Nicole Petit on her way to a comfortable victory in the Years 9 and 10 girls’ race. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 0651961)

BEN CUDDIHEE has had to stare at the back of Sam Hall’s vest for years while the two developed as juniors at the GIAAC.

Whether it be cross-country or on the track, the Les Beaucamps High runner has invariably been the one to beat in distance races, bar the odd success for Marcus Heaume.

But at the annual senior schools’ cross-country championships at Foote’s Lane, Cuddihee got his man and surged to the front from virtually the off of the two-and-a-half-mile combined Years 9 and 10 boys’ race to win comfortably.

It was an excellent run by the Elizabeth College lad, who seems comfortable running in his bigger, filled-out frame. It had also been predicted by the watching athletics development officer, Lee Merrien, who had seen Cuddihee win a club race a few days earlier.

Hall had no appetite to chase Cuddihee and in the end Heaume got between the two of them.