Trent Park Met League : Heathside Women take Met League title for 3rd year in a row, Individual success for Jake Evans in the Junior Men's race

The week’s report is all about the final Met League fixture at Trent Park, which saw the Women’s Senior team emerge once again as Metropolitan League champions, as well as winning on the day. in addition there was a great individual win from Jake Evans in the Junior Men’s U17 race. Unfortunately Heathside was pipped into 2nd place for the Howard Wilson trophy, which combines the Senior Men and Women’s results, only on countback having tied on points with the winners Highgate.

Our Chairman Jerry Odlin was fulsome in his praise of the performance :

“ You have to hand it to our women's cross country team, Metropolitan League Champs for an unprecedented 3rd year in a row using 14 different athletes to make up the scoring 6 for the A team. Great strength in depth. Congratulation also to our team manager Sue Rust and of course our coaches who put in so much work.”

Race reports and all results follow of the big event, from Sue Rust ( seniors ) and Simon Baker ( juniors )

Met League 5, Trent Park, 8.2.20

The Met League reached its conclusion on an almost spring-like day at Trent Park this Saturday. But although the sun shone the ground was heavy with mud, which made the otherwise innocuous-looking top field very hard going and a real test for tired legs. The formidable London Heathside women's team again dominated proceedings, winning the fixture and thereby the League, making it three titles in a row.

Although not (yet?) matching the women's results, the men have also been making a mark this season and at Trent Park they finished fourth to take third overall in Division One, a superb performance. 

Unfortunately in the Club's 25th anniversary year we weren't able to take the Howard Williams* trophy for best overall Club. Although tied with Highgate on number of both fixture wins and second places Highgate retained the trophy by virtue of more 3rd places.

Senior Race Report

With Highgate winning the Southern's the pressure was on for our ladies to maintain their dominance in the Met League and take the League title for the third successive season. In the end it was a convincing win with six runners in the top 30.

Rebecca Bunting, who much prefers pounding out a marathon with tunes in her ears, has played an important role this season for the A-team and was first Heathsider over the line in fifth. Olivia Desborough ended the season in style with a top 10 finish, and was quickly followed by strong newcomer Brogan Wallace and then Eva Divetain, who has had a great first Met League season. Emily McKane has been racing better with each fixture as she learns the ropes and wrapped up her Met League season with her first A-team slot. Super vet Sarah Swinhoe, who ended up as the League's top female V45, completed the scoring team.

A special mention to absentees Rebecca Piggott and Annabel Litchfield for their stellar contribution to the A-team’s performance this year, but also to Beth Hawling for her impressive comeback to cross-country at Ally Pally after an injury at Claybury disrupted her season. There are many more individuals to name-check for good reasons, but let’s leave that to an award ceremony some time…

All in all we had 41 women running in the Met League this season. In addition to those named above and in the results below would the following please take a bow: Catrin Tyler, Laura Hunt, Sue Rust, Ciera Kennedy, Rachel Rosenthal, Trudy Kearney, Elizabeth Beard, Becky Sweet, Sarah Duke, Edyta Szot, Rebecca Marshall, Rosa Serafini, Louisa Pointon, Satu Hietanen, Yanna Raykov, Angela Howe, and Sam Taylor. And please let no-one be missing from that list.

The men's race saw Seyfu Jamaal blaze to 3rd place and the 1st U20. Charles Hardy shook things up a bit up front by overtaking Tom Aldred with about 300m to go to, finishing in 20th place and Tom in 21st. Kimon Doulis and Olivier Le Poulin ran well to come in the top 50, with Ismail, Francesco and Sion all finishing roughly within a minute later. Jo McKeown, Matthew Wheat, David McCormick and Thomas Clark completed the scoring team

Junior Race Report.

There was a tremendous turnout of young Juniors with many debutants.  The Club secured 3rd Place overall in the Howard Wilson (Junior) Trophy, one of the club's best ever performances. In a great series of races Jake Evans won the Junior Men's race with 2nd places for Ben Redland and Kiara Corkin. Hattie Munday also secured a top 10 finish.

