Heathside Women Win Middlesex X-Country Champs

Highlights of last weekend included the victory of Heathside’s women in the Middlesex Cross-Country Championships at a bitterly cold Trent Park, with special mention for Rebecca Piggot who came third and for Issy Watkins who came second in the U20 women’s event. V45 Tom Aldred was our first man in seventh position, and, overall, our men came second. The U15 Boys and U20 Women also came second and the U11 Boys, U13 Girls and U 17 men came third.

The report also covers the Be Fit Indoor Open at Lee Valley on January 5, the New Year’s Open at Lee Valley, the Podium 5k at Battersea Park on December 31 (where Seyfu Jamaal finished in 14:49) and the Parkruns on January 4 (where Seyfu Jamaal won in Finsbury Park in 15:37).

Middlesex County Championships, Trent Park, Saturday January 4.

The Senior Women's victory in the Middlesex XC Championships was the highlight of a cold and muddy day at Trent Park.   The club again excelled with all but two of the teams securing podium finishes. 

The Senior Women were champions while there were 2nd places for the U15 Boys, U20 Women, Senior Men.  There were 3rd places for the U11Boys, U13 girls, U15 Girls, U17 Men.    Individual medals were won by Issy Watkins 2nd U20W, Rebecca Piggott 3rd SW, Edith Deakin (5th U13G) and Sam Turner (5th U17M).

For the first time the championships were run in conjunction with Hertfordshire which helped boost race numbers and offered more competitive racing.  The initially frozen ground softened quickly providing a suitable challenge for runners which included cattle in the lower fields. 

The U11s kicked off the racing with Anah Bah 7th in the U11 Girls and Michael Schofield 10th in the boys race.  The U13 Girls team was anchored by Edith Deakin's 5th place while Dylan Lewis was the first boy home in 23rd place.  The U15 Boys showed great teamwork with Charlie Nicolson, Alex Kirk and Rory Willis all finishing between 8th and 12th places to take the silver medal.   Similarly, Margot Hunt and Lila Blustin were both in the top 10 to ensure the team took bronze.  Illness and Injury meant there was no U17 Women's team with Lettice Gundry and Ivy Gray both in the top 10. 

 The U20 Women saw Issy Watkins finished 2nd with sister Millie 4th.  It was also great to see Hattie Munday running again and she ensured the team won a silver medal.  In the U17 Men's race Sam Turner's 5th place was supported by Dylan Lewis and Ephraim Sileshi to take the team to 3rd .  The U20 Men just missed out on medals finishing 4th with Arthur Hawkes, Taran Parke-Antonis and Artie Feeny-Willings all finishing between 17th and 20th.

The Senior Women dominated their race with competition from Met League rivals and 2024 Champions Thames Valley Harriers failing to materialise.  Rebecca Piggott, Jessica Prior and Anna Rawsthorne were all in the top 10 and Molly Harrison's 15th place saw the team take the title 41 points better than 2nd placed Trent Park. 

The men’s race saw Tom Aldred again produce a great performance to finish 7th followed by Kader Seted in 11th.  Kader had been late for the start and had not even had time to attach his number but had worked his way through the field.  Great packing saw Tsegay Berhane finsih next with Christopher Gracie, Andy Barnes and Sion Lewis all finishing in the top 20 the club were the first to have 6 scorers finish.  However Thames Valley's 6th runner crossed in 22nd place to help them retain their title and our men make do with silver medals. 

Results

U/11 Girls (1700m 27 finishers)

1st S Davies (TVH) 7:25
7th Anna BAH 08:31
11th Kitty WARBURTON 08:38
24th Rosa DOUE TAI 11:15
27th Mirianthi HAWARD 12:12

Team:- 1st Barnet & District 38 pts, 3rd London Heathside 42 pts 🥉

U/11 Boys (1700m 46 finishers)

1st   E Polubryukhov (ESM) 7:30
10th Michael SCHOFIELD 07:54
22nd Caleb LODGE 08:13
23rd Ralph WILCOX 08:13
36th Dominic JELES 09:46

