National XC Championships, LFOTM, Ultras and more
26.02.19 The big event this weekend was of course the National XC Champs held in the grounds of Harewood House in Leeds on saturday. It was a fantastic day for everyone attending – but the heroes of the hour were undoubtedly our young athletes. Full reports below. Other events covered include the Last Friday of the month 5k, numerous events on the track at Lee Valley and elsewhere, an ultra and a marathon in Northumberland and a watery event on Wimbledon Common.
National Cross Country Championships, Leeds, 23.02.19
Simon Baker reported back on this event: "The climax to our cross country season took place on Saturday the 23rd February at the beautiful Harewood House, north-east of Leeds. The weather was unseasonally warm without a cloud in the sky and, with the ground generally dry, the open parkland course was going to lead to fast times. Indeed many commented it felt more like a music festival than XC meeting."
First the junior team report :
The Junior teams produced Heathside's best performances ever in the National XC with Jem O'Flaherty's 5th place in the Junior Men and Thomas Archers' 6th place in the U15 Boys leading both their teams to 7th places overall.
The Junior Mens team built on their success at the Southern Championships with Jem O'Flaherty producing the best placing ever by a Heathsider at the National Championships in 5th, Seyfu Jamaal also ran a typically strong race to finish 16th. Liam Garrett also secured a top 100 place in 67th with William Griffiths completing the scorers in 150th just ahead of Antanas Weston. This caps a fantastic year for the Junior Men who also formed the backbone of the Senior XC team in the Met League.
The U15 Boys also finished in a fantastic 7th place led home by Thomas Archer with a stunning 6th place. Bedo Draskoczy ran a well paced race to finish 83rd with Jack Davis-Black and Ruairi McGonagle the other scorers. The team was completed by Lucas Maher and Sam Ingram. With the bulk of the team still Under 15 next year this remains an age group with potential for the club.
The under 15 girls, despite missing some of their stronger runners, finishesr a creditable 29th with Rose Garrett the first home in 83rd place. Mia Manttan, Lorna Dumbleton and Ella O'Flaherty completed the scorers with Fabienne Weston the last team runner. It was a family affair for Fabienne with both her brother and sister also running and dad Russell organising the junior teams.
The club didn't raise full teams in the other age groups, a consequence of a clash with half term. In the U17 Men Lemi Mideska ran another strong race for 55th place, with Stan Brown finishing 5 minutes later. The U13 Boys were led by Tynan Parker in his first season with the club just ahead of Max Deasey and both will benefit from the experience. Hattie Munday again ran well in what has been a long season with her school races to finish 169th. Teammate Amara Odeogberin will also have learnt a lot from running here. With several other girls also missing who are also U13 next year, this remains a promising age group.
Thanks as always to the Junior Coaching team Russell, Ruth, Zac and Kabir for escorting the team to Leeds on the train and ensuring they all ran so well.
The Junior Club XC season finishes next weekend on 2nd March at Wormwood Scrubs with the last NWLL. The club is in prime place to win the U11 Boys and a top 3 finish for U15 Girls and Boys. Benjy, Rose and Spike all are in individual medal places. This is followed on Sunday 3rd by the London Mini-Marathon Trials at Finsbury Park."
Senior Men and Women XC report
Simon Baker also reported on the Senior Men and Women's races: "The Men's race with a field of over 2000 runners was won by last year's Junior Mens Champion Mahamed Mahamed of Southampton in a sprint finish with Emile Cairess of Leeds City who won the team title. The Heathside team of 20 runners finished 32nd, generally on a par with our position over the last 20 years. Charles Hardy was first home in 230th with the other scorers Peter Northall, Francesco Melloni, Simon Dunderdale, Joseph McKeown and Jacob Phillips. In the 9 to score team event Alex Sweet, Peter Gould and Daniel Johns all produced top 750 positions to ensure the club finished 23rd. "
"The Senior Women were slightly depleted after their Met League victory, however 11 runners lined up on the starting line. The race was won by Emily Thornhill of Aldershot, by 11 seconds from 2nd place Phillipa Woolven of Wycombe with Leeds City completing a Senior title double. The first Heathsider home was Josie Hinton in a superb 63rd place and improvement on 90th last year, the other scorers were Ula Cartwright-Finch, Emma Watson and Tara Shrestha-Carney to secure 22nd place overall for the team slightly down on the 17th place last year."
British Masters Pentathlon Champs (inc South of England Championships) 17.02.19, Lee Valley and Middle Distance Open, Lee Valley 20.02.19
Pete Crockford broke the club 1500 m indoor record V60, on 17th Feb in the South of England champs) and then broke it again on 20th Feb in the Middle Distance Open. And Rose Garrett broke the indoor and outdoor club record for U17W 1500 m on 20th Feb. Full results of these two events are given below
British Masters Inter Area Challenge (Indoors) Lee Valley Sunday 24th
Pete Crockford did well once again in the V60 races: He came second in1500m in 5:09.77 and third in the 3000m in 11:00.97. He reported “both season’s bests, and thus improved club V60 indoor records. A great day to round off my debut indoor season, especially the 3000 which I in no way saw coming as I was just running round for the points, not expecting a “time” with the 1500 in my legs! Looking forward to a rest though!”
