Annus Mirabilis in the U.S.A. By Mark Ellison ’83

This is the story of how two dogs, two great Running Coaches, a team of excellent athletes at Saint James, one amazing School Cook, a famous International Exchange Programme based in London, and a very old English founded in 1525, all came together to produce one of Saint James' greatest ever sporting seasons.

The Starting Line: School

Growing up in England I had two dreams... to become a great long-distance runner and to go to America. Having shown promise in middle and long distance running at a young age, my parents sent me to a famous old boarding school in the North of England at age 13 in 1977. They sent me to Sedbergh School for two reasons; firstly, to get an excellent education, and secondly, to win Sedbergh's famous Ten Mile race and quite possibly to break the legendary record, which had stood since 1899.

Sedbergh's Ten Mile race is possibly the oldest ten mile race in the world. It is certainly the toughest School race in Great Britain. The race is 10.2 miles long, with two thirds of it being run over very large, steep hills and over a huge boggy peat moorland with enormous ravines. In my 5 years at Sedbergh, I was fortunate enough to break 8 middle- and long-distance School records including the first sub two-minute 800 metres / half mile since athletics began at the school in 1886, the Mile record, the 4.7 Mile Match Course record, and the cross country Course records at two other very competitive schools.

I did win the Ten Mile race twice in 1981 and 1982. However, due to the wettest March on record since 1873 occurring in the Northwest of England in 1981, and due to my own crazy over training in 1982 I did not break Sedbergh's historic Ten Mile record.

It was quite simply the one record that got away. However, thanks to good fortune, my dream of going to America did not elude my grasp.

The English Speaking Union

The English Speaking Union of the Commonwealth is an international student exchange organisation located in London, England. The Patron of the English Speaking Union is Queen Elizabeth II. It was founded by Royal Charter in 1918 after the horrors of World War One to promote global unity through education and Exchange Scholarships between boarding schools in America and Great Britain.

After a series of interviews in front of panels of highly respected Headmasters and Headmistresses from some of Britain's finest private schools, I was fortunate enough to win one of only twenty full Scholarships to go to an American boarding school for a year.

To my absolute amazement and delight, on the 15th of September 1982, I boarded a jumbo jet at Heathrow to fly to Dulles Airport in Washington DC to spend a full year at Saint James School, Maryland, one of the oldest boarding schools in America.

It was a dream come true, but little did I know just what a fine school Saint James would turn out to be.

Saint James School

On arrival at Saint James I was given a warm welcome by the senior students, and then at dinner, I met the Headmaster Father Owens. Father Owens was an unassuming, humble man and a fine Headmaster. Not only had he been educated at Columbia University and the University of Maryland, but he had also been the Captain and Commanding Officer of Company "C" in the 354th Infantry during the re-taking of France and Germany in World War Two.

For his selfless and heroic actions during the Rhine crossing, he was awarded the Silver Star. For his bravery near Thal he was awarded the Bronze Star. In both battles he not only turned the tide against the enemy, but also saved many lives. Clearly Saint James had a Headmaster of tremendous character guiding the school to ever greater heights.

At the end of dinner Father Owens introduced me to the whole school. As he sat down a loud authoritative voice said, "Mark Ellison to see me after dinner!"

Was I in trouble already?

As requested, I walked over to meet the Master who had made the announcement. Mr. Albert Watson was the Head of English and the Senior Running Coach. He was a distinguished man who had degrees from both Harvard and Yale. We exchanged friendly pleasantries for a while and then we wandered across the campus to his house chatting in the summer evening air.

"Mark we've got a good bunch of runners this year. We just need a great front runner to inspire the guys and help us win the matches. I've read about your running at your school in England and I see you had some success there. We've got a team trial on Friday. Would you like to try out for the team?"

"Sure", I said. As you would imagine I had all of the typical questions whirring around in my mind. "How good were the runners at Saint James? How good were the Schools we would compete against? Could I possibly win or would I get left in the dust? What kind of courses would we be racing over? What kind of training would we be doing?" etc. etc.

Two days later I was about to get many of my questions answered in the first trial for the 1982 Saint James School Running Team.

The First School Cross Country Trial...

The day before the Trial two of the other runners showed me around the Saint James 2.7 mile Match Course. It was a pleasant route mostly over grass fields, and best of all, it was suitable for lightweight spikes.

