(Cabbage) Patchy Performance at Met League Opener

A (Cabbage) Patchy Performance at Met League Curtain-Raiser

At last! The Met League finally kicked-off the Cross-Country season proper with what turned out to be a reasonably strong afternoon’s racing for Heathside in the shadow of Sunday’s Cabbage Patch 10 (what a frustrating fixture clash this is - ed.) Arriving early, I found a bumper crowd of Heathside Juniors, resplendent in their club vests, all ready to race, and this set the tone for what turned out to be a solid turnout from the Seniors too, all things considered (well, the Cabbage Patch considered). Fortunately the rain just about held off all afternoon, making for an enjoyable display of solid cross-country running for participants and spectators all round. Here’s what happened (full results at the end of this post):

Juniors
In the Under 13 Boys race, a superb run from Liam Garrett in second place led Heathside’s 5 boys to an 8th place team finish, from 19 teams participating. Liam, the Seniors are monitoring your progress already! A very tidy run indeed, son.

For the Under 13 Girls, Silvia Allen led our 5 runners home, finishing 19th from 47 athletes, and securing Heathside a 9th place team finish from 18 taking part.

A very impressive 17 young Heathsiders took part in the Under 17 Men’s race, with Johnny Naylor showing the way home in 25th from a field of 84. Heathside’s TWO teams finished 10th and 11th respectively from 24 competing teams. Thomas Clower was the first Under 15 Heathsider home, with a 13th spot from 45 taking part. Good to see so many blue, gold, and red vests at the start, lads. Keep it up.

For the Under 17 Women, Lily Beckford finished 15th from 54 competitors, leading a team of 7 Heathsiders to a 5th place team finish from 17 teams competing. Jessica Matthew was our first Under 15 to finish, in 25th spot from 32 taking part.

Senior Women
152 women toed the line for the first race of the season, of which 19 were sporting the Heathside vest. Sarah Swinhoe led the charge, finishing 8th (1st Vet), ahead of a convalescing but nonetheless nippy Sue Rust in 15th. The Women’s A team was completed by Claire Morrissey (30th), Bridget Napleton (40th), Cathy Jeremiah (43rd) and Yanna Raykov, who finished her debut in the Senior race with a very encouraging 46th place. Jane Higgins will be pleased with her run too, a competitive 62nd place.

The Senior Women’s A team finished an encouraging 4th from 10 teams in Division One. The B team also finished 4th from 10 teams in Division Two, whilst the C team managed 8th, also in Division Two. In the Vet’s category, Sarah’s fantastic run helped the women seal second place from 10 teams in Division One. The B team vets finished 8th in Division One.

Senior Men
No less than 45 Heathside men made the race, a strong turnout considering the race competition this weekend. Tom Aldred marked his return to fitness with a very impressive 12th place from a field of 371, surfing round the 8k course in a time of 26m 15s. Behind Tom was a veritable army of fantastic competitors, making an A team finish a prize in itself. Special mentions to Chris Norris for his 78th place finish (5th for Heathside) in his cross-country debut in the blue, gold and green of North London’s coolest running club, and to George Stewart, who must be on drugs, finishing in a frankly unbelievable 51st place (3rd for Heathside, and second Vet overall). Congratulations to all the other Heathside debutants, and to all those who doubled-up the race with the Cabbage Patch the next day.

Team results for the men were as follows: The A team finished 5th from 10 in Division One. The B team were 5th from 10 in Division Two, and the C team were 3rd from 20 in Division Three.

In the Vets categories, George’s fantastic run, supported by a great run from Mike Stocks (84th overall), the ever-reliable Julian Ferraro, and the annoyingly quick (from my point of view) Howard Gold, sealed a first place finish for Heathside A from 10 teams in Division One. The B team finished 6th and the C team 10th in Division One. That’s right, Heathside has THREE Vets teams in
the top Division!

Verdict on the Performance
I could easily deliver a ‘the trees are green and the sky is blue’ verdict here. Because you know that would be a fabrication, I won’t. Nonetheless, the club got off to a really solid start, which leaves us in a strong position from which we can kick on (assuming there isn’t another race on the weekend of 9th/10th November - Turnip Field Ten anyone?) Here’s a rundown of what was good and what could be better.

1. It is never good when this fixture clashes with the Cabbage Patch 10. Bah! And double Bah!

2. Nonetheless, the overall turnout was pretty damn good - 64 Seniors and 31 Juniors is not bad at all. MASSIVE THANKS TO THOSE WHO DOUBLED-UP TO RUN BOTH THE MET LEAGUE AND THE CABBAGE PATCH. RESPECT. However, we need a bigger, stronger turnout all round from now on, if we are to meet our goals this season.

3. I will let our Junior coaches de-brief the young athletes. From what I could see, they looked generally sharp and committed. It’s always a pleasure to see so many Juniors running for the club.

4. I would like to see the Senior Women’s A team back in the top three, and the Vets should be top of their Division. If this is going to happen, we can’t over-rely on Sue’s improving fitness and Sarah’s continued speed. We need more women to turn out and run well. Ladies, please do all you can to encourage your peers to come along to Stevenage. Cross-Country really is good fun y’know!

