Met league finale and some quality half marathons!

The main event for London Heathside this weekend was the fifth and final fixture in the cross country met league, which was held at a new venue Merchant Taylors' school in Ruislip.  A full wrap of the season has been provided by team manager Chris Hartley, together with our goals for the next season.  We also have a handful of half marathon results to report from Wokingham and Deal as well as a scattering of parkruns.  

Firstly and most importantly here is Chris's report:

Met League Race 5

End of Term Report from Merchant Taylors' School, 9 February 2013

Final Examination Results (Heathside Team finishing places for race 5, and for the whole season):

Under 13 Boys: 5th from 12 on the day, 9th from 17 for the season. Champions: Shaftesbury Barnet

Under 13 Girls: No competitors on the day, 12th from 18 for the season. Champions: TVH

Under 17 Men: 7th from 13 on the day, 10th from 24 for the season. B team 23rd. Champions: Herts Phoenix

Under 17 Women: 3rd from 10 on the day, 2nd from 16 for the season. Champions: Herts Phoenix

Senior Women A: 5th from 9 in Division One on the day, 5th from 10 for the season. Champions: Serpentine

Senior Women B: 5th from 8 in Division Two on the day, 3rd from 10 for the season. Champions: Serpentine C

Senior Women C: 1st from 8 in Division Two on the day, 1st from 13 for the season. CHAMPIONS.

Veteran Women A: 1st from 8 in Division One on the day, 2nd from 10 for the season. RUNNERS UP.

Veteran Women B: 6th from 8 in Division One, 8 from 10 for the season. Champions: Serpentine.

Senior Men A: 4th from 10 in Division One, 4th from 10 for the season. Champions: H*ghgate

Senior Men B: 2nd from 9 in Division Two on the day, 3rd from 10 for the season. Champions: Victoria Park

Senior Men C: 3rd from 12 in Division Three on the day, 3rd from 20 for the season. Champions: H*ghgate B

Veteran Men A: 1st from 9 in Division One on the day, 1st from 10 for the season. CHAMPIONS

Veteran Men B: 5th from 9 in Division One on the day, 5th from 10 for the season. Champions: Heathside A

Veteran Men C: 2nd from 10 in Division Two on the day, 2nd from 10 for the season. PROMOTED. Champions: Ealing.

I make that 2 A* grades, 3 A, 8 grade B, 1 grade C and 1 grade D (according to my own personal marking system. No arguing).

Form Teachers Report:

On a raw, damp day at Merchant Taylor's School (Moor Park), the class of 2012/13 finally found a flat and relatively mud-free course to enjoy for the final race of the season. As is the norm for the Met League, the numbers for this fixture were down on the average overall. However, Heathside missed the opportunity to capitalise fully on weaker competition in many areas, making for a mixed afternoon of team disappointment and triumph.

In the Junior races our main interest was in the Under 17 Girls race, where the Heathside team has delivered consistently high performance this season. Unfortunately the team was not at full strength for the last fixture. Led home by a creditable run from the ever-consistent Yanna Rykov (7th from 23 finishers), the team finished 3rd on the day, holding on to their overall 2nd position for the season. The Under 17 Women have had a terrific season thanks to their quality and consistency, and thoroughly deserve their A grade. Congratulations, ladies.

The Senior Women have had a mixed season with some fantastic individual performances, but team performances generally did not quite match last season. At Merchant Taylors' School Sue Rust produced her race of the season to finish a superb 3rd from 131 finishers (the highest individual finish for the club this season), capping off a full set of 5 fine Met League runs. As a result, Sue finished 4th in the Women's overall individual competition for the full season, a truly fantastic achievement, and easily the strongest individual overall performance from a Heathside competitor. Many congratulations, Sue.

Sue led the Women's A team to a 5th place finish on the day, supported by a much improved run from Claire Morrissey, and good contributions from Bridgit Napleton, Angela Howe, Fiona Alston and Edie Fassnidge. The 19 Heathside women who competed in the race (several more than at Perivale last month, I note) produced the result we wanted, which was that Heathside's C team finished first in Division 3 and were Champions overall. They will join the Women's B team in Division Two next season. Well done, ladies! Those of you who scored on Saturday, or held the competition at bay, included Miranda Yau, Caroline White, Hannah Zwimpfer, Ruth Miller, Caroline Boyle, Jo Irwin, Gabi Johnson, Di Gardener, and Barbara Tomaszczyk. Every run counts, and the result was definitely worth the effort. Keep up the good work next term.

In the Women's Vet category, despite a joint top performance on the day, the Women's A team had too large a deficit to overhaul Serpentine in Division 1, and finished runners-up this season. The B team were 6th on the day and avoided the drop from Division 1. Good efforts this season from Sarah Swinhoe (Perivale still ranks as the run of the season, for me), the consistent Bridget Napleton, Jackie Wastell, Angela Howe, Caroline White, and Ruth Miller, amongst others.

