Stoked on Trent (Park): LH Women fly to Met League Glory

It's a race report writer's dream this week as the bulk of the work has been done by everyone else (and I still can't get it online before Friday....) Anyway, not content with leading the women to cross country glory in the Met League mud at Trent Park, Captain Kelly (and Sarah) have done even more leg work as they recall Saturday's glorious events below. So without further intro, read on:

"It was windy. It was wet. It was woeful. That could mean only one thing…we had a XC race to do. It wasn’t just any XC race though. There was a mist of excitement, tension and suspense lingering in the air….and no it wasn’t the North London derby. It was of course the Met League February finale.

As always, there was the fear of who our north London friends and rivals might spring up on the final day. All too often we have seen it before; our teams battle hard together as a unit, turning up for as many league races possible and helping each other out, only to be burned by a few A listers that miraculously turn up for one or two meets to represent other clubs. Such is life. But not today.

The women were poised in first place at the top of the league thanks to resurgent efforts over the Scrubs and Welwyn fixtures but it was still too close to call. The men had rallied together to put to bed any relegation battles and have been quietly but not unnoticeably getting stronger as the league progresses.

Trent Park is known for being a tough and challenging course and it was especially muddy and slippery after the recent foul weather. Unfortunately, this mean that our star performer Rebecca Piggott, who was already carrying an injury going into the final meet, was forced to withdraw early on into the race. This only encouraged the ladies to dig in and work that bit harder, not wanting to let the hard work of earlier fixtures go to waste. As the hills opened up, Josie Hinton took the race on and, using her excellent good form from marathon training, was able to lead the charge home and get her first ever top 10 finish in the Met league. She was followed in by Kelly Thorneycroft, Bethany Scott and the ever improving Olivia Desborough. It should be noted that Bethany Scott was suffering from real flu and still risked the cold and rain to get the points in for the team. The A team was followed in by our resurgent captain Sarah Swan and Leigh James putting in a good shift to close out the A team scorers.

Fear not, despite the injury, Rebecca Piggott managed a tremendous 3rd place finish in the league overall. What a way to come back from an injury. However, our super star captain Sarah Swan not only finished 10th overall in the met league (after 4 races), she also secured the victory in the v45 category. Nice one, captain, clearly the good results means you should serve a 2nd term ;)

There were many credible performances across the womens team and we thank everyone who turns up and spends their Saturday doing battle as a team. It really helps build and bond a great team spirit. Special thanks also go out to Ella Waldman who was injured but thanks to her gutsy performances managed to help get the team primed in position for the final roll out.

Full results from the womens race below:

Pos Div Team Time Name

6 1 A 0:25'03.21 Josie Hinton

11 1 A 0:25'24.80 Kelly Thorneycroft

15 1 A 0:25'50.02 Bethany Scott

16 1 A 0:25'50.77 Olivia Desborough

25 1 A 0:26'26.80 Sarah Swinhoe

34 1 A 0:26'48.05 Leigh James

50 2 B 0:27'51.21 Satu Hietanen

68 2 B 0:28'42.21 Sue Rust

73 2 B 0:28'55.05 Monika Newton

74 2 B 0:29'04.36 Tatyana Potiyenko

75 2 B 0:29'09.11 Sara Black

76 2 C 0:29'14.89 Tara Shrestha-Carney

77 2 C 0:29'15.74 Jennifer Wing

80 2 C 0:29'29.77 Louisa Pointon

88 2 C 0:29'46.45 Jaqueline Wastell

97 2 C 0:30'22.45 Cathy Jeremiah

101 2 0:30'31.24 Sally Chatterton

103 2 0:30'42.55 Alice Hosking

116 2 0:31'21.30 Madeleine Minson

123 2 0:31'53.55 Sarah Duke

126 2 0:32'02.45 Emilia Vynnycky

135 2 0:32'30.61 Jessica Vinluan

137 2 0:32'46.58 Ruth Miller

138 2 0:32'56.77 Emma Watson

167 2 0:34'51.30 Rebecca Marshall

173 2 0:35'30.08 Kimberli Butler

174 2 0:35'32.58 Samantha Taylor

177 2 0:35'48.83 Tamara Rowe

180 2 0:36'14.05 Rachel Scott Halls

181 2 0:36'20.61 Claire Sliwerski

204 2 0:39'47.24 Laura Boothman

Meanwhile, the men have responded in force to the earlier call to arms from Messrs Hartley and Spencer. So much so that the performance of the team saw them finish 2nd on the day, par with the womens result. Perhaps its time we start giving our men some more noise, just look what they can do when they get a bit of attention :) The men were  7th overall, leapfrogged by Hillingdon and VPH. B team finished 2nd in Div 2 and 4th overall. C team finished 6th in Div 2 on the day and overall for the season. The Vets finished 3rd overall. 5 people in the top 50, a far cry from struggles of the opening fixtures!

