THE two Southend High Schools and Rayleigh's FitzWimarc carry local hopes in Saturday's English Schools Cross Country Cup national final at Leeds Grammar School.

The best chance of south-east Essex glory would appear to be in the junior boys competition where Southend High go in as defending champions and have the joint best qualifying score.

They had 24 points in winning the regional qualifier at St.Albans. It was a score matched only by Lincroft Middle School, Oakley, Bedfordshire, although Northampton School for Boys and Winston Churchill School, Woking, were just one behind on 25.