On to the Senior Men. Absences robbed Heathside of our strongest showing at the last fixture, and results reflected that. With several of our regular A Team scorers away, regular B Team scorers (like me) found themselves scoring for the A Team instead. Consequently our hopes of pushing the Men's B Team to promotion ended in disappointment. The B Team went head-to-head with Newham and Essex Beagles for the second promotion place yesterday and came off worst. The result left Newham with 3374 points for the season with Heathside B on 3275. It couldn't have been much closer. The 'if only' factor comes into play here, the main one being 'if only the Woking Half Marathon could have been scheduled for another day.' Priorities, team, priorities.

40 Heathside men raced on the day, amongst a field of 282. Rob O'Grady showed his team mates a clean pair of heals with an excellent personal best of the season 29th place finish. Rob's fantastic run was followed by Patrick Burke, another relative newcomer who has the potential to achieve great things with Heathside. Patrick came in 38th, ahead of George Stewart (40th), Anthony Hall (his run of the season, at 46th), and Dan McKeown in 48th. Also up there with the club's quick boys were Dan Madams (59th), Steve Monaghan (61st) and Matt Convery (67th).

A special mention must go to Steve Monaghan, who turned out to run the day before taking part in the Woking Half Marathon in order to bolster the Men's Veterans challenge to retain their Division One title. Very much appreciated, Steve. Consequently, Heathside held off the challenge of H*ghgate on the day to remain Champions by 1251 points to H*ghgate's 1115. Close. The other club would have loved a Senior Men's and Veteran Men's Double, but they didn't quite make it. Oh dear. Congratulations to all the over-40s who have raced so consistently all season. Meanwhile, our Vets C Team were making their own moment of glory by winning the Division 3 title. Tony Killilea, Pete Crockford, Simon Hazell (who also ran the Wokingham half the following day - thank you for turning up), Andrew Hudson, Nick Desausmarez, Nick Skipper, Tim Nagy, Ken Townson, Adrian Essex, and others too numerous to list, salutations from your colleagues for your great running this season. Heathside Vets are the ones to beat!

Headmaster's Report:

Heathside has produced some fine individual and team efforts this term, and the arrival of fresh talent in the ranks bodes well for next season. I have been particularly impressed by the performances of runners who turn out to run and pile up the points for their teams in relative anonymity. Numbers competing have been strong. However, if the club is to compete more regularly amongst London's elite, it needs to show a little more consistency amongst its top runners. Heathside did not manage one fixture all season when its best ten or twelve runners turned out. This must change if the club is to threaten to break into the top three for both Senior Men and Women. Much promise from the Junior Women particularly, and congratulations to Sue Rust on her outstanding individual achievement. Expectations run high for next season!

Overall Grade: B+

Goals for next season, Women: A Team: Top 3 in Division One. B Team: Promotion to Division One. C Team: Avoid immediate relegation from Division Two. Women's Vets: Win Division One title.

Goals for next season, Men: A Team: Top 3 in Division One, B Team: Promotion to Division One. C team: Promotion from Division Three. Men's Vets: Retain Vets Title. B Team: Finish in top half of Division One. C Team: Avoid immediate relegation from Division One.

End of Season Prizes (Seniors):

1. For turning out for all five fixtures: Sue Rust, Claire Morrissey, Rob O'Grady, Dan McKeown, Anthony Hall, Chris Hartley, Pete Crockford, Melvyn Wachira, Tim Nagy.

2. Best Individual Woman: Sue Rust

3. Best Individual Man: Rob O' Grady

4. Best Veteran Woman: Sarah Swinhoe

5. Best Veteran Man: George Stewart

6. Most Improved Female Runner During the Season: Sarah Swinhoe

7. Most Improved Male Runner During the Season: Rob O' Grady

8. Unsung Hero of the Season: Tim Nagy (finishing positions 332nd, 347th, 388th, 343rd, 275th)

Interesting Stats (Seniors):

Two women and seven men completed all five fixtures.

A further five women and sixteen men completed four fixtures.

A total of 38 women competed in the Met League for Heathside once or more during the season

A total of 98 men competed in the Met League for Heathside once or more during the season.

Lastly, a personal word from me to say thank you to all 136 seniors, and all the Juniors, who have run in the Met League this season. I hope you will agree (even the ten who ran at the first fixture and left it at that!) that it has been a lot of fun as well as a great challenge. Many, many thanks as well to Chairman Odlin for scoring, Jacob Howe, Kabir, and Zac for coaching, coaxing, and scoring too. I look forward to seeing everyone back for the 2013/14 season in October.

And from Russell we have the following report for the Young Athletes: 

Due to the heavy race schedule for the youngsters we had a relatively small turn out on Saturday for the Met League.  The seniors may think they have a full fixture list, but most of our juniors ran in the NWLL last Saturday and the London schools over a very wet (note for Southerns) Parliament Hill on Wednesday. 

At the London schools we had some great runs although the results do not appear to be out yet.

I am not certain of all their positions, but  Johnny Naylor finished 3rd in his race.

He therefore qualified for the English schools championships, as did Rachel Seckl and Miron Woldmicheal, plus possible others.

On to the met League, Liam Garrett had the run off the day with a superb 5th place in the Under 13 boys race.

The team of the day was once again the Under 17 Women, who finished a creditable 3rd on the day, despite Rachel Seckl not finishing and several girls absent due to sickness.

