problem as we watched the remainder of the marathon attempt on several people’s phones. Once I got to the arena, I had some time to warm up and apply face paint. On the way to the start I was hoping for a podium finish. My run went very smoothly with only 2 mistakes costing me probably 5 mins. The terrain suited me well as it was open moorland; however, it was an extremely intricate with many boulders and small knolls, depressions and streams. Overall, I was very pleased with my run as it placed me 3rd overall. That night everyone attended a nearby ceilidh held at the local rugby club. It was very crowded as everyone at JHIs went. Towards the end of the evening though my friends and I played cards.

The next day we prepared ourselves for the relay which was on the site of the hostel we were staying at. I was in the C team for England as I placed third out of the England M14s (Tommy and Jamie came 1st and 2nd) however we all knew that any one of us could win it. The girls team came in from the W16 leg with a 1, 2, 3 and the boys came in as well with a 1, 2, 3. I went out in 3rd chasing the other England teams. The area was a mixture of everything; there was intricate path networks, a small urban area and a lot of vegetation. I had one of the best runs of my life as I brought my team from 3rd to 1st. In doing so I ran the fastest time on my gaffle and possibly the fastest on my leg overall (complication with timings). Unfortunately, the Scottish M18’s had amazing runs and managed to pull out a Scottish 1, 2, 3. Although in the girls, England claimed 1st place. Overall the Scottish success managed to give them the overall win with England in 2nd.

After the prize giving, we flew back home with a great learning experience for me and the other juniors.
Ben

Cassy Water