Just 48 hours after disembarking from the transatlantic jumbo jet at Dulles Airport the starting gun fired and we were off. Twenty one hopeful runners sped across the grass turf following the boundary around the school grounds on a beautiful September afternoon. For the first mile I stuck with the leaders. Fortunately, the pace wasn't too fast for me, and by the halfway point I knew I would be able to up the tempo and hopefully open up a lead; and that's exactly what happened. Without question I had hoped I might win the race, but I had never expected to break the Course record. Here is Coach Watson's Results Sheet for the School Trial that day. From a team perspective, the results were really good. Bart Malloy, Ty Hoffman, Jay Turner, Manny Jimenez, and Tom Swiers were already showing they would be the backbone of a very fast cross country team.

In American school races it is the first 5 runners from each team that count towards a team's total score. The first 5 runners all finished within 3 minutes of each other that day, and this was just the first race of the season. Without doubt the fitness of those runners would greatly improve in the coming weeks, and before long Saint James would have a very tightly bunched team of fast runners ready to take on all comers.

Just as Coach Watson had indicated, the signs were already looking good for a successful 1982 cross country season for Saint James. The Assistant Coach, Mr. Russell Chew, also happened to be my Dorm Master, and my English Composition teacher. He was a pragmatic, no nonsense, friendly man who had been at the Virginia Military Institute, and also had a degree from Yale.

Shortly after crossing the winning line that day, I remember Coach Chew quietly saying to me, "That was quite some run. You arrived with jet lag on Wednesday, and by Friday you've already broken the course record!"

Both Mr. Chew and Mr. Watson were excellent English Teachers and great running coaches. (I hope Mr. Chew will forgive the "Internet Style" of writing I have used in this article). That season Mr. Watson and Mr. Chew judged our training perfectly to bring out the best in us. I felt very encouraged by both of them. In the days following our first Trial, I began to get to know many of the Saint James runners. They were a great bunch of guys who all made me feel very welcome. Our first Meet of the season was scheduled for the following Wednesday, just 5 days after the Trial. Curiously, the opposing School never arrived so Head Coach Watson had us run another Trial instead.

Saint James vs. Mercersburg Academy...

Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania is renowned for being excellent at sport. And with nearly three times the number of pupils as Saint James, they typically had plenty of talent to draw from.

Never the less, undaunted we were keen to take them on. After being shown around the course, we approached the Start Line and the race got underway. I doubt very much that any of us were at our best that day, having only had one full recovery day since our last race against Hedgesville and Jefferson High, but even so we showed Mercersburg a clean pair of heels over their 3.2 mile course.

Saint James took the first three places, and our top five runners finished in the first eight places.

Saint James 19, Mercersburg 37. Coach Watson and Coach Chew were delighted. It was my fourth 1st place finish in 4 races, but even so Coach Watson knew how to keep my competitive flame burning brightly.

On a few occasions Coach Watson had mentioned a brilliant runner who had been at Saint James in the late 1970's called Danny Mangan.

Danny was from Hagerstown, and he had run Saint James' fastest ever time over the Mercersburg course. Following the race that day Coach Watson said to me, with a warm smile on his face, "Mark you were 22 seconds slower than Danny Mangan's time." I don't think I said much in response, but in all fairness, I had finished the race nearly two minutes ahead of the second finisher, and we were still tired from our race just two days earlier. Even so his comment set up a fascinating showdown with the legend of Danny Mangan that would play out in the last race of our season.

Coach Watson wasn't the only one who had something to say that day. The Mercersburg runners were clearly not too pleased with the result. Their lead runner had not run in this race, but he would take part in the return match a few weeks later. Not surprisingly they let us know it would be a different result once he was back running for their team. With Jay Turner, Bart Malloy, Ty Hoffman, and Tom Swiers all finishing within the first eight places, the Saint James' first five was really beginning to take shape. In School races the team with the lowest score wins, and the lowest score any team can get is 15. If the first five runners in a team all finish in the first 5 places, then 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15

In our Meet against Jefferson High and Hedgesville, Saint James had achieved the superb team score of 25. In our Meet against Mercersburg, our team score was even better, 19. We were just 4 points off the lowest possible score. In truth, we weren't just beating our opponents, we were beating them very convincingly indeed. But our best team performances were yet to come...

Here's our fifth counter Tom Swiers racing up the Mercersburg home straight, bringing home the victory for Saint James. Finishing less than a minute behind the first five was Gene Fetter, Manny Jimenez, Jay Gerner, and David Finn.

