BILLERICAY clinched first place when the annual Basildon and District Senior Schools Cross-Country Championships were staged at Basildon’s Gloucester Park.

In bitterly cold weather there were some great individual and team performnances.

Eight schools entered teams across all age groups, which ranged from 11 to 18 years old.

The races were over a distance of 2,500 metres for the girls and between 2,500 and 4,500 metres for the boys, with participants racing against other runners of their own age group.

Many of the races saw very close finishes, while others had a clear leader from the outset.

This was the first year that the Federation of Chalvedon and Barstable Schools had entered a joint team, with more than 75 pupils representing the Feder-ation on the day.

The Federation were delighted that at least seven of their runners have gained places in the new town team for the county schools event at Basildon in the new year due to their performances.

Pete Newman, from the PE department at Barstable, was at Gloucester Park encouraging the runners.

“This was a great opportunity for our pupils to compete against runners from other schools and it was good to see the Federation team being well represented by athletes from both schools,” Newman said.

Billericay won overall with 42 points from Wickford’s Beau-champs (36) with Woodlands third on 34. Next came the Federation of Chalvedon and Barstable on 27, followed by Mayflower (24), Bromfords (23). James Hornsby (11) and De La Salle (10).

>The overall finals of the Southend Primary Schools Cross-County, featuring athletes from both the East and West Southend Schools Partnerships, take place at Southend High School for Girls tomorrow afternoon.