Minithon, Lee Valley, 23.02.19
Saturday 23rd saw the final Minithon of the season at the Lee Valley indoor season. A number of young Heathsiders took part in the sold-out field of 375.The high quality field included a number of top 10 (nationally) U13 athletes. Benjy Bediako warmed up for the forthcoming track season with PB's in the 60m and 200m, while Suraya Frost produced the 6th fastest time by an U11 in the 60m this year. Thomas Wasserman won the shot put with a throw over 1.5m further than the next athlete.
Other track events are listed below from the last two weeks, which also include Gokce Baydar breaking the club's Women's pole vaulting record previously held by Nina Anderson.
Dash for the Splash, Wimbledon Common, 24.02.19
On Sunday Scarlett ran the Thames Hare & Hounds 'Dash For The Splash'. He wrote ”apparently Thames Rowing Club athletes decided to start XC running about 150 years ago, but, amphibious by nature, they created a course on Wimbledon Common with a water crossing. The 10k race also tackles hills, boggy bits, and twisting singletrack in the wooded sections, all peppered with natural obstacles to hurdle/clamber over/whack out the way. This year's edition saw less mud than usual, but more of a wade than a splash – shades of Uxbridge Met League…and then some. We were given a big carton of sticky toffee pudding instead of a medal. Yum.” He came in 7th overall, 1st MV45. I managed 7th overall and 1st MV45."
Last Friday of the Month, Hyde Park, 22.02.19
A select group of seven Heathsiders headed over to take part in the Last Friday of the Month, and were led home by Adam Greenup in a great time of 17.44.
Coastal Trail Series, Northumberland, ultra (57k) and marathon 23.02.19
Lenny Martin was up in the north east at the weekend racing in the Northumberland round of the Coastal Trail Series. He wrote” I finished in a very unexpected 2nd place out of 123 finishers in the ultra distance (57km) in 4h50m, 13 minutes behind the winner. Heathside exile Bas Vlaming also made an appearance in the marathon, finishing in 4:32 for 49th place of 174 runners.”
Parkruns
Despite the National up in Leeds this Saturday, there was a healthy turnout of parkrunners - Fifty-seven Heathsiders took part in 18 different parkruns. Scarlett Parker and Olivia Desborough both came first at Highbury Fields, Fran Owen was first woman at Worcester Pitchcroft, Rebecca Bunting first woman at Ally Pally, and Ursula Wilson first woman at Orange Parkrun. The full results can be found here:
FULL RESULTS
National Cross Country Championships, Leeds, 23.02.19
Senior Men -12000m - 2,006 runners
1st M Mahamed (Southampton) 36:34
230th Charles Hardy 41:52
289th Peter Northall 42:39
375th Francesco Melloni 43:35
433rd Simon Dunderdale 44:06
551st Joseph McKeown 45:30
570th Jacob Phillips 45:42
580th Alex Sweet 45:48
634th Peter Gould 46:16
736th Daniel Johns 47:07
739th Jake Spencer 47:10
756th Joseph Clemoes 47:18
823rd Steve Armstrong 47:57
915th Gavin Evans 48:52
1032nd Matt Collins 49:53
1113rd Jonathan Litchfield 50:42
1181st Chris Vincent 51:22
1224th Liam Hazelton 51:48
1243rd Andrew Owen 51:57
1329th Thomas Griffiths 52:56
1367th Andrew Wooding 53:23
1st Leeds City 110 pts
32nd London Heathside 2448 pts (23rd in 9 to score)
Senior Women - 8000m - 1,034 runners
1st E Thornhill (Aldershot) 28:17
63rd Josie Hinton 32:02
168th Ula Cartwright-Finch 34:45
266th Emma Watson 36:17
293rd Tara Shrestha-Carney 36:51
323rd Genevieve Weston 37:21
381st Louisa Pointon 38:21
419th Jessica Vinluan 39:01
557th Ruth Miller 41:18
751st Fiona Holland 44:48
817th Kimberli Bulter 46:32
818th Estibaliz Guijarro Puente 46:33
1st Leeds City AC 47 pts
22nd London Heathside 790 pts
Junior Men - 10000m - 201 runners
1st R Leonard (Morpeth) 28:27
5th -Jem O'Flaherty 29:04
16th Seyfu Jamaal 29:37
67th Liam Garrett 31:32
150th William Griffiths 34:36
