Hawling leads Heathside women to Met League victory
This week’s highlights include our women winning the opening Met League feature in Claybury with Beth Hawling taking first place, Kiara Corkin winning the U13 girls’ race and Oliver O’Connor first among the U20s. Also worth noting is that Alysia Sawicka took an excellent fourth place in the Autumn 100-mile race and Rob Hynds did a 17-minute PB in the Paris Marathon in a time of 2:53:55 and Luke Parker did 1:18 24 in the Oxford Half.
Metropolitan League, Claybury, October 16
We didn’t receive a report on the adult races (!) but Beth Hawling’s first place in a time of 29:05 was remarkable – the first Heathside win since the heyday of Jackie Wastell. Our women’s A-team also took first place with Alexander Punton in 5th place, Evangelista Divetain 6th, Josie Hinton 14th, Brogan Wallace 17th and Lily Woolcock 26th. The best of our veteran woman was V40 Emily Reichert in 50th place. Twenty-one of our women took part.
Our 40-strong men’s team was weakened by the fact that several of our leading runners had taken part in the Manchester Marathon six days earlier and others hadn’t yet recovered from the London Marathon 13 days earlier. Our team still managed a decent fifth place. James Hurrell was our first man – in 23rd place and one behind him was James Wooldridge. Oliver O’Connor was next and was the first U20 man in 32nd place. He was followed by Ismail Abukar, Andy Barnes, Charles Hardy and William Ross, while V45 Matt Collins was our first veteran in 125th place and V50 Martin Potter second in 143rd place.
Here is Simon Baker’s report on the junior races:
Following on from our terrific track and field season the Club had 46 Juniors running at the weekend, many making their debut in club colours and testament to the hard work by the clubs junior endurance coaches, Kabir, Zac, Russell and Ruth. In the team competition the U11 Boys and U13 Girls both finished in 2nd place and the U13 Boys in 3rd. In the overall Howard Williams Trophy the club sit in 2nd place behind the 2019 overall champions WG&EL. Individually there were 6 top 10 finishes with Kiara Corkin winner of the U13G race and Charlotte Beale 3rd in the U11 Girls.
With the early morning rain clearing and Claybury bathed in sunshine the U11's got proceedings underway with the boys race. Rory Willis led home our 8 runners in 5th place with debutant Alex Kirk next in 11th place. Pip Young and Alex Rankin in 18th and 21st place made up the scoring team which finished behind ESM. We only had two U11 Girls with Charlotte Beale finishing 3rd her best position only four seconds behind the winner. Another debutant Isla Kavanagh was 18th.
The U13s followed with a very competitive race with Sam Turner and Bed Redland the first Heathsiders home within three seconds of each other, Eden Brown in 17th and Albie Waddell completed the scoring team in 17th and 29th. The girls race saw a superb run by Kiara Corkin who took the lead towards the end of the first lap to finish first ahead of a fine field including Jorja March (Barnet) and Posie Shaw (SBH). Amy Kirk in her first season also had another impressive race finishing 6th with Caitlin Roberts 13th and Lettice Gundry 15th to help the club to 153 points just 2 points behind winners WG&TH. There were also great runs by Ivy Gray, Lila Blustin and Maya Westgate but it was great to see 11 Girls running in Heathside colours.
The U15s and U17s run together in the Junior Men’s and Women’s races. The first Heathside man was Roni Kizilkaya in 18th with Janak Subberwal next in 33rd place with the team completed by Bedo Draskoczy and Michael Smith all U17s. Gregory Berrisford Sweet was first U15 home in 60th place followed soon after by Eric Beale and Ben Ryan. A great turnout with 13 Juniors running and hopefully they will build on this performance. There were seven Junior women taking part with Issy Watkins producing another great run to finish 8th with U15 Girls dominating the race. Sister Milly was 15th and Ruby Walls and Mia Rosen making up the remainder of the scoring team to secure a 4th place.
This was another great performance from everyone. It was especially good to see the comradery shown in supporting teammates many for whom cross country running is relatively new. Hopefully this sets the tone for the rest of the season and we can improve our 3rd place overall in the Junior standings in 2019.
