COLFOX School was the host venue for the Primary Schools Area Cross Country Championship.

In almost perfect conditions, schools from Beaminster, Bridport and Lyme Regis battled it out to be the number one running school in the area.

In the girls’ event, pre-race favourite Bella Jacobson took the lead and held her advantage until she reached the hill, where she was overtaken by Lucy Selway (Bridport Primary School) and Cecilia Jennings (Loders).

As the girls reached the bottom of the hill to head back towards the finish line, Jennings had built a good lead and it was enough to bring her home seven seconds ahead of Selway, while Jacobson took third place.

Symondsbury took the team title with Loders in second and St Catherine’s third.

Looking to capture the boys’ race, Finley Cauldwell proved just why he was favourite to win when he took to the front from the start and never looked back.

Tom Kilcoyne, who came third last year as a Year Six pupil, chased hard but could never quite close the gap and had to settle for a well-deserved second place, with Owen Pitcher picking up third.

St Catherine’s clinched the team crown with Bridport Primary second and Parrett & Axe in third spot.

Race organiser Andy David also gave his thanks to Phillip and Eddie Colfox from Watton Hill Trust, who allowed the youngsters to train on their land.

Meanwhile, Colfox School’s teams dominated a memorable County Championships in Shaftesbury.

Runners were greeted by atrocious conditions at Port Regis School, with the muddy course proving testing.

The Year Seven girls got proceedings off to a great start for Colfox as Maddy Herbert finished eighth, closely followed by Ellen Pearce, who has gone from strength to strength in a very short amount of time, in 13th.

Rosie Howell (43rd), Felicia Ackerman (45th), Issy Foote (47th) and Rown Symes (50th) brought the team home in fourth place overall.

Next up was the Year Seven boys’ team who were quietly confident of doing well but certainly not expecting to end the day as county champions.

Zakjohn Ousley was the first Colfox athlete home in seventh, while Barney Sutcliffe (12th) and Euan Pollock (13th) weren’t far behind.

Harry Burwood (43rd) and Adam Elliott (56th) took Colfox into first place overall.

The junior girls knew that if they all ran to their potential they could also win.

Olivia Willmore (12th), Ceri Edwards (13th) and Dulcie Gatehouse (15th) finished in the top 15 and Sydney March (18th) made it four Colfox runners in the first 20.

Bronwyn Wright (30th) and Rosie Hart (37th) helped Colfox to the top of the podium.

By the time the junior boys’ race got underway the conditions had become so bad that anything was possible.

The best individual performance of the day came from Tom Crabtree who was second after finishing outside the top 10 at the two previous championships.

This was just reward for the hard work he has put in since the summer and rounds off a fantastic season following his first place in the West Dorset Area League.

Dan Elliot (ninth), Manny Cox (12th) and Jack Turner (18th) made it another four in the top 20, with Thai Chant (22nd) and Frankie Chant (23rd) the other members of the winning team.