161st Antanas Weston 35:43
1st Tonbridge 103 pts
7th London Heathside 238 pts
U17 Men - 6000m - 272 runners
1st S Charlton (Wallsend) 18:48
55th Lemi Mideska 20:36
249th Stan Brown 25:39
1st Invicta East Kent 119 pts
U17 Women - 5000m - 220 runners
1st O Grace-Mason 17:55
91st Mimi Blake 20:55
141st Evelyn Dumbleton 22:06
1st Herne Hill Harriers 98 pts
U15 Boys - 4000m - 346 runners
1st A Thompson (Wharfedale) 13:27
6th Thomas Archer 13:52
83rd Bedo Draskoczy 14:54
108th Jack Davis-Black 15:09
124th Ruairi McGonagle 15:15
241st Lucas Maher 16:25
264th Sam Ingram 16:30
1st Aldershot Farnham & District 56 pts
7th London Heathside 321 pts
U15 Girls - 4000m - 362 runners
1st H Weedall (Vale Royal) 15:03
86th Rose Garrett 16:55
229th Mia Manttan 18:38
289th Lorna Dumbleton 19:35
292nd Ella O'Flaherty19:37
342nd Fabienne Weston 21:21
1st Blackheath & Bromley Harriers 162 pts
29th London Heathside 896 pts
U13 Boys - 3000m - 408 runners
1st B Peck (Thetford) 9:51
186th Tynan Parker 11:53
187th Max Deasy 11:54
1st South London Harriers 102 pts
U13 Girls - 3000m - 418 runners
1st S Livingstone (Exeter) 10:52
169th Hattie Munday 12:43
375th Amara Odeogberin 14:33
1st Tonbridge 90 pts
British Masters Pentathlon Champs (inc South of England Championships) 17th Feb, Lee Valley
60m - Michael Bense (V45) 8.28
200m - Michael Bense 27.62
400m - Michael Bense 61.71
400m - Tony Killilea (V50) 62.09
1500m - Pete Crockford (V60) 5:13.42 (club indoor V60 record)
Middle Distance Open, Lee Valley, Wednesday 20th Feb
800m
Amar Aiyar-Majeed U23 2.08.46
Ben Bloom 2:13.27
Tony Killilea V50 2:25.08
1500m
Rose Garret U17W 5:00.24 (new club indoor record & just quicker than existing outdoor, tho she was a bit gutted to be so close to sub-5)
Pete Crockford V60 5:10.23 (club indoor V60 record)
British Masters Inter Area Challenge (Indoors) Lee Valley Sunday 24th
1500m
2nd Pete Crockford 5:09.77
3000m
3rd Pete Crockford 11:00.97
Newham & Essex Beagles 60m Sprint Series - 13th Feb 2019
60m - Claudia Bioh 8.55/8.63
Metaswitch Games Open - Lee Valley - 16th Feb 2019
60m - Helene Kehoe 9.45/9.58
200m - Avery Dietrich - 28.91 PB
Pole Vault - Gokce Baydar (V35W) 2.83m PB New Club Record
Scottish National Combined Events, Relays and Masters - Emirates Arena - 17th Feb 2019
60m - Simon Everard (V35) - 7.75 PB
200m - Simon Everard - 25.22 PB
400m - Simon Everard - 54.58
Minithon, Lee Valley, 23.02.19
60m
Benjy Bediako (U13B) 9.11 PB
Suraya Frost (U11G) 9.11 PB
Tristian Willhoft-King (U11B) 9.71 PB
Kavya Gulati (U13G) 9.84 PB
Max Wassermann (U11B) 10.90m PB
200m
Benjy Bediako 29.80 PB
Suraya Frost 33.99
Tristian Willhoft-King 34.31 PB
Kavya Gulati 36.44
600m
Benjy Bediako 1:52
High Jump
Thomas Wasserman 1.20m
Long Jump
Thomas Wasserman 3.74m
Suraya Frost 3.04m
Shot Put
Thomas Wasserman (3kg) 7.28m PB
Kavya Gulati (2.72kg) 4.04m
Max Wasserman (U11B) (2Kg) 4.81m PB
Dash for the Splash, Wimbledon Common, 24.02.19
7th Scarlett Parker 38.51 (1st MV45)
Coastal Trail Series, Northumberland, ultra (57k) and marathon 23.02.19
Ultra (57k)
2nd Lenny Martin
Marathon
49th Bas Vlaming 4:32
Last Friday of the month, 22.02.19
35 Adam Greenup 17:44 SM
62 Mark Jefford 18:43 V50
92 Rob Shulman 19:34 V50
96 Mark George 19:47 V50
132 Satu Hietanen 20:45 FV45
211 Alun Nash 23:38 V55
287 Leo Pemberton 32:14 V40
Junior Parkruns (2000 metres)
Priory Park Junior Park Run -
24th Feb 2019 - 1st Ben Redland (JM10) 8:03
Friary Park Junior Park Run
24th Feb 2019 - 2nd Kamran Bakhshi (JM10) 7:35
Highbury Fields Junior Park Run
17th Feb 2019 - 1st Tynan Parker (JM 11-14) 7:52
Compiled by Caroline with special thanks to Simon Baker for his painstaking cross country result-extracting and report writing, and to Pete Crockford, Scarlett Parker, Lenny Martin, and Ruth, Liam, Fiona H and Lenny for photos. Apologies for any errors, or omissions - email lheathside@gmail.com for corrections.