Saint James wasn't beating other schools because of its lead runners, it was beating other schools because its whole squad was very fast. We were delighted with our start to the season, and the local Newspapers were impressed too!

Great Training Runs in Beautiful Surroundings...

Training that season was a delight. What could be more enjoyable than running in the fall around the Saint James grounds or along the towpath by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Potomac River, or along the Appalachian Trail, or around the Antietam Civil War battlefield?

Coach Watson and Coach Chew never exhausted us with long draining training runs. Instead they took us to wonderful locations and built our fitness with manageable training sessions that we would recover from in time for our next race. I do not think they could have judged our training better.

(Left) Jay Turner training on the Antietam Civil War battlefield.

(Below) Mark Ellison and Bart Malloy training on the towpath by the Potomac River. No prizes for guessing which is the American and which is the Brit!

(Left) Jay Gerner, Gene Fetter, and Coach Watson's dog Toby hot on our heels.

A Showdown with One of Virginia's Best...

Just 3 days after our victory over Bullis we were scheduled to race Randolph Macon Academy from Virginia. Randolph Macon is a well-respected college preparatory school, and it is also a military school that greatly values sporting excellence.

Shortly after their arrival at Saint James the Randolph Macon runners let us know that one of their team was the Virginia State Schools Champion. His name was Simar, and given that he did come 2nd in the 1982 Virginia Schools 1600 metre and 3200 metre track finals, then it was highly possible that he was indeed the Virginia State Schools Cross Country Champion. Saint James did not compete in any State Schools Cross Country Championship that year, but perhaps we should have.

Coach Watson called each team's front runners to the start line. "Saint James first runner to the line," I took my place. "Randolph Macon first runner to the line," Simar took his place, followed by all of the other runners.

In a moment we were off. I had not really paid too much attention to the chatter before the race, and I had no fear of Simar. Without a doubt I wanted to win the race, but far more than that I wanted to break my previous course record.

Breaking my previous course record was dependent on a number of factors. Firstly, had I recovered enough from our race just 3 days earlier? Secondly, I needed to push myself even harder than I had in the previous race, and thirdly I needed to pace my race really well so that I did not burn out too soon.

Early on I began to push the pace, and a gap between myself and Simar opened up quite quickly. By about the one mile point I knew I was free and clear, and it was now all about pushing myself, or to put it another way, hurting myself as much as I could in order to break my previous record. I was very determined to break that record, and I gave it everything I had got on the way back to the finish line. I sprinted up the home straight and took the tape. Had I broken the record or had I just missed it?

Coach Watson had a big smile on his face as he called out the time... 14:17. I had knocked another 13 seconds off the School record, and it was my 4th school record in 6 races that season!

I was delighted, but looking back now, what was quite possibly of far greater significance was the fact that Simar crossed the line 1 minute and 7 seconds later! Perhaps we should have entered the State Championship after all! :) Certainly that was true from a team perspective too. Despite Randolph Macon having tremendous talent on their team, the Saint James first five comfortably beat them 23 to 34. Saint James had taken 1st place, 3rd place, 4th place, 6th place and 9th place, and the gap between our first 5 runners had reduced to just 2 minutes and 30 seconds. Sometimes a team can have a great season because they only compete against low quality opposition, but if anyone wanted rock solid proof of just how good the Saint James runners really were in 1982, the Race Results Sheet provides exactly that! Bart Malloy, Ty Hoffman and Jay Turner finished less than a minute behind Simar.

Then came Saint James' great strength in depth with Tom Swiers, Manny Jimenez, Gene Fetter, David Finn, and Jay Gerner all finishing within 2 minutes and 10 seconds of Simar, one of the best school runners in Virginia.

Without a doubt, the 1982 Saint James team would have been very competitive at the State level. Despite the race against Randolph Macon occurring just 3 days after the Bullis Meet, many of the Saint James runners had once again beaten their previous best times.

Here's Gene Fetter putting in another great performance for Saint James.

The prospect of an unbeaten season was starting to become a very real possibility. Coach Watson foresaw one major obstacle; having too much of a good time over the half term break. He wisely warned us that enjoying ourselves too much could set our fitness back by at least two weeks.

