Olivia Desborough wins North London Cross Country champs

A bumper crop this week, with Olivia Desborough the first woman in the North London Cross Country Championships last Saturday, while Josie Hinton was the first veteran woman and Tom Aldred the first veteran man. The women’s team won the event and the men’s team and men’s vets team each came second. Meanwhile the Sunday League at Trent Park drew 26 Heathsiders to run in the mud with fine performances from Callum Coleman and Sarah Swinhoe. And our U15 boys’ team won their 4,000m race at the NWLL Youth event in Horsenden Hills.

Sunday League XC – Trent Park, October 30

Laura Boothman and Mike Hickey report:

We woke up to a dismally wet morning, on the eve of Halloween. But our fearless Heathsiders were undaunted and we were glad to have a team of 26 to take on the very autumnal Trent Park course in the second fixture of the Sunday League season.

It was brilliant to welcome new faces (please come back again), and also to be joined by some of Heathside’s classic competitors (please come back again too).

By the time everyone had had the usual footwear discussion, it had stopped raining - and off they set. We note that some only just made it to the start and were pulling on footwear during the pre-race briefing - but we’ll let them off as they had run or cycled several miles to get to the park, or were stuck in the loo queue.

Sarah Swinhoe led the women’s team of 15 home with a really determined run, finishing in P100 and a time of 33:17. Debutant Callum Coleman took an early lead for the men’s team and sailed round with a time of 28:51 to finish in P17. But whether you were front or back of the pack we applaud you all the same. We’ll let you know how we are doing in the League overall as soon as we can.

Although outpaced by Callum on this occasion, one of our regular supporters Dave Browne said with a smile: “The Sunday League puts the ‘country’ in cross-country and it’s my personal favourite.” Emilia was happy to have shared her birthday (and lovely cake) with us. Many Happy Returns.

Huge thanks to everyone who helped – driving, cheering, baking and taking numbers. It was wonderful to have Alan Gibson with us and also for our chairman to be reunited with his hat at last (thanks Jerry for our new waterproof clipboard too). To those who sustained injury, rest up and mend soon. If you are not in our WhatsApp group and would like to be please message 07792191165.

Next up is Fairlands Valley, Stevenage on 18 December. Yes, it’s the morning after the Heathside Christmas party. So you know where you will want to be. Those red stars don’t come easy.

Result

7.6km 487 runners

17th Callum Coleman 28:51

51st Valeanu Valentin (V45) 31:10             

55th Dave Browne (V55) 31:15    

68th Lee Connor (V50) 31:52

98th Matthew Beard  (V50) 33:04

100th Sarah Swinhoe (VW50) 33:17

128th Gavin Evans (V60) 34:32

132nd Sara Black (VW45) 34:38

161st Tanya Adderson (VW45) 35:47

171st Lenny Martin (V35) 36:19

197th Suzanne Yau-Dam 36:57

211th Ania Borowska (V35) 37:37

240th Fabio Espirito Santo 38:24

241st Annabel Judd (VW55) 38:24

250th Caroline White (VW65) 38:35

256th Ken Townson (V50) 38:57

257th Katie Belkin (VW45) 38:58

278th Michael Hickey (V60) 39:59

287th Jo Irwin (VW50) 40:19

308th Sue Eedle (VW65) 41:13

309th Ann Woulfe (VW40) 41:15

341st Lorna Stevenson (VW35) 42:15

367th Alun Nash (V60) 43:31

376th Fiona Holland (VW60) 44:09

388th Tara Tapper (VW45) 44:59

423rd Emilia Vynnycky (VW50) 47:45

450th Bob Gould (V75) 49:21

470th Louise Cripps (V65) 52:47

Northwest London Youth Cross Country League Horsenden Hill, Saturday October 30

Simon Baker reports:  Half term reduced the Club's turnout but still some great performances with Dylan Mills winning the U15 Boys race, Kiara Corkin (U15G) and Koppany Szentes (U15B) finishing 2nd.  The U11 Boys finished 3rd while the U11 Girls finished 2nd in their race.  The U15 Girls finished 3rd in their race.

Under 11 Boys (2000 Metres 43 Runners)
1 L. Da Silva TVH 7.36
6 Alex Rankin LH 7.59
15 Seb McNeely LH 8.31
21 K. Young LH 8.43
29 W. Edwards LH 9.29

Teams
1 Shaftesbury Barnet (3,7,8,10) 28
2 Ealing, southall & Mdx (2,5,7,23) 47
3 London Heathside (6,15,21,29) 71

Under 11 Girls  (2000 metres 32 Runners)
1 C. Cooper Bar 8.37
2 E. Deakin LH 8.41
10 I. Wraight LH 9.09
16 W. Lazar LH 9.34
19 Mia Beeby LH 9.51

Teams
1 Ealing, Southall & Mdx (4,5,6,13) 28
2 London Heathside (2,10,16,19) 47

Under 13 Boys (3000 metres 32 Runners)
1 O. McDonald Dac 11.15
8 C. Nicolson LH 12.21
22 L. Harrison LH 13.36
25 Pip Young LH 14.02

