Mud, sweat and cheers
28.01.20 The big event of the weekend was the SEAA Southern XC Championships held at Parliament Hill with thousands of runners taking part from the South of England. No podium places for Heathsiders but the enthusiasm and energy from the runners and the supporters, and the knee-deep sapping mud, and heartbreaking hills made it a hugely enjoyable and memorable day. Other events from the weekend include the London Games and the Staverton 10.
SEAA Southern XC Championships, Parliament Hill, 25.01.20
Simon Baker reported on the XC event: “This is turning into a classic XC season with courses now coated in thick mud making racing a real challenge (if not the washing it off afterwards!). The Southern XC Championships, hosted again at Parliament Hill, provided a true spectacle with 1,000s of runners from throughout the South of England taking part. The club has never been quite as successful in this championship as in the London Championships or Met League, maybe as runners start to focus on the spring road races, although last year the women nearly made the podium. This year the senior women's and men's team finished 7th and 12th, respectively, with the men bettering their 2019 position by one. The Junior Teams matched their best turnout in the last 10 years, fielding five full teams in the eight Junior Races. While they couldn't match the 2nd place in the U20 Mens race last year the U17 Men finished 4th and the U15 Boys battled to a great 10th place.
There were a number of great individual performances. Seyfu Jamaal got one place better than last year to finish 4th with Jem O'Flaherty in 9th in the U20M race while Thomas Archer was 5th in the U17M race. Tom Aldred produced one of his best placings in this race to finish 27th while Olivia Desborough secured a top 50 finish to be our first senior women home.
Senior Report
There is nothing greater than the sight of 1,000 runners in multi-coloured vests heading across the field and up the hill at the start, after which point the runners descended into a quagmire with the mud sapping strength from legs. The course is a relentless series of uphills and descents with little time to maintain an even rhythm, with the Seniors also having the pleasure of running on courses well churned up by the Juniors beforehand.
The Women's race saw a high quality field with Met League leader Elizabeth James of Herts P finishing in 3rd place, just narrowly missing pipping Nicole Taylor of Tonbridge to second. With Julia Bijl unfortunately dropping out of what was her first cross-country race for Heathside this season, the Heathside team was lead home by Olivia Desborough in a great 48th place, 22 places better than last year despite a time 20s slower than last year reflecting the hard conditions. Evangelista Divetain followed over the line 30 seconds later in 60th, with Rebecca Bunting (68th) and Brogan Wallace (72nd) completing the scoring for the team. To add to the spice of the last Met League meeting Highgate Harriers, boosted by their best runners, won the senior women's title. There were 14 other Heathsiders who took up the challenge with a host of great runs, such as Kimberli Butler who improved both her time and placing on last year, and Emily McKane also looking to have had a good run.
Run over three laps of the course, the men's race is a daunting 15,000m but that didn't put off 40 brave Heathside souls. Or maybe it did, but they still raced. Tom Aldred improved his placing from last year by 28 places to lead the team home in 27th place. The Men's race is the only one with 6 to score and Roger Maidment was next home in a top 100 finish (85th). Kimon Doulis, Pete Northall and Ewan Gault all crossed the line in less than 55 minutes, with Francesco Melloni completing the team in 156th. The others were rounded off by determined Carl Heap, who finished just under the 1.5 hour mark. A special mention to Rob Sambrooks, 39th finisher for the men, who made the Southerns his first cross-country outing! That's the way to do it.
The U20 Men, with only two runners this year, could not match their Silver Medal from 2019 but Seyfu Jamaal again excelled to go one place better in 4th place and with Jem O'Flaherty not far behind in 9th we look forward to seeing what they do in the Nationals.
Junior Report
This was one of the Club's most successful Championships. We usually struggle as it comes hard on the heels of the Middlesex Schools Championships, which is held less than 48 hours earlier, and as a result many of our runners arrive on the start line with a hard run already in their legs.
The U15 Boys kicked off the day’s racing. The race was unfortunately marred by poor marshaling, curtailing the race by 1 Km, but the Heathsiders battled to a great 10th place. Bedo Draskoczy led them home in 53rd, 4s later Michael Smith crossed the line. Newly crowned Middlesex Schools Champion, Spike Blake was next despite having been ill in the week and the scoring team members were completed by Jack Davis Black, who had to continue running despite one of his spikes breaking and cutting his foot. Arthur Reed, Stan Hasson and Fred Beale completed the official runners. Unfortunately Lucas Maher and Nana Oduro-Nyaning, who had issues with their timing chips, completed the race but have no time.