Team: 1st SBH 32 pts xth London Heathside 55 pts

U/13 Girls (3km 36 finishers)
1st  V MURALIDHAR 11:42
5th Edith DEAKIN 12:19
20th Matilda HINSON 13:26
27th Emilie Rose BOIVIN EMINA 14:32
28th Greta LAWRENCE 14:53
35th Skye MURRAY 17:08

Team:- 1st ESM 18 pts, 3rd London Heathside 52 pts   🥉

U/13 Boys (3km 37 finishers)
1st  B Kaspar (SBH) 10:36 
23rd Dylan LEWIS 12:18
26th Alexander RANKIN 12:30
32nd Harrison EYRE 13:05
37th William EDWARDS 13:57

Team: 1st SBH 14 pts, xth London Heathside 81 pts 

U/15 Girls (4000m 41 finishers)
1st J March (Barnet & District) 15:31 
8th Lila BLUSTIN 17:26
10th Margot HUNT 17:36
17th Sky PARKE-ANTONIS 18:20
33rd Caitlin ROBERTS 20:09
39th Isla KAVANAGH 21:11

Team:- 1st SMR 25 pts, 3rd London Heathside 35 pts🥉

 U/15 Boys (4,000m 46 finishers)
1st  A Pflug (Highgate) 13:09
8th Charlie NICOLSON 14:47
11th Alex KIRK 14:54
12th Rory WILLIS 14:55
26th Joe SKELSEY 15:41
27th James MCGUIRE 15:42
34th Nathan GRELA BEKELE 16:52
44th Ziggy ELLIS 19:21

Team 1st VPH&TH 20 pts, 2nd London Heathside 32 pts 🥈

U/17 Women (5,000m 12 finishers)
1st R James (VPH&TH) 22:59
8th Lettice GUNDRY 25:39
9th Ivy GRAY 26:30
Team: 1st VPH&TH 8 pts, No London Heathside Team

U/20 Women (5000m 9 finishers)
1st A Massey (TVH) 22:22
2nd Issy WATKINS 24:05 🥈
4th Millie WATKINS 24:17
9th Hattie MUNDAY 29:03

Team:- 1st TVH 14 pts, 2nd London Heathside 15 pts🥈

U/17 Men (5000m 22 finishers)
1st H Austin (Highgate) 18:25
5th Sam TURNER 19:53
10th Dylan MILLS 20:46
15th Ephraim SILESHI 21:29

Team: 1st Highgate Harriers 25 pts, 3rd London Heathside 30 pts 🥉   

U/20 Men (8000m 22 finishers)
1st S Greenstein (SBH) 25:25
17th Arthur HAWKES 30:00
19th Taran PARKE-ANTONIS 31:11
20th Artie FEENY WILLINGS 31:47

Team:- 1st Highgate Harriers 12 pts, 4th London Heathside 56 pts

Senior Women (8000m 67 finishers)
1st H Viner (Highgate) 28:16
3rd Rebecca PIGGOTT 29:12 🥉
7th Jessica PRIOR 29:55
10th Anna RAWSTHORNE 31:26
15th Molly HARRISON 32:34
23rd Emily CLARKE 33:57
28th Tanya ADDISON 35:32
29th Satu HEITANEN 35:45
33rd Jennifer WING 36:55
35th Jessica CRITCHLOW 37:04
44th Kimberli BUTLER 39:03
52nd Ozcan SALTYSIAK 39:43
54th Ann WOULFE 40:06
62nd Sue EEDLE 45:34

Team:- 1st London Heathside 35 pts, 🥇 2nd Trent Park 76 pts

Senior Men (10,760m 132 finishers)

1st T Fawden (Highgate) 33:58
7th Tom ALDRED 36:31
11th Kader SEYED 36:57
12th Tsegay BERHANE 37:13
15th Christopher GRACIE 37:40
19th Andy BARNES 38:11
20th Sion LEWIS 38:22
21st Scott COLLER 38:29
30th Tom LIVERMORE 39:51
31st Ewan GAULT 39:55
32nd Oliver NEGUS 40:12
33rd Conor BROWN 40:16
41st Jordan MARSHALL 40:56
52nd Edouard GILLARD 42:46
56th Denden FISHAYE 43:29
58th Matt COLLINS 43:39
67th Mihaly JELES 44:39
75th Matt BEARD 45:25
80th Jose SABROSO 46:18
81st Pep PAMIES 46:20
84th Philip HOGG 46:34
88th Chris HARTLEY 47:09
90th Oliver MURRAY 47:45
97th Rob SHULMAN 48:30
111th Lee CONNOR 51:06
114th Federico FORTI 51:44
119th Glen TAYLOR 52:39