Results
U11 Boys 1500m (38 runners)
5th Rory Willis 5:48
11th Alex Kirk 5:59
18th Pip Young 6:13
21st Alexander Rankin 6:19
22nd Sebastian McNeely 6:23
25th Charlie Roberts 6:26
26th Connor Roberts 6:28
37th William Edwards 7:11
1st ESM 128 pts, 2nd London Heathside 97 pts, 7th London Heathside B 45 pts
U11 Girls 1500m (33 runners)
3rd Charlotte Beale 6:18
18th Isla Kavanagh 7:04
1st WG&EL 105 pts, 5th London Heathside 47 pts
U13 Boys 3000m (43 runners)
8th Sam Turner 11:28
11th Ben Redland 11:31
17th Eden Brown 12:09
29th Albie Waddell 13:12
38th Harry Conley 14:10
41st Noa Sotiroff 14:19
1st WG&EL 140 pts, 3rd London Heathside 107 pts,
U13 Girls 3000m (47 runners)
1st Kiara Corkin 11:43
6th Amy Kirk 12:40
13th Caitlin Roberts 13:02
15th Lettice Gundry 13:10
17th Ivy Gray 13:18
23rd Lila Blustin 13:58
26th Maya Westgate 14:05
31st Margot Hunt 14:32
35th Elkie Baker 14:54
38th Lucy Ryan 15:31
40th Lydia Negatu 15:37
1st WG&EL 155 pts, 2nd London Heathside 153 pts, 4th London Heathside B 91 pts
Junior Men 5000m (94 Runners)
18th Roni Kizilkaya 14:52
33rd Janak Subberwal 15:36
41st Bedo Aron Draskoczy 16:11
57th Michael Smith 16:51
60th Gregory Berrisford-Sweet 16:53 (22nd U15B)
68th Eric Beale 17:12 (29th U15B)
70th Ben Ryan 17:16 (30th U15B)
81st Amarin Preka 18:15
85th Gus Kendall (U13B) 18:40
89th Thomas Conley 19:02 (46th U15B)
91st Kamran Bakhshi 19:17 (47th U15B)
92nd Alex Butcher 19:18 (48th U15B)
93rd Artie Feeny-Willings 19:31 (49th U15B)
1st WG&EL 354 pts, 8th London Heathside 227 pts, 18th London Heathside B 97 pts, 26th London Heathside C 15 pts
Junior Women 5000m (74 Runners)
8th Issy Watkins 16:31 (6th U15G)
15th Milly Watkins 16:53 (9th U15G)
21st Ruby Walls 16:59 (13th U15G)
29th Mia Rosen 17:55 (19th U15G)
36th Maia Hampton Phillips 18:11
51st Tess Walker 19:26
65th Maddison Frawley 21:37 (41st U15G)
1st WG&EL 262 pts, 4th London Heathside 224 pts, 15th London Heathside B 73 pts
Senior Women 8000m (179 Runners)
1st Beth Hawling 29:05 A
5th Alexandra Punton 31:10 A
6th Evangelista Divetain 31:16 A
14th Josie Hinton 32:17 A
17th Brogan Wallace 32:26 A
26th Lily Woolcock 33:50 A
35th Shannon Sinclair 34:06 B
48th Eilidh Wagstaff 35:24 B
50th Emily Reichert (V40) 35:29 B (A Vet)
58th Ciera Kennedy 35:54 B
61st Genevieve Weston 36:11 B
67th Claire Williams 36:39 B
71st Trudy Kearney 37:01 C
78th Tanya Addison (V50) 37:41 C (A Vet)
82nd Monika Newton (V40) 38:07 C (A Vet)
85th Emma Watson 38:30 C
94th Ella Barnes 38:55 C
103rd Sue Rust (V40) 39:55 (A Vet)
108th Caroline White (V60) 40:31 (B Vet) 3rd V60
115th Rose Garrett (U20) 41:23
116th Jaqueline Wastell (V60) 41:23 (B Vet)
148th Emelia Vynnycky 44:31
171st Marilanne Gibson 50:13 (started late)
174th Fiona Holland 53:18
Division 1:- 1st London Heathside 349 pts, 6th London Heathside B 181 pts
Division 2:- 1st WG&EL 277 pts, 5th London Heathside C 219 pts
Vet Division 1:- 1st VP&TH 112 pts, 4th London Heathside 75 pts, 9th London Heathside B 26 pts
Vet Division 2:- 1st VP&TH B 64 pts, 8th London Heathside C 2 pts
Senior Men 8,000m (372 runners)
23rd James Hurrell 27:27 A
24th James Wooldridge 27:32 A
32nd Oliver O’Connor (U20) 27:59 A (1st U20M)
48th Ismail Abukar 28:34 A
61st Andy Barnes 29:12 A
101st Charles Hardy 30:19 A
119th William Ross 30:53 A
125th Matt Collins (V45) 31:04 A (Vet A)
128th Christopher Gracie 31:08 A
143rd Martin Potter (V50) 31:44 A (Vet A) (3rd V50)
145th Joseph Cochrane 31:49 A
149th Matthew Wheat 31:57 A
150th Jake Spencer 31:58 B
154th Alex Sweet (V40) 32:08 B (Vet A)