As usual the U11s kicked off proceedings with Ben Redland and Arthur Phillips, with 2 wins each, in a straight head to head for the League Title. Despite leading at half way Ben could not stay with the Shaftesbury Runner and finished 7 sec behind in 2nd place.  However in what is Ben's first full season 2nd place in the league is a fantastic achievement and he still has the National Primary School Championships to look forward to.  Sam Turner in 25th led a pack of Heathsiders with Prince John, Max Pelosi, Chayil John and Rory Willis all finishing within 30s of each other. The team was completed by Cholkhmah John.  In the U11 Girls Kiara Corkin was guaranteed 2nd place in the League and again, as in the case of all the races this year, she finished 2nd to Posie Shaw.  Like the boys the rest of the girls came in within 30s with Elkie Baker 23rd, Charlotte Beale 29th and two debutants Jessica Lappin and Felicite Fudge.  Both teams finished 3rd overall in the league a brilliant performance.especially for the Girls as in two races only Kiara and Elkie ran.

The U13s were next off although due to the course design the start had to wait until the previous race backmarkers had crossed the starting straight.  The length of the season may have taken a toll on some athletes, with Tynan Parker and Ivor Joslin both finishing down the field.  Benjy Bediako was the first Heathsider home in 12th with debutant Sam Lindsall 19th and Eric Beale next in 26th thereafter the team came in quickly with Ivor 28th, David Baah-Oykere in his first race this season 29th, Gregory Berrisford Sweet was 33rd with Tynan 35th.  The team effort was capped by Lucas Keys, another debutant, to give the team a 5th place on the day and 4th place in the final league standings.  In the U13 Girls race Hattie Munday again produced a fine performance in a high quality field finishing 7th.  Ruby Walls who has now become a regular was next in 18th and Ella Higgins 26th with Amara Odegoberin completing the team scoring to give the team a hard earned 4th place and 5th overall.  

The Junior Men saw a sensational run by Jake Evans, who gained his revenge to this time outpace the Shaftesbury runner to take his first win of the season.  Many Juniors had opted to rest their legs ahead of the National Championships so Michael Smith was next home in 21st place followed by Stan Hasson in 55th.  Fred Beale the third of the Beale family to run came in 62nd with Rafi Brodkin 30s later in 70th and Kit Naylor the last Heathsider home.  The team finished 8th but achieved 4th overall in the League a great result.  The Junior Women only had two representatives: Rose Garrett, who came home in 25th, and Fabienne Weston, who had run in the London Schools race on Wednesday. Having been in 2nd place the team slipped to 4th overall in the final standings. .

Again thanks to the coaches and team managers for supporting the young runners.  Special recognition should go to Ben Redland, Rory Willis, Kiara Corkin, Elkie Baker, Eric Beale, Hattie Munday, Amara Odeogberin and Michael Smith who all ran in every Met League race this season. The Junior XC season still has someway to go with the NWLL next week and both National Club and Schools races to compete in.

Trent Park Met League 5# , Trent Park 8/02/20

Senior Women (8,000m, 218 Runners)

1 E Janes (Herts P) 28:34

5 Rebecca Bunting 31:11

10 Olivia Desborough 31:36

11 Brogan Wallace 31:46

14 Evangelista Divetain 32:12

19 Emily Mckane 32:45

29 Sarah Swinhoe (V45) 33:34

36 Lily Woolcock 34:01

43 Emily Reichert 34:45

57 Tatyana Potiyenko 35:42

62 Estibaliz Guijarro Puente 36:06

69 Jennifer Wing 36:26

97 Jessica Vinluan 38:49

98 Ruth Miller (V60) 38:52

104 Kimberli Butler 39:15

108 Maura Bellio 39:31

122 Madeleine Minson (V50) 40:17

129 Jaqueline Wastell (V55) 40:51

148 Heather Marshall (V40) 42:27

172 Fiona Holland (V60) 45:05

177 Emilia Vynnycky (V50) 45:46

183 Marianne Gibson (V50) 46:24

Division 1 1st London Heathside 364 pts, VP&TH 348 pts, 7th London Heathside B 218 pts Overall:- 1st London Heathside 1,798 pts, 2nd VP&TH 1,659 pts, 7th London Heathside B 1,011 pts

Division 2  1st Trent Park 340 pts, 6th London Heathside C 184 pts Overall:- 1st Trent Park 1797 pts, 5th London Heathside C 1211 pts

