Heathside Reign in the Welwyn Rain
This week’s report is mainly on the Met League, as there wasn't much happening elsewhere apart from a couple of Heathsiders that were in action – Bridget Napelton at the Regents Park 10k and Chloe Martin-Brown at the George Munday 10K. Thanks to Sue Rust and Simon Baker for their contribution to the report.
Met League #2, Stanborough Park, Welwyn Garden City, Sat., 10 Nov 2018
More than 100 brave athletes bore the glorious Heathside colours on Saturday at Welwyn in round 2 of the Met League. There was a strong and steady showing across all the races, leaving us nicely placed to continue our challenge for the series. The weather conditions were at times apocalyptic, with very heavy showers and blustery winds making it difficult through certain sections. The course was fairly churned up and needed spikes to negotiate it safely. In the men’s race, as I approached the start of my final lap, one of the lead runners, who came steaming through to finish high up, took a slippery tumble that looked rather painful, but he was on his feet again quite promptly, seemingly more concerned with the guys who were chasing him. Despite the hazardous conditions it was a fantastic race to be part of, although I must remember to take dry clothes next time, to change into - Rookie!
Captain Sue Rust reports on the senior women’s race:
We were missing two of our A-string runners from Claybury, but, as you will have heard before, we have great strength in depth and overall put in a strong showing to finish third on the day. Unfortunately we also slipped to third in the contest for the league title – which we would like to keep! So, ahead of the next Met League on 1 December, stay healthy, train well and encourage your clubmates to come out and race.
Rebecca and Kelly had what looked to have been storming runs up front to book the first two A-team slots. Olivia and Annabel are making me very happy with their cross-country running so far this season and were next in for Heathside, while I had a good hard run to score fifth and Emma followed not long after to complete the team.
It’s always a pleasure to welcome a Met League first-timer, and on Saturday we had one in the form of Emma Lakin, who with partner Ben has been training with Heathside since at least the summer and scored for the B-team as part of what the results suggest was a fairly tightly packed group of Heathside ladies. It was also great to see Esti and Cathy J back in action, as it was some less regular Met Leaguers like Emilia, Madeleine and Rebecca (Sweet).
Our men are down as having finished fifth on the day, and sitting third in the league, which Is a great position. Unfortunately Seyfu (U20), who was our third scorer at Claybury after Adam and Tom, had to drop out because he was unwell, so it was up to Andrew Brooker to take the first scoring position for Heathside in those horrible conditions. Hats off to all of our nearly 50 men competing on the day, and a very special sorry and thank you to Russell Weston and Dave Walton, who were left to deal with the tent that provided much needed shelter for so many of us on the day. Stay tuned for some calls for volunteers for tent duties at upcoming fixtures.
A few comments about the results in general. Saturday’s race included some nippy guests from Cambridge University, so the finishing positions aren’t that comparable with other Met League races. Also, there have been some issues with athlete declarations (I’m not completely up to speed, but there’s a newish system for all of this and people are still getting used to it), as a result of which quite a few athletes are unnamed in the results. These were still down as provisional on the Met League website as of Wednesday evening.
And now onto the younger athletes, who again showed what talent we have coming through the ranks. Simon Baker writes:
In total 25 young Heathsiders ran in this well attended meeting, with a record overall number of runners and record number of competitors for the U11 and U13 Boys age groups.
In the U11 Boys race Benjy Bediako was caught slightly by surprise by a difficult technical downhill finish; with the top three separated by a second he couldn't quite get in front of the other boys and finished 3rd. In the girls race Kiara Corkin consolidated her excellent 3rd at Claybury by finishing 6th and the first Under 10 to finish. Ella Burridge in her 2nd race of the season secured 19th with Elkie Baker finishing soon after in 22nd. Although one scorer down the team finished 5th.
The U13 Boys saw Spike Blake again the first Heathsider home, matching his 4th place finish at Claybury. The team finished 3rd overall with great packing. In the Girls race Izzy Watkins ran for the first time this season finishing 13th with Hattie Munday four seconds and one place behind. This is the first season for both in the U13s and having to adjust to the longer distances.
In the Junior Men’s (U15 and U17) race Lemi was the first Heathsider across the line in 6th place. Thomas Archer, in his first race after returning after injury, finished 15th but he was the 4th U15 and he should build on this for the rest of the XC season as the championship races approach in the New Year. The other A team scorers were Ruairi McGonagle (25th) and Bedo-Aron Draskoczy (31st), ensuring the team finished 4th overall. With 8 runners in this age category we had a B team of Olivier O'Connor (46th), Sam Ingram (56th), Stan Brown (70th) and Kit Naylor (81st), finishing 17th.
