Stratford AC's Alex Adams wins intermediate boys race at South West Schools Cross-Country Championships

RISING star Alex Adams is certainly having a 2022 to remember so far, as he continued his rich vein of form by getting the better of arch rival Will Rabjohns to finish first in the intermediate boys race at the South West Schools Cross-Country Championships.

His success in Chippenham followed on from his 22nd consecutive victory over a five-year period in the Warwickshire Young Athletes Cross-Country League in early January and the previous weekend’s comfortable win in the Midlands Cross-Country Championships.

The intermediate boys race was ran over 5.6km and Adams, a pupil at Chipping Campden, was competing with 61 other runners, including fierce rival Rabjohns from Poole AC.

The windy conditions certainly made the race hard work for Adams and the lead continually changed between him and Rabjohns throughout.

Adams tucked in nicely behind Rabjohns until he felt it was time to attack and with less than 1,000m to go and approaching the final ascent, he made his move.

Adams broke the spirit of the tiring Poole runner to eventually win the race by 14 seconds in 18:25.

After the race Adams said he felt strong along the finishing straight and that overall it was a “good race”.

He added: “This is the race I wanted [to win].” Adams’ attention now turns to the English Schools Cross-Country Championships in Kent on 19th March.

Other Stratford AC runners that competed in the South West Schools Cross-Country Championships were Taylor Stubbins and Olivia Robinson.

Stubbins, who competed in the senior boys race over 6.8km, finished in 30th out of 59 runners in 23:52. Robinson, racing in the intermediate girls category over 3.9km, came home 38th out of 63 runners in 15:42.