Vinco Classics: Gilbody grabs glory with late dash at ESAA Cross Country Champs 

Rewatch Zoe Gilbody’s dramatic late surge to victory at the English Schools Cross Country Championships at the Ardingly Showground in West Sussex in 2025.

Distance running is all about timing, and at last year’s ESAA Cross Country Championships in West Sussex, Zoe Gilbody timed her race to perfection. 

The English Schools senior race is the ultimate test for emerging talents, uniting the best young athletes from all 46 English counties. 

With less than a month to go until the 2026 edition, Vinco Classics looks back at a pulse-racing contest from last year. 

In the senior girls’ race in 2025, Shropshire athlete Gilbody pulled off a dramatic comeback to snatch victory and join the likes of Paula Radcliffe on an illustrious list of past winners. 

Gilbody was hardly a nobody when she lined up at the South of England Showground in Ardingly for her second senior race at the ESAA Championships.

She had finished fifth the previous year, and was already in ominous form in early 2025. 

Just two months earlier in January, the Telford AC runner had come second in the junior women’s race at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event in Elgoibar.

Yet she still faced a stern test against the likes of Isla McGowan and Katie Pye, both of whom had won medals at the European Athletics U18 Championships the previous summer. 

As it turned out, it was a race with more than a few twists and turns. 

West Yorkshire’s Maisey Bellwood initially emerged as a surprise frontrunner, building a huge lead over the chasing pack in the slightly shorter first lap of the 4100-metre course.

It was a bold bit of running from an athlete who had finished 86th in the intermediate race the previous year, but it was destined not to last. 

Around the halfway stage, McGowan took control of the race, easing past Bellwood into first and charging up the steep uphill section on the western edge of the course.

The Oxfordshire athlete looked set for an impressive victory as she entered the final kilometre.

Far behind her, however, Gilbody was gearing up to launch a dramatic fightback. 

As Gilbody pulled away from the rest of the pack into a clear second place, it was McGowan who still looked the more comfortable of the two. 

Yet the Shropshire ace had a final burst of speed up her sleeve and she timed her kick to perfection. Closing down McGowan on the final hill, she passed her with around 300 metres to go.

Just 43 seconds later, Gilbody was raising her finger in triumph as she crossed the finish line in 13:23, winning by a margin of seven seconds. 

It was a superb chase from the then 18-year-old, who became only the third female athlete in history to win in all three age groups at English Schools Cross Country. 

She also went on to enjoy more success in the course of 2025.

After being crowned England U20 champion over 3000m in July, Gilbody was then called up to represent Great Britain at the European Athletics Under-20 Championships in Tampere.

 In the build-up to this year’s event, Vinco will be posting a new classic race video every Thursday at 18:00 GMT. 

The 2026 ESAA Cross Country Championships take place at Liverpool’s Sefton Park on March 14th, and will be available to watch live exclusively on Vinco with a Runnerspace+ subscription.