None of us wanted to throw away an unbeaten season, and so I am sure that we all, to some extent, tempered our half term celebrations... Some more than others! Jay Turner and I can hand on heart promise Coach Watson and Coach Chew that we definitely, only ate health food, drank nothing but pure water, and got to sleep each evening for 8 pm, during our week-long trip to Washington D.C.! Thank goodness, our next opponent was Hedgesville!

Saint James vs Hedgesville - The Rematch...

Having beaten them so convincingly earlier in the season, the adrenalin wasn't really pumping for any of us. In truth I think we were only racing each other or racing our previous best times. The result was another very decisive victory with Saint James taking the first 4 places, 8th place, 9th place, 10th place, and 11th place. Our first five counters beat their first five by the very large margin of 18 to 41. We were just 3 points off from a perfect score. Incredibly our second, third and fourth runners were now just 11 seconds apart! They were performing like a high speed battering ram powering right through the heart of the opposition team, and destroying any hope of victory they may have had. Coach Watson was beginning to refer to our first five runners, not as the Saint James "A" Team, but as the Saint James Super "A" Team.

In the race against Hedgesville, Manny Jimenez managed to beat his previous best by 40 seconds and for the first time in the season he finished as the Saint James 5th counter. Co-Captain Ty Hoffman beat his previous best by 9 seconds. Gene Fetter beat his previous best by 17 seconds, and Jay Gerner beat his previous best by 29 seconds. I was fortunate enough to set a new course record, but this time by only 1 second.

Despite our half term frivolities, not only had we maintained our fitness, but we had managed to slightly improve it too. Here's Coach Watson and me after a training session on the towpath by the Potomac.

At this point in the season the Saint James team had defeated 6 opposing teams out of 6, and the whole squad had greatly improved their race times. From a personal perspective, I had come first in all 7 races including the trials, and set 5 new course records. With just one Meet left to go, the prospect of an unbeaten season was within our grasp.

Only the return Match with Mercersburg, who now had their lead runner back, stood in our way. No doubt they were hungry for revenge, and no doubt their lead runner was keen to show just who the faster runner was. Would we run them into the ground just as we had done with all of the other teams, or would they snatch the glory of an unbeaten season from us?

Saint James vs. Mercersburg - The Season's Decider

There's no question that Mercersburg came to avenge their defeat earlier in the season, but they were going to have to put in quite some performance if they were to win. We'd had a whole week to train and recover since our last race. We were well fed, well rested, and utterly determined to beat them again.

But more than that, each member of the “Saint James Super A Team”, Bart Malloy, Jay Turner, Ty Hoffman, Tom Swiers and myself, were hungry to run the 2.7 mile course faster than we'd ever run it before! For the sixth time in the season I wanted to set a new course record. There was simply no thought in my mind of Mercersburg or their returning lead runner. For me that day I was in a race against the clock.

Coach Watson called us to the line and sent us on our way. After the rapid start I slowed to the pace I believed I could maintain right to the finish line, and then kept pushing, pushing, and pushing myself as hard as I could all the way to the end.

The Mercersburg lead runner’s name was Matthews, and he did try to follow, but it wasn't to be his day. Just half a mile into the race I was free and clear and focused on nothing but beating the clock!

With their lead runner back, the Mercersburg team were performing really well. In fact, they were running the Saint James course faster than any other opposing team had that season. Saint James were up against their toughest test to date.

But yet again Bart Malloy, Jay Turner, Ty Hoffman and Tom Swiers were proving to be just too fast for the Mercersburg runners. Once again they split the Mercersburg ranks wide open taking 3rd, 4th, 6th and 9th places.

Jay Turner beat his previous best by 6 seconds, and right behind him were Bart Malloy and Ty Hoffman. Just 47 seconds later came Tom Swiers bringing home the victory yet again for Saint James. I had managed to run the course 11 seconds faster and set my 6th course record that season!

Altogether, we put in our fastest Team performance over the 2.7 mile course that season, and we beat Mercersburg 23 to 34. We'd done it! We had achieved an undefeated season!

Our Two Secret Weapons

Perhaps at this point I should let you in on the real secret to our success that season. The 1982 Saint James Team had two secret weapons, our team mascots Toby and Dolly, the Coach's dogs! They accompanied us on all of our training runs, and quite often put us to shame!

The Best School Food I Ever Had

These days we are all very familiar with the idea that diet plays a very significant role in sporting performance. In this regard, back in 1982, I think Saint James was ahead of its time.

