Following her success at the English Schools, we ventured to Bangor, North Wales for the SIAB international. Sonny was very excited and very proud to be representing England but you would never know it with her calm demeanour.
We believed she had a very good chance but was up against the Irish girl, Freya Renton, who remarkably has never been beaten at XC and had won at Parliament Hill XC Challenge by some distance.
However Sonny was back to full fitness and brimming with confidence from the previous week's wins.
The plan was simply to sit on Renton's shoulder and see if the pressure would tell then kick hard at the end.
The plan worked perfectly, Renton was not used to having anyone near her and with about 1k to go Sonny sensed she could win this so pushed hard and built a huge gap of around 15 seconds that only increased right to the finish. Sonny even managed a smile as she rounded the final U-bend and could see the gap!
This was her first international and to win was a remarkable end to an absolutely astonishing XC season!
A little break now before the track season commences and judging by the training so far it should be just as good, fingers crossed.
