The Tucks 2022 - All the action and results from this year's race

This year’s running of the Tucks, on the Friday before Exeat, was made all the more special by the unveiling of our World Athletics Heritage Plaque.

The plaque was awarded to the school in recognition of the Royal Shrewsbury School Hunt having originated the sport of cross-country running.

We welcomed Dave Bedford, former world record holder at 10,000m, and long-time Race Director of the London Marathon, to help mark the occasion. Dave was joined by a cast of running greats, including Lord Coe, Sir Mo Farah, Paula Radcliffe and Steve Cram, who sent video messages of support and encouragement – words that hopefully helped to motivate and inspire all runners on the day. Indeed, there was a tremendous sense of house spirit on show, and all runners should be very proud of their efforts.

Port Hill helped inject real energy (and hilarity) to proceedings with their impromptu dance-off / warm-up routine, whilst the side-line cheering before the first wave set off was positively thunderous.

The quality at the top end of the race matched the anticipation, and it was only a few minutes after the final wave had started that the overall leader, William S (R, UVI) hove into view. Will delivered a masterclass of aggressive front running to win the Hector Rose Bowl, with Kristian T (I, UVI) and Harry P-M (I, V) putting in excellent shifts to take second and third.

Iris D (G, UVI) lived up to her pre-race favourite status, winning the Mobley Cup as the first girl home (and 16^th overall). Sophia U (EDH, UVI) 2^nd girl home, found herself in the top 50 overall finishers, with 3^rd placed Rosie M (EDH, LVI) just outside.

The junior boys’ race was won by a resurgent William R (O) who stormed home in 6^th overall – a wonderful achievement for a 4^th former. His RSSH teammates, Alex M (Rb, IV) and Johnnie T (Ch, IV), finished 2^nd and 3^rd respectively.

Maggie W (G, III) won the junior girls’ race convincingly, with a year in hand in the age group. She was followed in by Amelia B (MSH, IV) and Artemis W (EDH, IV).

There was a particularly eye-catching performance from Felix R (S, UVI), too. His 51^st position, nearly 500 places higher than his run the previous year, was more than good enough to see him presented with the Endeavour Award, in recognition of outstanding effort and improvement.

The two House Competitions were won by the same house on both the boys and girls side. In the Wave A competition, Radbrook carried off the Mallett Trophy and Emma Darwin House retained the Olivia Papaioannou Cup. The same houses bagged the Attingham Trophy, recognising the boys’ and girls’ house with the best average position of all runners.

 Frank Tickner

I/C RSSH