Next to go were the U13 Girls. Our first 3 runners all came in within 12s of each other. Mia Rosen competing in her first major championships for the club, had been ill in the week and was not sure whether to run but she still produced a gutsy race to finish 84th, Hattie Munday who had run a fine Middlesex Schools race found it hard over the second half of the race to finish just further back in 95th. However, the surprise package was Kiara Corkin, our U11 star, who was the first Heathside girl home in 79th place in her first race over the longer distance and in this age group. This was a plus for her as she finished a full 30s ahead of her Met League nemesis Posie Shaw. Amara Odeogberin completed the scoring with Libby Judd Hawkes, also completing her first major championships. The team finished 22nd but with Mia and Kiara still U13 next year could see a substantial improvement.
Illness hit the U13 Boys team, too, with Tynan Parker unable to take part. In his absence Ivor Joslin was first home in 98th, with Benjy Bediako, who skipped a 800m race to take part, Gregory Berrisford-Sweet and Eric Beale all then finishing within eight seconds of each other. Thomas Colney competed the team, which finished in 28th.
The U15 Girls are without any standout runners this year but have developed real team spirit under Ruth's management. We had six runners here with Anna Pritchard first home in 135th place, Mia Hampton Philips was next home in 194th with Lorna Dumbleton, Ella O'Flaherty and Allanese Dacoco completing our representation. A great all round performance from them all in such hard racing conditions.
Led by Thomas Archer, the U17 Men recorded one of the club's best ever results in the Junior Races, finishing 4th. Thomas, who is the newly crowned Essex Schools Champion, set the tone by finishing 5th, Jake Evans on the back of his great Met League performance was 13th followed by Ruairi McGonagle in 92nd, and close behind was Oliver O'Connor, who completed the scoring members. The Heathside U17 men were also represented by Sam Ingram, who finished 161st. With most of the team U17 next years this again is an exciting group for the club who can go even better next year.
We only had two U17 Women runners. Mimi Blake, who had finished 2nd in the Middlesex Schools race on the Thursday, finished a tired 60th and Rose Garrett, who is returning from injury, 76th.
Well done to all the Juniors who took part, parents, coaches and team managers Ruth and Russell. The next race is the last Met League fixture on 8th Feb with the Club third in the overall Junior League standings. Thereafter the National Club and Schools Championship Races are now targets for the Juniors to aim for. Lots more mud awaits........
RESULTS
U13 Girls
3,000m, 304 Runners
1st F Baxter (Chiltern) 12:20
79th Kiara Corkin (U11) 14:12
84th Mia Rosen 14:14
95th Hattie Munday 14:24
245th Amara Odeogberin 16:21
262nd Libby Judd Hawkes 16:40
1st Chiltern Harriers 78 pts, 22nd London Heathside 503 pts
U13 Boys
3,000m 304 Runners
1st A Collier (Chiltern Harriers) 11:24
98th Ivor Joslin 13:08
194th Benjy Bediako 14:09
201st Gregory Berrisford Sweet 14:13
208th Eric Beale 14:17
263rd Thomas Conley 14:54
1st Chiltern Harriers 86 pts, 28th London Heathside 701 pts
U15 Girls
4,000m 304 runners
1st C Dewar (Windsor & Hounslow) 17:00
135th Anna Pritchard 20:12
194th Maia Hampton Phillips 21:22
222nd Lorna Dumbleton 21:55
235th Ella O'Flaherty 22:09
263rd Edie Friedlander 22:48
291st Allanese Dacoco 24:44
1st Windsor & Hounslow 38 pts, 30th london Heathside 786 pts.
U15 Boys
4,500m 317 pts
1st L Sullivan (St Edmund) 14:24
53rd Bedo Draskoczy 15:54
65th Michael Smith 15:58
80th Spike Blake 16:10
107th Jack Davis Black 16:33
216th Arthur Reed 17:54
228th Stan Hasson 18:03
275th Fred Beale 18:59
Lucas Maher and Nana Oduro-Nyaning both finished but no time recorded.
