Harrow XC wins show YAs in formidable form

Our young athletes underlined that they are a force to be reckoned with this cross-country season with two top team placings and three individual podium finishes, including a win for Johnny, at a North West London YA fixture in Harrow on Saturday, while some of our seniors found some mud to play in, too. Not Tony though - he ran in the sun in India.

The second fixture of the North West London Young Athletes cross country league was held in Harrow on Saturday, with a good turnout in appalling conditions – thick oozing mud turned quagmire by the end of it. How Johnny (U15, pictured with coach Kabir) managed to sprint in those conditions is a mystery, but sprint he did, outrunning a Shaftesbury Barnet athlete to bag his first win on the country. There was hardly any daylight between first and second place in the U17 women’s race that also came down to a sprint finish, with Rachel judged to have been outdone by a Highgate athlete – despite Highgate thinking Rachel had won. With Yanna backing up Rachel with a fourth place finish the two of them claimed one of two team wins for Heathside on the day. Our impressive U15 girls took home the other, led by Lucy in second place, with Lauren, Octavia, Molly and Genevieve crossing the line some time thereafter but then in quick succession. Rose Garrett (U11s) and Issac Costley (U13) were first Heathsiders in their age groups on their debuts for the club, while Ella Conlan ran well in an older age group after missing her race and our U13 boys deserve praise for fielding six runners and finishing a strong fourth. The future is bright for London Heathside! And you can catch them in action at Trent Park on Saturday, 1 December, where their third NWYAL fixture of the season is being held in conjuction with the Fraternity & Sorority Cup for the seniors.

It was a weekend of cross-country for many of our seniors, too, some of whom are regulars on the Met League and championship race circuit and could have availed themselves of a break in the schedule had they wanted to. Perhaps the mud proved too alluring. Or, in Chris’s case, the chance to run for Oxford University in an annual race against Cambridge. As a mature student he is eligible to run for Oxford and this year was duly selected to run for the IIIrds, making up one of eight Oxford runners who battled it out against eight from Cambridge over 10km. Despite being in last position for the first 3-4 km, he was able to haul himself up to finish 12th, scoring 5th for Oxford although Cambridge ended up winning the match 37-43. For those who may be interested the First teams (known as the 'Blues') battle it out this coming Saturday at Wimbledon Common. In Chris’s words “it's a bit like the boat race but without the TV cameras or the crowds. Or the boats, obviously”.

On Sunday Dan waded through an eight mile quagmire to finish (“romp home”, alternatively) in seventh place in the annual Coombe 8 at Coombe Abbey in Coventry. In his words (there’s no paraphrasing Dan): “The course, which sends competitors through bomb craters left by the Luftwaffe, was supplemented this year by the recent deluge -- for example, the path next to the duck pond is now just more duck pond.  The organisers were incredibly generous, giving out prize money to the first ten finishers in the men’s and women’s races.  I got a tenner which I spent on, amongst other things, a loaf of bread.”

Closer to home at least 11 Heathsiders made the most of a local Sunday League fixture to race cross-country in a muddy and windy Grovelands Park in Southgate (results to follow), while Claire sensibly stuck to road for a 10k race. The pick of this week’s parkruns is Alex’s 17:20 in Liverpool, although David Spencer’s Valentines outing is a cool addition to the list of exotic (ish, it was in Redbridge) parkruns. The most exotic run of the week is hands down Tony's 10k in Hyderabad, India. He's been there for a couple of weeks on a work-related stay, and came across a local 10k that also attracted some pretty high class runners at the top end (three Kenyans, an Ethiopian and a Uguandan in the elite men's race), with Tony coming in second vet and getting a handsome 10,000 rupee prize (£125) for it. He hasn't been able to train very much recently, not least due to it being quite difficult to find somewhere to train in Hyderabad, and given that is satisfied with the time.

Results as follows, with updates to be posted on the Sunday Cross-Country League race:

Northwest London Young Athletes Cross-Country League, Race 2, Harrow, 24/11/2012

Under 11 Girls (1.2km)

30th Rose Garrett  6min48sec
16th team

Under 13 Girls (2km)

23rd Ella Conlon 10min20sec
24th Isobel Harvey 10min21sec
25th Naomi Conlon  10min30sec
7th team

Under 15 Girls (3km)

2nd Lucy Carter  12min46sec
10th Lauren Gee 14min13sec
11th Octavia Laidler 14min17sec
13th Molly Harrison 14min35sec
15th Genevieve Weston 14min42sec
1st team

Under 17 Women (4km)
2nd Rachel Seckl  16min54sec
4th Yanna Raykov   18min11sec1st team
Under  11 Boys (2km)
15th Tom Carter 9min19sec
18th Ollie Selby 9min22sec
10th team

Under 13 Boys (3km)
10th Issac Costley 13min01sec
14th Liam Garrett  13min20sec
17th Tom Mills 13min30sec
20th Luke Gray  13min34sec
33rd Antanas Weston 14min36sec
??Joe Harragan 14min54sec
4th team

Under 15 Boys (4km)
1st Johnny Naylor  14min36sec
9th team

Under 17 Men (4.7km)
10th Conor O’Shea 21min21sec
6th team

Cambridge v Oxford Men's Cross-Country IIIrds Race, Wandlebury Country Park, 24/11/2012
12th Chris Hartley 36min34sec
(10km, 8 per team, 6 to score)

South London 10k, Wimbledon, 25/11/2012
104th Claire Thornhill 46min13sec (16th woman)

Annual Coombe 8, Coventry, 25/11/2012
7th Dan McKeown 49min05sec

Hyderabad 10k, Hyderabad, India, 24/11/2012
2nd Vet Tony Killilea 39min35sec

Sunday League Cross Country, Grovelands Park, 25/11/2012
Results to come. For now there’s photographic evidence:

Parkruns 24/11/2012

Ally Pally
2nd Rob SHULMAN 00:19:22
6th Dominic JACKSON 00:20:27
7th Marcus TILLOTSON 00:21:23

Finsbury Park
10th Carl Andrew HEAP 00:20:15
32nd Jane HIGGINS 00:22:20
45th Sarah ILLINGWORTH 00:23:45
46th Ken TOWNSON 00:23:55

Gladstone
15th Georgie KENNEDY 00:23:21

Gunpowder
2nd Eddie BAYNE 00:20:16

Hampstead Heath
14th Tom TABORI 00:20:29
62nd Andrew SULSTON 00:24:43
83rd Andrew Simon CONWAY 00:26:26

Mile End
5th Brian BOYLE 00:20:00

Princes
1st Alex GALLOWAY 00:17:20

Valentines
11th David SPENCER 00:21:50