Napoleon Bonaparte said that "An Army marches on its stomach". It can equally be said that a running team trains and races on its stomach too, and the quality of the food they eat greatly affects their performance for better or for worse.

Saint James had an amazing School Chef. Having been to five previous schools, I can say with confidence that the food Kathy Kline prepared for Saint James School was sumptuous.

Not only was it delicious, but there was always plenty to eat. Years later, I still remember many of the tasty breakfasts, lunches and dinners she and her staff served us day after day, week after week. Clearly I was not the only one to appreciate the Saint James fayre. In 2012, Kathy Kline published a book that included many of her Saint James favourites.

From a running point of view, it was as if Carbohydrate Loading came as standard at Saint James. Not only did the great food help to refuel us ready for the next training session or race, but it also helped me to sleep very deeply.

The 1982 Saint James “Super A Team”

Bart Malloy, Jay Turner, and Ty Hoffman were very talented runners indeed. On so many other school running teams they would have been the lead runner themselves. In all but two of our races that season, they managed to completely shut out the opposing team's lead runner.

In over half of our races that season the lead runner on the opposing team finished 4th or 5th. Can you imagine how it must have felt for a competitive school like Bullis, when the fastest runner in their school had come 5th?

Instead of having one lead runner, Saint James had the equivalent of four lead calibre runners. In addition, our fifth place runner Tom Swiers, would have placed 3rd on many teams, and if he had been at Bullis he would have been their second place runner, only 12 seconds behind their fastest athlete.

Here are our 1982 Season's scores...

SJS

25 at Hedgesville 47

25 Jefferson 53

19 at Mercersburg 37

16 Bullis 46

23 Randolph Macon 34

18 Hedgesville 41

23 Mercersburg 34

Total Score: 7 - 0

A Final Showdown with the Legend of Danny Mangan...

Our last proper race of the season was the Saint James School 2.3 mile annual Cross Country race. Each year, since 1965, most of the school would line up to do battle over the shorter course. This wasn't only an event for those in the Cross Country squad, but for the entire School as well.

As I mentioned before, Coach Watson often said just how great a runner Danny Mangan had been at Saint James in the late 1970's. Without a doubt, I think he wondered which of us was the faster runner. Danny had not only run the fastest ever Saint James' time on the Mercersburg course, but he also held the Saint James record for the 2.3 mile course that he set in 1979. Given that the 2.3 mile School cross country race had been run each year for the last 17 years since 1965, Danny's record over Saint James' oldest course was very prestigious indeed.

For days before the race, Mr. Watson kept encouraging me to give the race everything I had got, to see if I could break Danny Mangan's record. If my memory serves me correctly, the race took place in the week following the Mercersburg Meet, and we hadn't had many days to recover. Nevertheless, when the gun sounded I did give it everything I could from start to finish. I remember the ground being slightly icy, but in my spikes I flew around as fast as I could possibly go.

As I crossed the finishing line at the far end of the football field Mr Watson looked a little dismayed and told me I had missed the record by 8 seconds. Shortly after, Jay Turner, Bart Malloy, and Ty Hoffman crossed the line. Our last proper race of the season was over. We all had steam rising off us in the frozen air. I was disappointed I hadn't broken Danny Mangan's record, but there was still a great deal for us to be proud of.

To celebrate our victorious season Coach Watson and Coach Chew took us all out to a steak house where we tucked into beef steaks the like of which I'd never seen. We quite literally feasted and had a great evening, however it wasn’t the best evening's celebration that year. That celebration would occur a few weeks later when the School held its Varsity Banquet.

In the huge dining hall in the basement of Claggett Hall, all of the members of each St. James sports team sat at their respective tables and thoroughly enjoyed three delicious courses, and then one by one each coach got up to speak. In addition to humorous anecdotes and impressive team stats each Coach awarded a Varsity Letter to the players they believed merited them. After several other speeches Mr. Watson got up to speak, and he began by saying he had a surprise for me. He was actually referring to our last race of the season over St. James's oldest cross country course, the 2.3 Mile. Mr. Watson continued, "For his unbeaten front running for the team all season I would like to award Mark Ellison his Varsity Letter".

I went up to collect my Varsity Letter and Certificate which you can see here.