Team 1st Thames Valley Harriers 67 pts 2nd London Heathside 84 pts 🥈 

BeFit Indoor Open 2, Lee Valley, Sunday January 5 2025

Results:

60m

Women Rd 1

H5 5th Myla Miller (U15G) 8.45

H10 1st Asia Emanuel (U20) 8.26

Men Rd 1

H7 3rd Mikel Alexander (U17) 7.26 PB by 0.22s

H9 1st Tobias Toth Stevens (U20) 7.33

H11 7th Montana Dennis (U20) 7.36

Women Rd 2

H6 5th Asia Emanuel (U20) 8.30

H8 2nd Myla Miller (U15) 8.29 PB by 0.03s

Men Rd 2

H6 4th Mikel Alexander (U17) 7.27

H7 8th 8th Tobias Toth-Stevens (U20) 7.46

H8 7th Montana Dennis (U20) 7.44 

200m

H14 6th Magdeline Paitoo (U20W) 27.45

H6 2nd Adam Chehabeddine (U17M) 24.41

H7 2nd Mikel Alexander (U17) 23.32

H9 2nd Nathaniel Swinhoe (U20M) 24.69 PB by 0.36s

60mH

Rd 1

H2 1st Gabriel Edwards (U15B) 9.01

H9 3rd Montana Dennis (U20M) 8.44

H9 5th Thomas Wasserman (U20M) 8.75

H10 5th Trey Corlis (U20M) 8.24

Rd 2

H2 1st Gabriel Edward (U15B) 8.85 PB and NCR by 0.07s

H9 3rd Trey Corlis (U20M) 8.18

H9 4th Montana Dennis (U20M) 8.44

H9 7th Thomas Wasserman (U20M) 8.89

 New Years Open, Lee Valley, Thursday January 1 2025

Adrian Day reports that at least six Heathsiders skipped New Year’s Eve partying to be fresh at Lea Valley Athletics Centre on January 1st. Helena won the early-bird prize - she was there at 8am to set up (and then operate) the electronic timing kit. Helena was working in tandem with Heathside’s evergreen starter Ivor Wiggett.

Michael Salousti, Mohamed Kamara and Adrian Day all registered by 9am to run the 60m - Mohamed ran just shy of his PB whilst Michael and Adrian clocked respectable over 60s masters’ times of 9.03 and 9.35 respectively.  Adrian then managed an indoor PB of 46.48 in the rarely run 300m, Tony Killilea got his first 800m of the year under his belt and Michael and Adrian finished off the day with decent 200m ‘first race of the season’ times.

Results

60m

H3 8th Mohamed Kamara 7.49

H19 1st Michael Salousti (V60) 8:03 PB

H21 5th Adrian Day (V65) 9.35

200m

H18 2nd Adrian Day (V65) 29.54

H19 5th Michael Salousti (V60) 30.46

300m

H8 3rd Adrian Day (V65) 46.48

800m

H3 2nd Tony Killilea (V65) 2:42.20

Podium 5km, Battersea Park Tuesday December 31

Race 1, 5km

1st C Holder (Hercules Wimbledon) 15:40

11th Jordan Marshall 15:58

Elite Men 5km

1st T Tarragano (Brighton) 13:49.0

27th Seyfu Jamaal 14:49.7

Parkruns, Saturday January 4 2025

Seventy-nine Heathsiders ran in Parkruns last Saturday, with first places for Seyfu Jamaal in Finsbury Park (15:37), Connor Brown in Harrow (17:36), Tom Fancett in Highbury (27:39), Johnny Forsyth in Whitstable (17:52) and Chiara Borg in Oak Hill (19:52). Full Heathside results here.

Report by Gavin Evans with thanks to Simon Baker, Adrian Day and Jacob Howe.