THREE Southend High school teams will be running for glory at the English Schools Cross-Country Cup final in Cornwall tomorrow.

Two teams from Southend High School for Girls and one from the High School for Boys are making the long journey down to the final in Newquay, Cornwall, today.

And they will be hoping to live up to the high expectations of their predecessors, with both schools having a rich heritage in the event.

In fact, the last time the event was held in Cornwall, the High School for Girls’ junior girls team came back with the trophy and PE teacher Sue Simpson has been reminding the current crop of that all week.

“I have told them all about it,” she laughed. “I actually think both the junior girls team and the intermediate girls team underperformed at the regional finals so hopefully they will do better this time.”

The girls have been getting coaching tips from Great Britain cross-country runner Adam Hickey once a week and are ready for the challenge.

“He has been a great help,” said Simpson. “He does a quality session with them on Wednesdays and paces them. They have all trained really hard, even those who didn’t make the squad.

Also training hard are the junior boys team from Hickey’s former school Southend High School for Boys.

All of the boys will be making their debut in the competition and PE teacher Stephen Thomas says they can’t wait.

“This is their first national final but they were the Essex Year 7 champions from last year and they are really looking forward to competing on this stage.

“We are going down with the Girls school today and staying in a nice hotel tonight. Because it’s Christmas season, they’ll all be eating turkey tonight. Not too much though with the race tomorrow!”

Squads: Southend High School for Girls junior girls: Isabelle Bates, Hannah Phipps, Alicia Lindsay, Ella Findlay, Nieve Donnolly, Natalie Smith, Beth Ashley.

Intermediate girls: Joanna Rimmington, Katie Faint, Juliette Le Mare, Iona Doyle, Katie Twell, Megan Richardson, Mia Slesser.

Southend High School for Boys junior boys: Luca Albon, Andrei Gare, Frank MacWan, Daniel Monk, Daniel Riley, Josh Bell-Chambers, Ethan Bird.