NWLYAL #5, English Schools & awards: it's a wrap for YA cross-country season

James and Johnny wrapped up their cross-country seasons with quality runs in the English Schools Championships in Somerset on Saturday, with James among the young athletes honoured in an inaugural club cross-country awards ceremony on 8 March.

Despite James and Johnny both running in the U15 boys in the regular season the categorisation along school years meant they were in separate races in the Schools Champs, with James running over a longer distance than accustomed to and Johnny happy to have the shorter course (results below).

Congratulations to Maisie, Molly, Genevieve, Yanna, Liam, Antanas, James, and Miron for winning the inaugural Heathside cross-country trophies in their age group, and Octavia for scooping the overall female athlete award. Despite intense competition for the overall male athlete award Miron and James could not be separated and have had to share the glory.

Intended to mimic the seniors’ Turner Shield and Lambert Trophy, the young athletes awards were based on performances in five North West London Young Athletes League (NWLYAL) matches, with two Met League races and the Middlesex, Southern and National championships also counting for the U13s and above. The first Heathside athlete was awarded 15 points, with each subsequent finisher awarded one point less. We had athletes in four age groups (no U20s), so four age group winners for each sex, and then also awarded a trophy to the overall male and female athletes with the most points.

The age group winners are:

Under 11 Girls - Maisie Able

Under 13 Girls - Molly Harrison

Under 15 Girls - Genevieve Weston 

Under 17 Women - Yanna Raykov

Under 11 Boys - Liam Garrett

Under 13 Boys - Antanas Weston

Under 15 Boys  - James Wooldridge

Under 17 Men - Miron Woldemicheal

The overall male athlete award caused the most excitement, especially amongst the boys as it was so close. In the U17 Mens Daniel beat Miron in the second NWLYAL fixture at Ally Pally in November, but over the next 3-4 months James and Miron were unbeaten for the club. As a result, only 1 point separated them until the Nationals, when Max Robertson beat James so that with one race to go James and Miron were tied. Both raced the last race of the season as if their lives depended on it, with both achieving high finishes if not their highest finishes of the season. So in the end overall Miron and James finished tied on 149 points out of a maximum 150. The overall girls competition was not so close, however, as Octavia led for most of the season until getting ill and missing a few races. 

U15 boys go out on a high with NWLYAL 1-2-3

The young athletes cross country season came to a finish in a huge weekend on 3-4 March for the youngsters. In the last NWLYAL on the Saturday all our youngsters ran well with lots of top ten finishes but the highlight were the Under 15 boys, who made it a 1-2-3 (James Wooldridge, Johnny Naylor, Max Robertson). Not surprisingly they won the team race on the day, which meant they won the team trophy for the season. The Under 15 Girls also did well in the league, narrowly missing out on retaining the trophy they won last year (finished second overall). The cross-country race was followed by the mini-marathon trials on the Sunday, with 158 finishers in the trials on the day, and another 21 running the course a week or so later to set or improve their times. 

English Schools Cross-Country Championships, Ilton, 17/03/2012

U17 Men/Intermediate Boys (6km)

162nd James Wooldridge 22:22 (1st London team finisher)

(315 finishers)

No complete London team (?)

U17 Men/Junior Boys

62nd Johnny Naylor 14:14 (2nd London team finisher)

(329 finishers)

Team: 25th out of 43 teams

North West London YA League, Match 5, Perivale, 03/03/2012 

U11 Girls (1200m)

16th Maisie Abel 6.08

U13 Girls (2000m)

8th Molly Harrison 8.21

9th Octavia Laidler 8.24

12th Maya Raykov 8.29

(4th team out of 6) 

U15 Girls (3000m)

4th Genevieve Weston 9.50

U17 Women

2nd Yanna Raykov 15.25

5th Kathleen. Jackson 18.35

6th Jade O'Brien 18.35

7th Ellen Jackson 19.12

(2nd team)

U11 boys (2000m)

8th Liam Garrett 8.15

9th Z. Taylor-Breem 8.16

(5th team)

U13 boys (3000m)

11th L. Gray 9.31

12th Antanas Weston 9.42

15th Tom Mills 9.48

(4th team out of 6) 

U15 boys (4000m)

1st James Wooldridge 12.46

2nd Johnny Naylor 12.50

3rd Max Heap 12.54

17th Z. (Jasper?) Crockford 15.03

18th D. Yin 15.11

(1st team) 

Under 17 Men (4700m)

4th Miron Woldemichael 16.26

8th Daniel Szajna 17.09

13th Izaiah Turner 18.54

(3rd team out of 5)