It was fitting to see the return of Tom Aldred from injury on the day to lead the men in and finish inside the top 20 to banish all talk of a drop down a division. Kimon Doulis, who has also been valiantly representing the club despite groin issues (so bad that he had to get some tights to go under those shorts), was in 2nd, and his stamina and resilience throughout the season have kept the men in touch with the noisy neighbours. Charles Hardy followed them, having another excellent run as he comes back from a shin niggle. Big Rich Macauley was chasing him down to be the 4th finisher, working on that base and strength that will no doubt see him power through another track season on the oval jungle. Johnsy 67th and 2nd V40 (excellent) Mike Cockings 103rd and Ed Samuels 108th finished in the A team, 138th Joe McKeoewn, 145th Antanis Weston and 12th U20

Ash finished, finally curing his flu in 151st and 2nd V 50, securing his 1st ever gold star. Lovely to see Howard Gold 193rd  back running and Jonathan Litchfield, back from injury 194th. Jacob Howe 302nd, off his manflu deathbed and into his spikes, much respect. Also, a big shout to Sentll, not put off by the Scrubs experience, he finished in 411th and displayed the true spirit of the Club. And of course, special mention to Chris Hartley, who never let the dream die of multiple met league scalps, finishing top v50 on the day and clinching the overall league position.

Pos Div Team Time Name

14 1 A 0:30'38.74 Tom Aldred

27 1 A 0:31'52.33 Kimon Doulis

30 1 A 0:31'59.33 Charles Hardy

33 1 A 0:32'06.70 Richard Macaulay

36 1 A 0:32'18.30 Peter Gould*

66 1 A 0:33'26.89 Sion Lewis

67 1 A 0:33'27.80 Daniel Johns

73 1 A 0:33'35.36 Peter Northall

82 1 A 0:33'50.39 Joe Garrood

97 1 A 0:34'24.86 Andy Barnes

103 1 A 0:34'44.55 Michael Cockings

108 1 A 0:34'52.61 Edward Samuel

121 2 B 0:35'15.11 Alex Sweet

127 2 B 0:35'34.64 Matthew Cockerill

131 2 B 0:35'39.83 Chris Hartley

137 2 B 0:35'49.95 Jonathan Shipley

138 2 B 0:35'50.70 Joseph McKeown

139 2 B 0:35'55.58 Joseph Clemoes

145 2 B 0:36'08.99 Antanas Weston

147 2 B 0:36'11.02 Simon Brown

149 2 B 0:36'16.08 John Driscoll

151 2 B 0:36'22.33 Asmelash Abrha

152 2 C 0:36'29.58 Mark Jefford

154 2 C 0:36'41.77 John Flahive

160 2 C 0:36'46.86 Leonard Martin

165 2 C 0:36'51.74 Chris Holmes

169 2 C 0:36'59.67 Jake Spencer

171 2 C 0:37'05.67 David Fallon

173 2 C 0:37'10.02 Mark Anderson

183 2 C 0:37'28.86 Christopher Vincent

193 2 C 0:37'47.58 Howard Gold

194 2 C 0:37'47.95 Jonathan Litchfield

204 2 0:38'08.70 Philip Hogg

208 2 0:38'15.74 Lee Connor

217 2 0:38'25.21 Rajiv Ratan

220 2 0:38'30.74 Gavin Evans

228 2 0:38'46.55 Trevor Wilson

242 2 0:39'20.70 Andrew Owen

244 2 0:39'23.45 Adrian Essex

246 2 0:39'25.02 Keith Borrows

247 2 0:39'28.67 Philip (Unclear)