5. The Senior Men’s A team, despite getting all 12 into the top 100 finishers, need to push on from Claybury. Train smart and focus on good race preparation. Given the quality we have at the club this year, I am expecting improvement as the season goes on. Likewise for the B team. I am hoping the B Team can win promotion to Division One this season. A fifth place finish on Saturday wasn’t quite what I’d hoped for.

6. Rabbling. Must do better. Get your cowbells and other noise-making instruments out on the course early and support the Juniors first. Then give the Women and Men a serious advantage by cheering hard. Competitors always say that it spurs them on, so don’t just run your own race, support others in theirs if you can. It’s good, clean fun. Except when it’s good dirty fun.

7. Enter Dan McKeown’s Fantasy Met League before Stevenage. It’s not too late!

8. See you at Stevenage on 9th November. COME ON HEATHSIDE!

Results
Boys Under 13 (57 finishers)
2. Liam Garrett 11m 11s
42. Jem O’Flaherty 13m 7s
44. Tom Carter 13m 15s
45. Ollie Selby 13m 15s
52. Tom Swinton 14m 09s

Girls Under 13 (47 finishers)
19. Silvia Allen 14m 01s
31. Ella Conlon 14m 43s
33. Rachel Finke 14m 53s
38. Louise Gilbert 16m 03s
40. Dani Weiss 16m 11s

Under 17 Men (84 finishers)
25. Johnny Naylor 15m 21s
33. Thomas Clower 15m 47s
35. William Griffiths 15m 54s
42. David Clower 16m 10s
43. Mason Dietrich 16m 14s
46. Jake Reynolds 16m 25s
47. Tom Griffiths 16m 26s
53. Jacob Phillips 16m 42s
61. Isaac Costley 17m 07s
62. Luke Gray 17m 18s
68. Blue Weiss 17m 47s
69. Antanas Weston 17m 49s
77. Marco Dryburgh 18m 37s
84. William Olney 22m 04s

Under 17 Women (54 finishers)
15. Lily Beckford 17m 23s
22. Rachel Seckl 17m 46s
28. Genevieve Weston 17m 59s
31. Lauren Gee 18m 28s
46. Jessica Matthew 20m 41s
51. Naomi Conlon 21m 56s
54. Rachel Isaacs DNF

Senior Women (152 finishers)
8. Sarah Swinhoe 23m 34s
15. Sue Rust 24m 23s
30. Claire Morrissey 25m 46s
40. Bridget Napleton 26m 18s
43. Cathy Jeremiah 26m 36s
46. Yanna Raykov 26m 50s
56. Angela Howe 27m 38s
62. Jane Higgins 27m 59s
78. Charlotte McCrossin 28m 52s
85. Tammela Platt 29m 22s
95. Catherine Doherty 29m 52s
96. Caroline Boyle 29m 54s
98. Jo Irwin 30m 04s
104. Edjota Szot 30m 32s
108. Claire Thornhill 31m 10s
110. Jess Fogarty 31m 17s
116. Monica Thaler 32m 19s
117. Gabi Johnson 32m 24s
133. Margherita Maserati 33m 55s

Senior Men (371 finishers)
12. Tom Aldred 26m 15s
45. Rob O’Grady 28m 20s
51. George Stewart 28m 30s
68. Patrick Burke 29m 03s
78. Chris Norris 29m 22s
80. Dan McKeown 29m 23s
84. Mike Stocks 29m 31s
85. Tom Livermore 29m 32s
86. Matt Convery 29m 33s
87. Ed Samuel 29m 34s
95. Anthony Hall 29m 48s
98. Alex Armstrong 29m 52s
121. Brent Atkins 30m 29s
129. Julian Ferraro 30m 44s
141. Howard Gold 31m 10s
144. Chris Hartley 31m 13s
150. Phil Wright 31m 18s
161. Stuart Mieklejohn 31m 38s
162. John Flahive 31m 39s
165. James Pickett 31m 41s
175. Steve Armstrong 32m 00s
182. David Hellard 32m 10s
185. Philip Bentley 32m 23s
201. Paul Lemmon 32m 52s
218. Will Whitaker 33m 31s
222. Joe McKeown 33m 46s
238. Andrew Johnson 34m 21s
239. Sam Thompson 34m 23s
243. Andrew Brooker 34m 31s
260. Marco Luna 35m 09s
262. Emerson Paul 35m 13s
263. Andy Owen 35m 14s
266. Nick Desausmarez 35m 28s
267. Patrick Waldron 35m 29s
272. Tim Marshall 35m 57s
281. Russell Weston 36m 17s
285. Andrew Solston 36m 30s
286. Kris Milousorov 36m 35s
289. Brian Boyle 36m 39s
324. Rob Clower 39m 25s
340. Ken Townson 40m 56s
344. Oliver Pound 41m 22s
352. Izaiah Turner 42m 35s
354. Adrian Essex 42m 52s
358. Robert Gould 43m 16s