On Wednesday 5th November 2025, The Mayflower took two teams of year 5 and 6 pupils to participate in the annual cross country event at Birch Hall Farm. This is the first year that we have entered two teams, each consisting of six runners - in an event where pupils are required to run approximately 1.6K across farm tracks and country lanes. We had a number of individual successes with  Darcey Smith winning the girls event and Harrison Winter coming 3rd in the boys event. Overall, as a team, we came in 3rd place - with only a few points separating the top three teams

It takes a lot of work to organise such a large scale event, and we would like to extend both our thanks and congratulations to all those involved. A huge thank you to Chris Barker (of Harwich Runners) for training our two teams, Natasha Borges for organising, Birch Hall Farm for hosting and, last but not least, Gaenor Powell - who worked non-stop to ensure all participants received their correct finishing position.

Good luck to Darcey Smith, who will be representing The Mayflower in the County Cross-Country Finals on the 25th March - where she will be competing against the top 150 year five girls from across Essex.