253 2 0:39'42.17 Tony Killilea

267 2 0:40'19.42 Thomas Griffiths

273 2 0:40'39.36 Jack Pinnick-Gray

277 2 0:41'02.08 Mark George

288 2 0:41'38.55 Stuart Amblin

290 2 0:41'43.77 John McKnight

292 2 0:41'46.14 Luka Melon

296 2 0:41'49.45 Rick Hewitt

297 2 0:41'52.08 Ian Shurmer

302 2 0:42'08.11 Jacob Howe

305 2 0:42'09.58 Roger Wagland

324 2 0:42'58.45 Andrew Johnston*

331 2 0:43'32.42 Filipe Cardoso

354 2 0:45'00.55 Bas Vlaming

358 2 0:45'25.64 Nick Desausmarez

381 2 0:48'32.95 Norman Mitchell

384 2 0:48'59.70 Shaan Haque

393 2 0:49'58.67 Ken Townson

396 2 0:50'04.39 James Nicholls

411 2 1:03'22.39 Senthir Kumar

There are many other great performances and stories from the day and the whole series and we look forward to defending titles and creating more memories next year. Don’t forget to clean your spikes sooner rather than later….!!!

Junior Races

It has to be said that the juniors have had a really fantastic season all round and their performances can make us all feel very optimistic about the future of the club. The numbers have grown and there’s a wonderful sense of camaraderie and joy amongst the juniors; even watching them warm up and having fun in the process  is a pleasure. It’s been a long season for the Juniors and they still have two more NWLYA races to go, as well as the Nationals, and for some lucky tykes the English Schools and the Inter-Counties.

U11 Boys

Eric Beale 8th and Ned Taylor 38th respectively in this race.

U11 Girls

Hattie Munday has had an absolutely top season and although her 11th position on the day was not her best performance of the season it was reflective of her sheer commitment and gutsy running. She has finished 3rd and 4th in previous fixtures and has been a stalwart of the U11. Well done, Hattie, you should feel very proud. Amara Odeogberin also did well to finish in 11th.

U13 Boys

The team finished 3rd on the day but 4th in the league overall and I have to pick our Spike Blake as having the race of the day, finishing in 2nd place and only 8 seconds behind the winner. He has had a brilliant season and this was a fantastic final race. Bedo Draskoczy also had an excellent race, finishing in 4th, followed by Lucas Maher in 18th, Max Deasy in 29th, Josh McCombe in 39th, Avery Dietrich in 42nd and Frederick Beale in 43rd. A team effort to be proud of.

U13 Girls

Ella O’Flaherty was the only Heathsider in the race and finished in 33rd place.

Junior Mens (U15/17)

Jake Evans had a fantastic run and led the LHS team home in 5th place, a really outstanding run on a tough course, followed by Stanley Brown in 27th and Oliver O’Connor in 36th. Oliver was not on his usually good from but still managed to get round and score for Heathside.

Junior Women (U15/17)

The front of this race was dominated by Shaftesbury Barnet, one lone Herts Phoenix runner and then a sea of pink knee-high clad LHS girls. Rose Garrett has come home first for LHS in every Met League race this season and did not disappoint on the day, finishing in 6th place, followed by Mimi Blake in 7th and only two seconds behind. Both Mimi and Rose have run consistently well this season and proved themselves to be excellent runners, going from strength to strength throughout the winter. Third home for LHS was Nell Swinhoe in 11th place, who has consolidated her running this year. Mia Mantan, relatively new to the Club, had a strong run and  was fourth to score in 13th place, followed by Matilda Heath in 17th. The U15 finished 2nd overall this season and with many of the girls being in the younger year of this age category there is lots to be excited about for next year and we look forward to seeing  the pink socks out in force for many a year to come.

In the U17s, Lily McKay was 27th and Ella Conlon was 33rd, followed by Aurelie Hadad in 36th place.

It’s worth remembering that these young men and women are the future of our Club and if you weren’t able to watch any of their races this year do try to next season. On behalf of the parents of the young athletes, I would like to thank all of the XC coaches: Kabir, Zac, Ruth, Russell and Rachel, for training, mentoring and inspiring these young people to train and compete. You provide them with such opportunities week in and week out and are excellent role models for them. The Club is privileged to have you and we are very grateful for all you do."

Nothing more to be said here except: Come on you Heathside! 

Best of the rest

Elsewhere over the past week, there were 2 Heathsiders spotted at the Victoria Park Winter 10k as Richard Murphy finished in 9th place (38:15) while Satu Hietanen was 2nd W40 in 45:05. 

Parkruns

First finishes this week for Chiara Borg (Oak Hill) and Steve Armstrong (Stewart Park, Middlesbrough). All results here: http://www.parkrun.com/results/consolidatedclub/?clubNum=2017