In the Junior women's race Rose Garrett, as she has all season, was the first Heathsider home in 12th and 6th U15. Less than 10 sec behind was Mimi Blake (14th) with the remaining A team scorers comprising Nell Swinhoe (21st) and Matilda Heath (24th) to leave the team in 4th place overall. They were ably supported by Ella O'Flaherty (40th) and Edie Friedlander (41st), who crossed the line together, and Fabienne Weston (57th), giving the B team 17th place. With all but Mimi in the U15 age group this shows the potential of this group.
Overall the Junior teams have maintained their position as 3rd overall in the Howard Williams Trophy behind Woodford and Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers.
Thanks as always goes to coaches Mary, Kabir and Zac for their support and Ruth and Russell for their organisation on the day.
The updated XC points championship standings will be uploaded onto the club Facebook Site with current top 3 positions listed below. With four of a possible 13 races completed the current age group leaders are Benjy, Elkie, Spike, Hattie, Ruairi, Rose, Lemi and Mimi.
The next youth club XC fixture is the NWLL at Trent Park on 24th November and the next Met League is on 1st December at Uxbridge with its infamous river crossing.
RESULTS
U11 Boys
1st L Reynolds (VPH&TH) 5:42
3rd Benjy Bediako 5:43
1st Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 138 pts
9th London Heathside 41 pts (7th overall after 2 races)
U11 Girls
1st S Bishop (TVH) 6:01
6th Kiara Corkin 6:20 (1st U10)
19th Ella Burridge 7:00
22nd Elkie Baker 7:04 (6th U10)
1st Woodford G&EL 155 pts
5th London Heathside 94 pts (4th Overall)
U13 Boys
1st J Gellar (WG&EL) 11:30
4th Spike Blake 11:59
20th Stan Hasson 12:43
24th Ivor Joslin 12:57
28th Gregory Berrisford-Sweet 13:14
1st Woodford G&EL 269 pts
3rd London Heathside 215 pts (4th overall)
U13 Girls
1st A Reid (WG & EL) 12:22
13th Izzy Watkins 13:46
14th Hattie Munday 13:50
1st Woodford G&EL 192 pts
8th London Heathside 77 pts
Junior Men
1st B Rushman (Herts Pheonix) 14:19
6th Lemi Mideska 14:58
15th Thomas Archer 15:23 (4th U15)
25th Ruairi McGonagle 15:52 (9th U15)
31st Bedo-Aron Draskoczy 16:07 (12th U15)
46th Oliver O'Connor 16:28 (19th U15)
56th Sam Ingram 17:03 (27th U15)
70th Stan Brown 17:48
81st Kit Naylor 18:28 (45th U15)
1st Woodford G&EL 345 pts
4th London Heathside 307 pts (3rd overall)
17th London Heathside B 139 pts.
Junior Women
1st F Stapleton (SBH) 16:03
12th Rose Garrett 17:41 (6th U15)
14th Mimi Blake 17:49
21st Nell Swinhoe 18:26 (11th U15)
24th Matilda Heath 18:53 (13th U15)
40th Ella Friedlander 19:59 (24th U15)
41st Edie Friedlander 19:59 (25th U15)
57th Fabienne Weston 23:07 (33rd U15)
1st Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 223 pts
4th London Heathside 169 pts (3rd overall)
15th London Heathside B 46 pts
Juniors Overall (Howard Williams Trophy)
1st Woodford G&EL 104 pts
2nd Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 90 pts
3rd London Heathside 85.5 pts
Club Points Championship Standings (4 of 13 possible races completed)
U11 Boys
1st Benjy Bediako 32 pts
2nd Noah Beckloff 14 pts
3rd Gus Kendall 13 pts
U11 Girls
1st Elkie Baker 28 pts
2nd Kiara Corkin 16 pts
3rd Ella Burridge 15 pts
U13 Boys
1st Spike Blake 32 pts
2nd Ivor Joslin 20 pts
3rd Gregory Berrisford-Sweet 18 pts
U13 Girls
1st Hattie Munday 31 pts
2nd Izzy Watkins 8 pts
3rd Alice Reed 7 pts
U15 Boys
1st Ruairi McGonagle 23 pts
2nd Jack Davis-Black 20 pts
3rd Bedo Aron Draskoczy 15 pts
U15 Girls
1st Rose Garrett 32 pts
2nd Nell Swinhoe 14 pts