"And", continued Mr. Watson, "I have a surprise for Mark. When I told him he'd missed the record by 8 seconds for our oldest course I'd taken the record time from the engraving on the race plaque. However, on properly checking the written records I discovered the engraved record time is incorrect. The actual record was 10 seconds slower which means you broke that record by 2 seconds. Well done Mark!"

I had broken Danny Mangan's record after all. It was a lovely and most welcome surprise, and the evening was a great end to our victorious season!

Here's Coach Watson's list of top finishers and their times since 1965 in the Saint James Cross Country 2.3 mile annual school race.

It Truly Was an Annus Mirabilis - Miracle Year - in the USA

When I look back at our season, there's one question that keeps coming to mind... How could we have possibly done better? The Saint James Team went undefeated, convincingly beating very fast opposing teams such as Mercersburg and Randolph Macon. The Saint James runners greatly improved their race times throughout the season, and routinely pushed the opposition lead runner into 3rd, 4th or even 5th place. I had the good fortune to win all 9 races, and set a new course record in 7 of those races. In total, during the season I lowered the Saint James School record for the 2.7 mile Match course by 1 minute and 15 seconds.

Standing the Test of Time at Hampden-Sydney College and Sedbergh School

After Saint James, Jay Turner went to Hamden-Sydney College in Virginia. Founded in 1775, Hampden-Sydney is one of the oldest Colleges in America. The cross country course at Hampden-Sydney is 8 kilometres (5 miles) long, and they have been racing over that course for many decades.

In 1985 Jay Turner ran the fastest time ever run over that course by a Hampden-Sydney athlete. Here's the link to their Cross Country Records web page where you can see, until October this year (2017), he still topped the All Time Rankings http://www.hscathletics.com/sports/mxc/records His cross country record at Hampden-Sydney had gone unbroken for the last 32 years.

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Andrew Fleck, the current Headmaster of my old boarding school in England, Sedbergh School. He was able to confirm that the record I set in 1981 for the Mile still stands as the Sedbergh School record to this day. It has gone unbroken for 36 years.

Standing the Test of Time at Saint James School...

It is now 34 years since I last spoke to Coach Chew at Saint James. As I mentioned earlier, he was my English Composition teacher, my Onderdonk dorm Master, and the deputy Cross Country Running Coach. During our first conversation in over three decades, I was delighted to find out that Mr. Chew is in good health, enjoying life, and has just turned 80 years of age. Happy Birthday Mr. Chew!

When Coach Watson retired in 1986, Deputy Coach Chew took over as Head Coach of Cross Country until 1993. When I asked him if he remembered what had happened to the records I set at Saint James in 1982 he immediately responded,

"Mark, when I retired in 1993 your records were still unbeaten, and I strongly suspect that they were never broken even after 1993. You always finished so far ahead. No one could touch you".

To be given such a magnanimous response after 30 years was very heart-warming indeed. I believe the 2.7 mile match course was changed in 1986 to a 3.1 mile (5K) course. I do not know for how many years the historic 2.3 mile course was in use. He ended our call in an equally big hearted and friendly manner by saying, "This call has made my day, my week, my year."

To reconnect with Coach Chew again after all of this time has certainly made my day, my week and my year. I hope this write up of our season brings back many special memories for him, and puts a glow in his heart from younger days when we all were a lot quicker on our feet. I think for Jay Turner to have held the cross country record at Hampden-Sydney for the last 32 years, and for some of the records I set at Saint James and Sedbergh School to remain unbroken, is further confirmation of the true speed of the Saint James team that season in 1982.

A Special Thank You to Two Great Schools...

It comes as no surprise to me that in 2017 both Saint James and Sedbergh School are thriving under their current Headmasters. They both have the largest number of pupils they have ever had in their long histories.

There is no question that my fitness and running ability was developed in my 5 years at Sedbergh School. The races and training were very tough indeed. There is also no doubt in my mind that without the excellent all round education provided by Sedbergh I would have never won an English Speaking Union Scholarship to go to America in the first place. Thank you Sedbergh.

I would also like to thank Saint James School for the wonderful year they provided. Like Sedbergh, their pursuit of academic and sporting excellence provided a tremendous foundation for life, and made both of my dreams come true together... competitive long distance running in the USA! Without doubt, Coach Watson and Coach Chew did a superb job of bringing the best out in us, and enabling us to make it such a special season. I hope these recollections inspire future and present Saint James athletes to be the best they can be!

Happy Anniversary Saint James!

Many Thanks,

Mark Ellison, Class of 1983