1st South London Harriers 82 pts, 10th London Heathside 305 pts
U17 Women
5,000m 158 Runners
1st B Wood (Salisbury) 19:13
60th Mimi Blake 22:20
76th Rose Garrett 22:58
1st Aldershot 80 pts
U17 Men
6,000m 206 Runners
1st M Taylor (Tonbridge) 21:50
5th Thomas Archer 22:39
13th Jake Evans 23:10
92nd Ruairi McGonagle 25:17
95th Oliver O'Connor 25.23
161st Sam Ingram 27.12
1st Windsor & Hounslow 49 pts, 3rd South London Harriers 153rd, 4th London Heathside 205 pts
U20 men
8,000m 118 Runners
1st M Stonier (Invicta) 26:05
4th Seyfu Jamaal 26:18
9th Jem O'Flaherty 26:54
Senior Women
8,000m 694 Runners
1st J Gibbons (Reading) 28:41
48th Olivia Desborough 32:37
60th Evangelista Divetain 33:06
68th Rebecca Bunting 33:22
72nd Brogan Wallace 33:25
101st Annabel Litchfield 34:30
105th Emily McKane 34:42
122nd Sarah Swinhoe 35:10
143rd Emily Reichert 35:51
177th Amber Fahey 36:51
182nd Estibaliz Guijarro Puente 37:03
185th Ciera Kennedy 37:12
200th Laura Hunt 37:41
328th Jackie Wastell 40:59
375th Kimberli Butler 42:13
385th Caroline White 42:27
403rd Elizabeth Beard 42:45
449th Heather Marshall 44:14
450th Sarah Duke 44:19
1st Highgate Harriers 66 pts, 7th London Heathside 248 pts
Senior Men
15,000m 1,172 Runners
1st A Hickey (Southend) 47:28
27th Tom Aldred 50:28
85th Roger Maidment 53:28
110th Kimon Doulis 54:24
115th Pete Northall 54:35
126th Ewan Gault 54:55
156th Francesco Melloni 55:40
176th Peter Gould 56:14
227th Simon Dunderdale 57:15
311th Thomas Stottor 59:23
314th David McCormick 59:25
376th Chris Holmes 01:00:47
378th Matthew Field 01:00:48
381st Joseph McKeown 01:00:51
411th Matthew Wheat 01:01:17
412th Steve Armstrong 01:01:20
421st Michael Cockings 01:01:27
481st Oliver Negus 01:02:36
498th Simon Brown 01:02:58
503rd Chris Vincent 01:03:03
514th Thom Hart 01:03:20
515th Joel Northcott 01:03:21
517th Matt Collins 01:03:22
521st Paul Mercer 01:03:25
526th Nicholas Hodges-Gibson 01:03:26
536th Jonathan Litchfield 01:03:44
570th Chris Hartley 01:04:34
598th Jake Spencer 01:05:00
617th Joseph Clemoes 01:05:26
628th Francois Barou 01:05:38
671st James Caven 01:06:35
719th Nick Haward 01:07:35
727th Rob Shulman 01:07:47
731st Nelson Wandasiewicz 01:07:53
750th Valentin Valeanu 01:08:21
783rd Tom Parker 01:09:21
823rd Gavin Evans 01:10:29
871st Gordon Brady 01:12:09
959th Matthew Beard 01:15:06
1025th Rob Sambrooks 01:18:45
1141st Carl Heap 01:26:36
1st Aldershot 96 pts, 12th London Heathside 619 pts
Non Thomas New Year Open Cardiff 19.1.20
1500m
Rosa Stefani 4:51.89
London Games U13/U15/U17, Lee Valley, 25-26 January 2020
Some more great performances at Lee Valley as the U13/U15/U17 age groups competed over the weekend. More fabulous performances saw 2 more club records broken and a host of PB's.
Fleur Eltringham added the indoor U13G 200m record to her 60m mark and Martha Jolly improved the U13G Indoor Long Jump Record by 13cm with a leap of 4.24m.
Results
60m
Rufus Tansey (U17M) 7.37/7.37 PB
Ella Mai Hancock (U15G) 9.09/9.15 PB
Fleur Eltringham (U13G) 8.91/8.99 PB AAA Grade 4
Suraya Frost (U13G) 8.98/9.08 AAA Grade 4
200m
Ella Mai Hancock (U15G) 30.12 PB
Fleur Eltringham (U13G) 30.48 PB new club record AAA Grade 4
Martha Jolly (U13G) 31.69 PB
Long Jump
Ella Mai Hancock (U15G) 3.59m
Martha Jolly (U13G) 4.24m PB new club record AAA Grade 3
Shot Put (4 Kg)
Thomas Wassermann (U15B) 6.89m PB
Staverton 10, Gloucestershire, 26.01.20
Ben Montilla ran the Staverton 10 in a nippy time of 75 minutes on Sunday. He gave a brief report: “Conditions: flat, windy and a bit of rain. “
Results
86th Ben Montilla 75.36
Middlesex Schools XC Championships, Harrow, 23.1.20
London Heathside had one of its largest contingents of runners representing their Boroughs at the Middlesex School's Championships at Harrow School, with 14 representing Haringey alone. The races are also the qualifying race to represent the County at the national Schools Championships in March.
While the results are not published there were a host of great performance including Spike Blake winning the Junior Boys title. In the Colts Ben Redland finished 4th and Hattie Munday 8th in the Junior Girls. In the Inter Girls Mia Manttan was 7th with Alice Metcalfe 8th. The previous Saturday Thomas Archer secured the Essex Schools Inter Boys title
Well done all and best of luck to those selected for the National Schools race.
Parkruns can be found here There were first places for Leo Burningham at Ally Pally and Louisa Pointon at Peckham Rye
Compiled by Caroline with massive contributions from Simon B, and thanks also to Sue R, and Ben M, Ruth for the photo and of course Laurence for sorting out the new website and helping post this first news report on it.