158th Adam Mitchell (V40) 32:14 B (Vet A)
171st Mark Jefford (V55) 32:37 B (Vet A) (2nd V55)
175th Jonathan Halliwell 32:50 B
177th Paul Mercer (V45) 32:52 B (Vet A)
180th Deng Akol 32:59 B
181st Joel Northcott (V40) 33:01 B (Vet B)
186th Paul Beale (V50) 33:10 B (Vet B)
202nd Edward Garrett (V45) 33:56 B (Vet B)
208th Liam Hazelton 34:20 C
210th Tom Bedwell 34:21 (V40) C (Vet B)
211th Lee Connor (V50) 34:23 C (Vet B)
215th Valentin Valeanu (V45) 34:29 C (Vet B)
217th Nathan Tipping 34:32 C
231st Pete Crockford (V60) 34:59 C (Vet C) (3rd V60)
233rd Oliver Murray (V50) 35:09 C (Vet C)
241st Philip McDermott (V40) 35:28 C (Vet C)
244th Jack Hardy 35:31 C
262nd Leo Pemberton (V40) 36:15 C (Vet C)
269th Tony Killilea (V55) 36:26 (Vet C)
274th Stephen Topp (V45) 36:31 (Vet C)
277th Kris Milovsorov 36:37
285th Trevor Wilson (V50) 37:01
297th Joel Hawes 37:50
315th Andrew Johnston (V50) 38:51
339th Mike Hickey (V55) 41:08
361st Carl Heap (V65) 45:16
Division 1:- 1st Highgate 1545 pts, 5th London Heathside 895 pts
Division 2:- 1st Harrow 1183 pts, 3rd London Heathside B 802 pts, 9th London Heathside C 480 pts
Vet Division 1:- 1st Trent Park 395 pts, 3rd London Heathside 353 pts, 5th London Heathside B 269 pts, 11th London Heathside C 154th
Howard Williams Trophy (Seniors):- 1st Highgate 44 pts, 3rd London Heathside 42 pts
Howard Williams Trophy (Juniors):- 1st WG&EL 105 pts, 2nd London Heathside 93 pts
Sunday League XC, Cheshunt, October 17 (5 miles 395 runners)
We didn’t receive a report on the opening Sunday League fixture in Cheshunt (!) but 15 of our runners took part with V40 Tom Bedwell our first man home in 77th place out 396 and V50 Lee Connor second in 87th place. Our first woman was V40 Karina Kaufmann in 159 place followed by V60 Caroline White who came 233rd.
Results (5 miles 395 runners)
77 Tom Bedwell (V40) 32:38
87 Lee Connor (V50) 33:20
113 Stephen Topp (V45) 34:28
159 Karina Kaufmann (VW40) 36:54
193 Fabio Espirito Santo 38:25
208 Guillaume Pichois (V40) 39:14
233 Caroline White (VW60) 40:29
234 Nilesh Goswami (V55) 40:30
236 Michael Hickey (V55) 40:31
242 Marco Maserati (V60) 40:52
253 Ken Townson (V50) 41:28
302 Emilia Vynnycky (VW50) 44:13
323 Bob Gould (V75) 46:12
374 Louise Cripps (VW60) 54:19
Autumn 100 Mile, Goring, Sunday August 16
Alysia Sawicka did exceptionally well to come fourth in this 100-mile race from Goring to Little Wittenham and back (and 18th overall), missing the podium by just six seconds with a time of 19:05:56. Jacob Howe writes that ‘to put things in perspective, ahead of her Holly Rush is a GB international marathoner and Debbie Martin-Consani is an ultra-running star’.
Result
18th Alysia Sawicka – 19:05:56 (4th woman)
Alysia Sawicka (picture by Lenny Martin and Stuart March)
Oxford Health, Sunday October 17
Several Heathsiders took part in the Oxford Half, but, irritatingly, the race results do not reflect club membership. Luke Parker ran an excellent 1:18:24. Another of those who did well was Felipe Cardoso who ran a PB of 1:23:01 and sent this report:
The race course is mostly flat, although it has several sharp turns. Different bands and DJs provided entertainment including Scottish bagpipes and Japanese taiko drums in the areas with no crowd support.
I set off aiming for a new PB and finished in 1:23:01, an improvement of nearly two minutes on the Ealing Half last month.
But that is pale in comparison to the challenge two fellows set out on that morning, walking the course with a dishwasher and a washing machine on their backs.
