ORWELL Park School enjoyed huge success at the Independent Association of Prep Schools Cross-Country Championships.

ORWELL Park School enjoyed huge success at the Independent Association of Prep Schools Cross-Country Championships.

The Ipswich-based school finished third overall after their girls' team finished first and their boys' team finished third at Framlingham College.

Altogether, 32 Orwell Park pupils took part in the event. Frankie Lang won under-11 girls' race by a comfortable distance, while George Byrne Hill held off a strong challenge to finish in the under-13 boys' race.

Orwell's under-11 girls also came first as a team, as did their under-13 boys after both groups of runners put in excellent team performances.

Orwell Park PE teacher Alex Brunt said: “After weeks of training and hard work, and with plenty of enthusiastic parental support, every pupil ran really well in his or her respective race.

“This was a real team performance with some superb individual performances and is credit to the hard work that the pupils have put in over the last few weeks.”

Lang's winning performance rounds off an impressive season after she was selected for the Suffolk Schools team.

Byrne Hill has had a busy season also. Not only did he finish first at Framlingham, he has also came second in the Suffolk Winter League, narrowly missed out on running for Suffolk Schools in the under-14 age group, and will be representing Suffolk at national level in Nottingham later this month.

Orwell's Cordelia Sears has also had an impressive season. She finished fifth at Framlingham in the under-13 girls' race having also qualified to represent Suffolk Schools in Nottingham.

Brunt said: “All three runners have worked exceptionally hard to achieve a high level of performance and all should be proud of their achievements.”