Ten Mile Cup

Every year, on the last Wednesday afternoon of the Spring Term, pupils participate in the Ten Mile Cup Race. This is a traditional race which has been running for over 100 years at the School.

The circular route around the School’s grounds which commences and finishes on the Quad is a mile long. Every House enters a team of 10 pupils, each of whom have to run the mile route as quickly as possible. What makes the race particularly tough is the latter part of the route which is a steady incline up Wills Grove.

Each House selects their team of 10 pupils (normally the fastest cross country runners) including both boys and girls. The academic staff also enter teams; the male staff compete in the Ten Mile Cup race and the ladies run in a similar Five Mile Cup race.

Some extremely fast times have been recorded over the years, not only by the pupils, but also by the staff. Traditionally any house with a combined time of under one hour is excellent and stands a good chance of winning.

This year’s winner of the Mortimer Trophy – with a new world record time of 5 minutes and 2 seconds – is Oliver Bass of Burton Bank. The Mortimer trophy is named after Mark and Gavin Mortimer, both from Burton Bank, who loved this competition. Mark (who left the school in 1985) held the world record for the fastest lap at 5 minutes 11 seconds for a number of years, Gavin, the younger of the two, equalled the record in 1988. Most recently the record holder was Nathan Richardson – also of Burton Bank – with a time of 5 minutes and 3 seconds, which he achieved in 1993.

The final team placings saw School House – last year’s winners – come in third place with a time of 1 hour 2 minutes. The top two houses were very close in performance and dare I say “House Spirit and good old fashioned inter-house rivalry”. The outcome was in doubt until the very last lap when, coming up Wills Grove, Oliver overtook Jack to make a decisive move. It is a testament to both of these teams that they each broke the 1hour barrier for the race, a feat that hasn’t been matched for over ten years. So, in second place with a time of 59 minutes and 34 seconds, was Ridgeway House, while overall winners of the Ten Mile Cup for 2008 in a time of 59 minutes and 25 seconds was Burton Bank.

What is particularly nice about this event is that it brings the whole School together on what is normally an extremely sociable and fun spring afternoon.