Vet Women Division 1 1st VP&TH 128 pts, 6th London Heathside 87 pts, 10th London Heathside B 20 pts Overall:- 1st VP&TH 661 pts, 3rd London Heathside 536 pts, 10th London Heathside 197 pts

Vet Women Division 2 1st Ealing Eagles 106 pts, 11th London Heathside C 0 pts Overall:- 1st Ealing Eagles 454 pts, 10th London Heathside C 61 pts

Senior Men (8,000m 426 Runners)

1 D Evans (SBH) 25:26

3 Seyfu Jamaal (U20) 25:38

21 Charles Hardy 27:16

22 Tom Aldred (V40) 27:18

36 Kimon Doulis 28:01

46 Olivier Le Polain 28:22

54 Ewan Gault 28:30

65 Ismail Abukar 28:56

67 Matthew Rallison 28:58

78 Francesco Melloni 29:11

80 Sion Lewis 29:13

114 Joseph Mckeown 30:19

116 Matthew Wheat 30:21

120 David Mccormick 30:22

121 Thomas Clark 30:23

133 Jack Hardy 30:39

149 Steve Latham 30:57

151 Chris Holmes 31:02

156 Rob O'Grady 31:09

159 Michael Cockings (V40) 31:13

165 Steve Armstrong (V45) 31:24

180 Matt Collins (V40) 31:51

184 Henry Turner 31:57

190 Joel Northcott 32:05

191 Oliver Negus 32:06

196 Christopher Vincent (V40) 32:12

202 Jake Spencer 32:19

208 Chris Hartley (V55) 32:28

214 Tom White 32:41

215 Jonathan Litchfield (V40) 32:42

218 Mark Jefford (V50) 32:45

220 Filippo Minelle 32:50

221 Jonathan Halliwell 32:54

225 John Flahive (V50) 33:01

239 Dominic Jackson (V55) 33:19

243 Leonard Martin 33:25

248 Tom Haworth 33:31

254 Paul Mercer (V45) 33:54

258 Valentin Valeanu (V40) 33:59

261 Lee Connor (V50) 34:04

264 Andrew Wooding 34:13

265 Nick Haward (V45) 34:15

267 Matt Beard (V50) 34:19

268 James Caven 34:20

278 Gavin Evans (V55) 34:41

284 Adam Jauncey 34:55

291 Richard Peachment (V50) 35:05

314 Mattthew Cartledge (V40) 36:05

317 Ian Anderson 36:10

328 Fabian Thehos 36:29

336 Mark George (V50) 36:44

341 Jos Hickson (V45) 36:59

354 Andrew Johnston (V50) 37:48

387 Leo Pemberton (V40) 39:18

395 Joel Hawes 39:40

411 Neil Thomas (V40) 41:06

420 Russell Weston (V55) 41:57

431 Alun Nash (V55) 42.35

437 Ian Whisson (V60) 43.33

Division 1 1st Highgate Harriers 1427 pts, 4th London Heathside 1071 pts Overall:- 1st Highgate Harriers 6937 pts, 3rd London Heathside 5,415 pts

Division 2 1st Highgate Harriers B 1371 pts, 3rd London Heathside B 1119 pts, 7th London Heathside C 893 pts Overall:- 1st Highgate Harriers B 7011 pts, 3rd London Heathside B 5682 pts, 7th London Heathside C 4315 pts

Vet Men Division 1 1st VP&TH 369 pts, 2nd London Heathside 303 pts, 7th London Heathside B 178 pts Overall:- 1st VP&TH 1796 pts, 2nd London Heathside 1619 pts, 7th London Heathside B 997 pts

Vet Men Division 2 1st London Front Runners 298 pts, 2nd London Heathside C 262 pts Overall:- 1st London Front Runners 1490 pts, 2nd London Heathside C 1370 pts

Howard Wilson Trophy

1st Highgate Harriers 44 pts (3 wins), 2nd London Heathside 44 pts (3 wins)

