{"id":14746,"date":"2013-10-12T07:17:02","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T06:17:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/?p=14746"},"modified":"2013-10-13T06:41:49","modified_gmt":"2013-10-13T05:41:49","slug":"cross-country-qualification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alananna.co.uk\/blog\/2013\/10\/cross-country-qualification\/","title":{"rendered":"Cross Country Qualification"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was my turn to be the supporter at a race yesterday. Rather than being the one racing I headed to the Vicarage Fields in Aberystwyth to watch the Aberystwyth Area Schools Cross Country Championships that Morgan had qualified for. I met Anna there who had managed to come down in her lunch hour and we ate our lunch whilst waiting for the races to begin.<\/p>\n

There are quite a few primary schools in the Aberystwyth area, so the grassy slopes around the pavilion was full of children, all dressed in their respective school colours.<\/p>\n

\"Cross<\/a>

Cross Country<\/p><\/div>\n

The schools had already gone through a selection process and 4 boys and 4 girls had been selected from each year to represent their school. We spotted Morgan and waved to him. He had come 3rd in the selection process behind his friends Cameron and Josh, with Luke making up the 4th place. He was excited and a little nervous too and already had a game plan. He didn’t think he could beat Josh or Cameron as he always came 3rd so his aim was just to try to stay with Cameron for as long as he could. I’d obviously told him that he might be able to beat them over the longer distance and had of course encouraged him to give it a go but above all to enjoy it.<\/p>\n

We watched a couple of races from younger classes first so could see where they had to run. It was probably about a kilometre in total and all flat, but it still looked quite a long way for some of them.<\/p>\n

\"Warming<\/a>

Warming Up!<\/p><\/div>\n

It was soon Morgan’s turn and with all the children from the other schools lined up at the start there were about 120 boys in his race and it was hard to pick him out. However, as he came to our side of the fields we could see him in about 10 or 11th place, maybe 12th or 13th at times as there was a little group of them all battling it out. Not bad, not bad at all, he was up there at the front, looking good. He was sticking with his game plan too as both Josh and Cameron were nearby . As far as we knew, the top 10 from this race would go on to race for the Aberystwyth Area Schools in the Ceredigion County races. We couldn’t quite tell what position he was in, but he was just outside of the top 10. Not to worry though as he came towards the end he still had something in the tank. Others around him seemed to be slowing and Morgan put on a spurt, maybe a little early as he too slowed towards the very end, but he crossed the line in 9th place, and more importantly to him, ahead of both Cameron and Josh – two friends that he had thought he couldn’t beat. He certainly looked pleased with himself, even if he was a little red in the face from the efforts.<\/p>\n\n\t\t