Well done to Yanna, Lily and Genevieve who finished on Saturday, and congratulations to all the Girls who competed for this team this season as they finished an amazing second overall in the League.

U13 Boys

 5th  Liam Garrett 14min03sec                   

11th  Luke Gray  14min30sec                         

TEAM 5th   (9th for the season out of 17 teams) 

U13 Girls 

12th for season (out of 18 teams) 

U17 men

 9th  Johnny Naylor  17min47sec

30th  Conor O’Shea 20min24sec           

37th  Abubakar Omar  22min59sec

Team 7th (10th for season out of 24 teams)

U17 women

 7th  Yanna Raykov  20min41sec

14th  Lily Beckford  21min10sec

16th  Genevieve Weston  21min24sec (7th in Under 15 Girls race)

Team 3rd (2nd for the season out of 16 teams)

9/2/13 Metropolitan League Northwood
Senior Men 8km
29th Rog O’Grady 32min00sec
38th Patrick Burke 32min31sec
40th George Stewart 32min39sec (2nd V40)
46th Anthony Hall 32min51sec
48th Dan Mckeown 33min01sec
59th Dan Madams 33min 36sec
61st Steve Monaghan 33min40sec (4th V40)
67th Matt Convery 33min37sec
80th Chris Hartley 34min26sec (5th V45)
86th Chris Burn 34min37sec
89th Adam Mitchell 34min43sec
90th Jonathan Hopkin 34min44sec (6th V45)
105th Andy Welshman 35min14sec 97th V45)
115th John Driscoll 35min46sec (10th V40)
120th Norman Mitchell 35min56sec (2nd V50)
122nd Andy Owen 36min00sec
136th Gavin Evans 36min19sec (6th V50)
139th Richard McCaulay 36min27sec
154th Daniel Szajna 37min30 sec (5th U20)
160th Paul Mercer 27min48sec
167th Alex Sweet 38min08sec
172nd Roberto Mienone 38min15sec
173rd Melvin Wachira 38min18sec(6th U20)
175th Tony Kililea 38min23sec
176th Pete Crockford 38min25sec
182nd Stephen Meredith 38min52sec
189th Simon Hazel 39 min12sec
203rd Leo Pemberton 39min42sec
215th Laurence Arnold 40min56sec
221nd Andy Barthorpe 41min12sec
225th Andrew Hudson 41min30sec
229th Nick De Sausmerez 41min38sec
239th Gavin Parish 42min23sec
249th Russell Weston 43min48sec
251st Paul Lemmon 44min07sec
275th Tim Nagy 48min50sec
276th Ken Townson 48min55sec
277th Adrian Essex 49min05sec (9th V60)
281st Robert Gould 50min49sec (1St V70)
 

Senior women 6km (and a bit)
3rd Sue Rust 26min43sec
22nd Claire Morrissey 28min42sec
39th Bridgit Napleton 29min48sec (3rd V45)
41st Angela Howe 29min53sec (2nd V40)
43rd Fiona Alston 30min09sec
44th Edie Fassnidge 30min11sec
53rd Jackie Wastell 30min42sec (1st V50)
59th Cathy Collins 31min07sec
60th Jane Higgins 31min10sec
64th Katherine Vinnicombe 31min26sec
67th Miranda Yau 31min44sec (5th V40)
72nd Caroline White 32min36sec (2nd V50)
80th Hannah Zwimpfer 33min26sec
82nd Ruth Miller 33min37sec (4th V50)
91st Caroline Boyle 33min57sec
97th Jo Irwin 34min42sec
102nd Gabi Johnson 35min22sec
105th Di Gardiner 35min26sec
106th Barbara Tomaszczyk 35min29sec (6th V50)
 

10/2/2013 Wokingham Half Marathon  (chip times) 

29th Mike Stocks 73min59sec(3rd V40) PB

61th Julian Ferraro 77min08sec (5th V45)

65th Stephen Monaghan 77min32sec  (12th V40) PB

82nd Howard Gold 79min06sec (15th V40) PB

117th Ash Abrha 80min55sec

345th Simon Hazel 90min49sec

1185th Emilia Vynnycky 1hr54min39sec

10/2/2013 Great Bentley Half Marathon

44th Leigh James 83:28 (2nd Lady)

152nd William Wall 96:07

10/2/2013 Deal Half Marathon

33rd Elspeth Storrar 91min32sec (3rd Lady) PB

parkrun results Saturday 9 February 2013:

Beckton parkrun

5th  Brian BOYLE 22min57sec

6th Luka MELON 23min11sec

Brighton & Hove parkrun

20th Mark DERRY 19min27sec

Finsbury parkrun

7th Rob SHULMAN 18min55sec

11th Costi STAVRIANAKIS 19min42sec

33th James KELLY 21min29sec

77th Sarah ILLINGWORTH 24min46sec

Gladstone parkrun

21st Georgie KENNEDY 00:23:43 (first lady)

Hampstead Heath parkrun

59th Andrew SULSTON 26min14sec

Highbury Fields parkrun

5th David HELLARD 18min56sec

Wimpole Estate parkrun

39th Mary GATEHOUSE 23min54sec