3rd Mia Manttan/Edie Friedlander 13 pts
U17 Men
1st Lemi Mideska 16 pts
2nd Stan Brown 15 pts
3rd Jake Evans 7 pts
U17 Women
1st Mimi Blake 32 pts
Note: Best 6 results count
Senior women
Division one
1. VPTH 274
2. Serpentine 270
3. London Heathside ‘A’ 257
7. London Heathside ‘B’ 276
League position
Division one
1 Highgate Harriers 548
2 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 540
3 London Heathside A 532
Division two
6. London Heathside ‘C’ 232
League position
1. Shaftesbury
2. VPTH
3. Woodford
6. London Heathside ‘C’ 502
Veteran Women
1. VPTH 125
2. London Heathside ‘A’ 111
3. Barnet & District 105
4. London Heathside ‘B’ 56
Veteran Women League Positions
1. VPTH 259
2. London Heathside ‘A’ 227
3. Barnet & District 195
Full results
9. Rebecca Piggott 23:04
20. Kelly Thorneycroft 23:32
33. Olivia Desborough 24:07
45. Annabel Litchfield 24:49
48. Sue Rust 25:06
65. Emma Watson 25:26
72. Ula Cartwright-Finch 25:44
73. Emily Reichert 25:44
78. Satu Hietanen 25:59
79. Jennifer Wing 26:02
85. Emma Lakin 26:17
88. Louisa Pointon 26:22
110. Esti Gujarro Puente 27:23
112. Cathy Jeremiah 27:31 (currently unnamed in results)
114. Jessica Vinluan 27:42
120. Jackie Wastell 27:50
138. Emilia Vynnycky 28:53
139. Madeleine Minson 28:54
141. Caroline White 29:45
156. Ruth Miller 29:47
157. Sarah Duke 29:48
176. Maura Bellio 30:43
184. Rebecca Sweet 30:59
186. Edyta Szot 31:06
190. Kim Butler 31:31
202. Fiona Holland 32:01
211. Rachel Scott Halls 32:26
220. Samantha Taylor 33:06
Senior men
Division one team results
1 Highgate Harriers 1233
2 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 885
3 Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 828
5 London Heathside 735
Division one league position
1 Highgate
2 VPTH
3 London Heathside
Veterans division one team result
1 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 278
2 Trent Park RC 269
3 London Heathside 252
Veterans division one league position
1 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets
2 Trent Park RC
3 Serpentine RC
4 London Heathside
Individual results
61 Andrew Brooker 28:34
66 Charles Hardy 28:40
75 Ewan Gault 28:56
91 Peter Northall 29:24
92 Peter Gould 29:28
97 William Griffiths 29:38
141 David Hellard 30:37
155 Henry Turner 30:59
164 Alex Sweet 31:07
174 Dan Johns 31:24
176 Chris Holmes 31:29
178 Michael Cockings 31:30
181 Alkher Adam 31:33
191 Martin Potter 31:47
197 Jonathan Litchfield 31:57
204 Jonathan Shipley 32:04
209 Adam Mitchell 32:08
212 Asmelash Abrha 32:12
214 Jake Spencer 32:14
231 Ben Lewis 32:29
242 Stuart Meiklejohn 32:42
257 Joseph Clemoes 33:15
259 Michael Jones 33:17
262 Chris Vincent 33:23
267 Rajiv Ratan 33:35
273 Dominic Jackson 33:43
278 Matt Collins 33:52
280 Andrew Owen 33:52
298 Oliver Murray 34:24
307 Gavin Evans 34:34
308 Rob Shulman 34:35
315 John Mcknight 34:52
332 Jonathan Hopkin 35:20
334 Pete Crockford 35:24
341 Jack Pinnick-Gray 35:29
349 Kris Milovsorov 35:44
351 Ben Racie 35:49
380 Andrew Wooding 36:28
409 Richard Peachment 37:54
431 Carl Heap 38:37
438 Jim Connell 38:54
448 Andrew Johnston 39:24
453 Chris Prickett 39:46
461 Russell Weston 40:09
463 Shaun Kennedy 40:11
478 Joel Hawes 41:55
499 David Walton 43:12
Other results
Regents Park 10K, London – Sunday 11th November
74th Place Bridgit Napelton 46m22s
George Munday 10K, Leverington – Sunday 11th November
215th Place Chloe Martin-Brown 65m26s
There were plenty of Heathsiders in action at various parkruns around the country:
http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017&eventdate=2018-11-10