Overall Individual Placings

Tom Aldred 1st V40M

Rodger Maidment 1st V45M

Sarah Swinhoe 1st V45W

Mark Jefford 1st V50M

John Flahive 2nd V50M

Jackie Wastell 2nd V55W

Ruth Miller 2nd V60W

Chris Hartley 3rd V55M

Junior Results

U11 Boys  (1500m, 52 Runners)

1st A Phillips (SBH) 5:11

2nd Ben Redland 5:18

21st Sam Turner 5:56

22nd Prince John 5:57

25th Max Pelosi 6:048

31st Chayil John 6:15 (11th U10)

34th Rory Willis 6:19 (14th U10)

46th Cholkhmah John 6:59

1st Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 180 pts, 3rd London Heathside 137 pts, 10th London Heathside B 45 pts Overall:- 1st WG&EL 776 pts, 2nd SBH 726 pts, 3rd London Heathside 620 pts

U11 Girls (1,500m 43 runners)

1st P Shaw (SBH) 5:37

2nd Kiara Corkin 5:39

23rd Elkie Baker 6:28

29th Charlotte Beale 6:42 (6th U10)

34th Jessica Lappin 6:59

35th Felicite Fudge 6:59

1st WG&EL 152 pts, 5th London Heathside 88 pts Overall: 1st WG&EL 644 pts, 2nd SBH 389 pts, 3rd London Heathside 373 pts

U13 Boys (3,000m, 62 runners)

1st G Stubbs (SBH) 10.27

12th Benjy Bediako 11:55

19th Sam Lindsall 12:06 

26th Eric Beale 12:27

28th Ivor Joslin 12:36

29th David Baah-Oykere 12:37

33rd Gregory Berrisford-Sweet 12:44

35th Tynan Parker 12:53

45th Lucas Keys 13:34

1st SBH 229 pts, 5th London Heathside 152 pts, 11th London Heathside B Overall:- 1st SBH 947 pts, 4th London Heathside 671 pts, 11th London Heathside B 110 pts

U13 Girls  (3,000m, 48 runners)

1st A Reid (WG&EL) 11:13

7th Hattie Munday 12:18

18th Ruby Walls 13:14

26th Ella Higgins 13:50

33rd Amara Odeogberin 14:12

1st WG&EL 162 pts, 4th London Heathside 104 pts Overall:- 1st WG&EL 867 pts, 5th London Heathside 521 pts

Junior Men  (4,000m, 87 runners)

1st Jake Evans 13:50

21st Michael Smith 14:57 (6th U15)

55th Stan Hasson 16:42 (28th U15)

62nd Fred Beale 17:10 (34th U15)

70th Rafi Brodkin 17:37 (39th U15)

73rd Kit Naylor 17:54

1st SBH 305 pts, 8th London Heathside 204 pts, 23rd London Heathside B 29 pts Overall:- 1st SBH 1666 pts, 4th London Heathside 1475 pts, 15th London Heathside B 648 pts

Junior Women  (4,000m, 64 Runners)

1st J Miranda (SBH) 16:06

25th Rose Garrett 18:14

62nd Fabienne Weston 23:00 (43rd U15)

1st SBH 226 pts, 17th London Heathside 41 pts Overall:- 1st SBH 1042 pts, 4th London Heathside 770 pts Howard Wilson Trophy (Junior) 1st WG&EL 102 pts 13 wins 2nd SBH 101 pts 13 wins 3rd London Heathside 91 pts 3 wins

Howard Wilsons Trophy (Junior)

1st Woodford Green & Essex Ladies 102 pts, 2nd Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 101 pts, 3rd London Heathside 91 pts

Overall Individual Placings

Under 11 Boys:- 2nd Ben Redland, 15th Rory Willis

Under 11 Girls:- 2nd Kiara Corkin, 11th Elkie Baker

Under 13 Boys:- 11th Tynan Parker, 14th Eric Beale

Under 13 Girls:- 5th Hattie Munday, 17th Amara Odeogberin

Under 15 Boys:- 6th Michael Smith, 21st Stan Hasson, 22nd Arthur Reed

Under 17 Men:- 4th Jake Evans, 7th Oliver O'Connor

Under 15 Girls:- 19th Fabienne Weston

Under 17 Women:- 3rd Mimi Blake, 9th Rose Garrett

Compiled by Mark, thanks to Sue and Simon

Jake after his victory