Result
30th Luke Parker - 1:18:24
108th Felipe Cardoso – 1:23:01 (PB)
Paris Marathon, Sunday October 17
Rob Hynds put in a huge PB in Paris finishing in 2:53:55, nearly 17-minutes faster than his previous best. Also running was Phil Hogg, who finished in 3:13:58 and sent this long and funny report:
This Paris marathon is surrounded by mystery. There I was on the Champs Elysees at 0755 am, in the dark, surrounded by literally nobody. Only an hour to 9am kick off. Where on earth is everyone?
Luckily in my metro carriage I had met two other runners who exited at the same station who seemed completely unphased by the emptiness on the street. It was only their continued presence which convinced me I hadn't got the wrong day. Maybe the locals have a faith in their public transport system way beyond anything we'd have in London?
08.05am: still not a hint of the other 30,000 runners. Traffic was still driving around the Arc de Triomphe which we were pretty much starting from. The day before I had seen only about 40 portaloos set in a celebratory circle around the Arc de Triomphe. So I had come well prepared on that side of things, but was delighted to find nobody there and avail myself of a new age hippie style wooden portaloo, which contained a large bucket of wood shavings inside. It was too early and I was too confused to figure out what to do with them.
0835 I was in the still mostly empty sub-3 start box. But it started to fill up with people arriving from who knows where on a just-in-time basis. Weirdly for one of the most regulated marathons anywhere in the world ever (around 5 QR codes, vaccine certificates, medical certificates, face masks, passport) there was a weird lack of quality control surrounding who could get into the sub-3 start box. Not only had they let me in on a completely unmerited basis, but there was an assortment of humanity in all shapes and sizes, yoga gear, thermal layers, jackets, puffers and so on. All a bit bizarre and confusing. What was going on?
Anne Hidalgo (the Paris mayor making a bid to oust Macron) fired the gun to start the race, face masks into the bin, and off everyone charged down to Place de la Concorde.
Wearing a sub-3 start box BIB seemed to be all that was necessary to convince people that they were in sub-3 shape. The ferocity of the running in the Napoleonic surroundings made me wonder what terror there must have been at the battle of Waterloo for the opposition having to face these charging locals.
Pretty much everyone was going hell for leather and breathing heavily at the 3kms marker optimistically still chasing the sub-3 pacers. It made me reflect that often in football or rugby the French teams are either completely amazing winning by huge margins, or completely rubbish. They never seem to be just average. Maybe its this naturally optimistic character trait where you just keep showing up convinced you're going to smash it, and some of the time you do. It made me think about a friend who's approach to the sub-3 goal was to just keep turning up with a "today is the day mindset" and going for it, and 76 marathons in, he did it.
One good example was a guy in front who was clearly a rugby prop-forward wearing rugby headband, heat tech leggings and long sleeves with super large headphones. He kept charging past me then walking, then charging past me again. This was a bit irritating. "No way he can keep this up" I thought. But he did for at least 12 miles.
Around 11 miles in a 3-hour chaser was forging ahead with the small rucksack we'd been given at race registration on his back. He couldn't actually have given this much thought or prepared for this since we only got the rucksack yesterday. But he did seem to be fast, but how much faster would he have been without it? What could possibly have been so essential to take with you on your sub 3 quest?
Some very fast runners who had clearly also been in the wrong start box glided past at about 15 miles. Some kind locals shouted "come on Heathside" "come on London", which seemed very generous in light of current politics and was gratefully received.
My wheels were definitely coming off just as we entered the Pont d'Alma tunnel where Princess Di and Dodi met their demise. Someone has helpfully done a stencil graffiti picture of Princess Di on the pillar which had been crashed into. I pointed it out to the guy running beside me who gave me confused looks and soon I realised this wasn't down to my crap French - it was that being about 23-years-old he literally had no idea who Princess Di was.
A final highlight was the band at 40km in the Bois de Boulogne which put a late spring in my step with a stomach-turningly awful rendition of "final COUNTDOWWNNNN". This seemed to make everyone want to speed up.
A sprint (which the video now reveals to be a sideways shuffle) to the finish line was rewarded with thousands of locals banging the wooden hoarding lining the finish route in unison (how was this organised?), a fresh face mask to wear and a generic but oddly over-sized dateless medal manufactured by the local electricity company. The dateless thing seems to be the theme of 2021. Too many 2020 medals ended up in the recycle bin I suppose, so now the medals come with no date! For how long will this continue? Is it a transient thing? Will medals ever come back with a date on them? When I'm 90 years old and wondering which year I struggled around Paris, I'll look at the medal and won't have a clue. But I'm sure I'll still remember a very odd marathon, an amazing city and fantastic beers.
Results
425th Rob Hynds – 2:53:55 (PB)
Phil Hogg – 3:13:58
Report by Gavin Evans with thanks to Simon Baker, Felipe Cardoso, Phil Hogg, Jacob Howe and Lenny Martin.