Teams
1 Dacorum (1,2,3,x) 39
8 London Heathside (8,22,25,x) 98

Under 13 Girls ( 3000 Metres 34 Runners)
1 J. March Bar 12.11
11 Lila Blustin LH 13.52
19 C. Pegoraro LH 14.53
33 R. Monteiro LH 17.49
34 A. Krystallidi ESM 18.08

Teams
1 Ealing, Southall & Mdx (2,9,13,15) 39
4 London Heathside (11,19,33,x) 63
5 Harrow (4,5,x,x) 79
6 Barnet & District (1,x,x,x) 80
7 Ealing, Sthl. Mx 'B' (16,25,32,34) 107
8 Highgate (18,20,x,x) 108
9 TVH (10,x,x,x) 115
10 Cookham (12,x,x,x) 117
11 Dacorum (21,27,x,x) 118
12 Barnet Schools (31,x,x,x) 136
 
U15 Boys (4,000m 25 Runners)
1 D Mills LH 14.17
2 K Szentes LH 14.24
16 Ben Ryan LH 16.46

Teams
1 London Heathside (1,2,16,x) 45
 
Under 15 Girls (4000 Metres 21 Runners)
1 M. Rosen Bar 15.49
2 Kiara Corkin LH 15.59
7 I. Cannell LH 16.43

Teams
1 Dacorum (5,6,8,19) 34
3 London Heathside (2,7,x,x) 52

Under 17 Men ( 5000 metres 26 Runners)
1 M. Cattini Hrw 15.43
9 George Saint LH 17.19
23 A.Preka LH 19.41
25 Artie. Feeny-Willings LH 21.21

Teams
1 Highgate (1,4,6,11) 23
6 London Heathside (9,23,25,x) 84

Under 17 Women (5000 Metres 13 runners)
1 C. Harris Bar 18.24
3 H. Munday LH 18.41

Teams
1 TVH (4,6,7,8) 25
4 London Heathside (3,x,x,x) 42

Frankfurt Marathon, Germany, Sunday October 30

Two Heathsiders travelled to Frankfurt for their marathon. Kwasi Agyei-Owusu ran a PB time of 3:09:38 – nearly two minutes better than his previous marathon time. Rebecca Taylor ran a time of 4:23:58. Here is her report on her race:

‘It was unseasonably warm for this year's Frankfurt marathon. My race got off to a reasonable start, but I slowed down a lot after 30km when the weather got hotter and the course more exposed. I slogged on and finished in 4:23:58, much slower than my PB. But on the upside I raised £600 for women's health charity Endometriosis UK. It was a very well organised marathon and even had hot showers at the finish.’

North London XC Champs, Saturday, October 30

Lenny Martin reports that our women's team pulled off a big win and that Olivia Desborough was the first woman, with Josie Hinton the first veteran woman. Our men’s team and men’s veterans team both came second, and Tom Aldred was the first veteran man.

Chingford League 5k road race, Tuesday November 1  Redbridge Cycle Circuit

Pete Crockford reports: Summertime ended with a bang for the three of us on a very wet, windy, cold and dark, stormy circuit on Tuesday evening – lights only at start/finish. It was a novel experience racing in the dark, but fortunately I didn’t see any falls or collisions (but then it was difficult to see anything). A nasty, steepening, hill finish added to the fun, but I think we were all fairly pleased with our performances in the rather unique circumstances.

Results (227 finishers)

Mens race

11th         Andy Barnes                       17:00

98th         Pete Crockford                  21:06     1st V60

169th      Jerome BoughtonMills   24:22

SEAA Relays, October 22, Wormwood Scrubs

One we missed last week. Chairman Jerry Odlin reports:  With 3 Senior men’s teams entered for this event, a four-man relay race over 4km per leg, sadly we were only able to field one team plus one additional runner to start a B team. Unfortunately our race was over by leg 1 when the second group of athletes consisting of about 10 teams including both of our runners, Filippe and Peter, were sent off course resulting in them running 5.2km for their leg of the race. The first group of around 8/10 teams went the right way. Yann, Jem and Conor gallantly fought back to finish in 13th place out of 36 teams. I'm pretty sure that if Filippe had been sent the right way the team would have finished 4th or 5th in a race won by Windsor Slough and Eton in 48:07. Competing and winning medals at area level is where London Heathside should be and racing cross country over a short course is excellent prep for the rest of the season. I would urge our A teams both men and women to schedule this race for 2023.

A Team

Leg 1 Filippe Minelle 18:38
Leg 2 Yann Sevestre 12:12
Leg 3  Jem O'Flaherty 12:30
Leg 4 Conor Brown 13:32

Total 56:53 13th.

B Team

Leg 1 Peter Gould  18:35

Parkruns , October 29

Eighty-six Heathsiders ran in 38 Parkruns last Saturday. There were wins for Seyfu Jamaal in Finsbury Park (15:28), Amy Cook in Burgess (18:29), Rebecca Piggott at the Lordship Recreation Groups (18:29), Tom Fancett at Highbury Fields (17:32), Jessica Vinluan at Leavesden Country (23:08) and Alice Hosking at Sale Water (23:15). Full Heathside results are here

Report by Gavin Evans with thanks to Simon Baker, Laura Boothman, Jerry Odlin, Lenny Martin, Peter Crockford and Rebecca Taylor – and to Ken Townson and Caroline White for the pictures.