Triumph at Wormwood Scrubs Met League

16.01.19 It was a massive weekend for xc racing – with the penultimate races for both the Met League at Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday and the Sunday League at Watford.  Full technicolour reports of both are given here, plus a few non xc race results too. 

Wormwood Scrubs Met League, Wormwood Scrubs, 12.01.19

JUNIOR REPORT

Simon Baker reports: "Wormwood Scrubs hides it's charms well but Saturday's races at least benefited from mild temperatures for January and the wind even blew away the morning rain.  After the watery exploits of Welwyn and Uxbridge the dry weather of January also ensured the majority of the course was firm and distinctly lacking in mud.

After their success last week 25 young Heathsiders donned their spikes again.  The Junior Men and U13 Boys both finished 2nd in the team competition and the U11 Boys 3rd despite only having 3 scorers.  Both Spike Blake and Benjy Bediako continued their fine form this season with 3rd places.

An excellent Junior Mens race was won by Mohamed Ali (ESM) who is ranked 3rd U17 nationally.  Lemi Mideska had initially kept contact but in the end settled for 5th with our other U17 Jake Evans following  home in 15th.  Club debutant Abel Woldegiorgis ran an excellent race finishing 21st and the 7th U15 with Ruairi McGonagle next as the 9th U15.  The club has a deep pool of talent in this age group with Oliver O'Connor 14th and Bedo Aron Draskoczy 22nd both finishing in the top 50 overall.  Lucas Maher and Kit Naylor bunched well together before Lucas pulled away in the closing stages to finish 67th with Arthur Reed close behind and Raymond Edwin bringing the team home in 79th.  The team secured 2nd place 21 points behind ESM. Lemi Mideska with one race left sits 3rd overall Met League rankings.

The Junior Women's team was missing Mimi Blake who had been ever present this season.  The race was won by Greta Stapleton (SBH) ranked 15th U17W nationally and who has won all 4 Met League races this season.  The first Heathsider home was Rose Garrett who has run all the XC races for the club this season, finishing 8th overall she was the 4th U15 and sits 6th overall in the Met League standings.  The rest of the team was also made up of U15's with Matilda Heath 16th, Ella O'Flaherty 27th and Fabienne Weston 34th.

The U13's saw the return of Jimmy Geller (WG&EL) who after winning the first two met league races missed Uxbridge to compete in the Essex County Championships.  Spike produced a solid race just finding himself eased out over the closing stages to finish 3rd and 16 seconds behind the winner.  This leaves the the first three places in the league rankings carefully balanced with Spike in 3rd place but only 1 point behind Harry Glyn (VP&TH).  Ivor Joslin in 13th improved on his 24th place at Welwyn.  Debutant Tynan Parker finished 17th and Stan Hasson 8 seconds later ensuring the team had 4 scorers in the top 20  Max Deasy ran his second race of the year finishing a solid 43rd.

In the U13 girls race Abigail Reid (WG&EL) again produced a dominant display winning her 3rd Met League race of the season.  Hattie Munday who has run all Heathsides' races this season returned to form finishing 16th.  Amara Odeogberin running her 2nd XC race of the season finished 44th.

The U11 Boys has been one of the most competitive age groups this year with 3 different winners with our Benjy Bediako having won 2.  The leaders were close until the final stages when Thomas Cadwallder (SBH) pulled away to finish 1st with Benjy having to make do with 3rd behind Louis Reynolds (VP&TH).  This sets up the last race at Ally Pally perfectly and the winner of either Benjy, Thomas and Louis will take the overall Met League U11 Boys title.  The club have a very strong group of U11's and they finished the 3rd team overall despite only having 3 runners (4 score).  Ben Redland finished 7th in his first Met League race with Eric Beale coming home 11th just 10 sec later.  There was only one U11 girl running the 1500m course, with Elkie Baker finishing 22nd but with a time I've a minute and half quicker than the previous week at the Middlesex Championships.

The next challenge for the Juniors are the Southern Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill on 26th January. Thereafter it's the last Met League fixture, the "Home" race at Ally Pally on 9th January.  This race will also act as the Club U11 and U13 XC Championships with as many Juniors as possible encouraged to take part and sample cross country racing close to home."

SENIOR REPORT

Sue Rust and Simon Baker jointly wrote the following report on the senior Met League races: 

Heathside ladies star on the Scrubs

"There was a large turnout for both the Men and Women Heathside teams at Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday in what was a record-breaking Met League race for attendance. It also proved to be another very successful meet, with the senior women following up on their county title from the week before with another win. 

The team was led home by Rebecca Bunting, who was making a welcome first appearance this cross-country season. Rebecca Piggott, who has been the top Heathside woman all season, crossed the line five seconds later, with Josie Hinton, Rosa Serafina, Olivia Desborough and Catrin Tyler following to make it six runners in the top 20. Catrin was also making her first appearance of the season -- please do come again -- while the others have been A-team scorers all, or nearly all, season. In short, it was great team performance (the best ever?) and puts us in an excellent position to win the league. Let us not forget the contributions made by our non-A team runners. They are too many to name, although Ula and Emma will have to accept being name-checked for their strong runs and newcomers such as Siobhan also deserve a mention.

The vet women also won their race with a number of top three age group performances (2nd places for Sue Rust VW40, Sarah Swinhoe VW45 and Jackie Wastell VW55 with Ruth Miller 3rd VW60).

Our large men's contingent also produced a solid performance, finishing 5th behind winners Highgate Harriers.  Sefyu Jamaal is having a great season and was the first Heathsider home recording 26:25 to finish 7th and the first U20M, another U20M Jem O'Flaherty was next 20 sec later in 11th and the 3rd U20M.  This was some revenge for Seyfu as Jem had beaten him last week at Horsenden Hill to win the Club's U20M XC Championship. Tom Aldred prevented our U20s from claiming all three top Heathside spots, crossing the line in 23rd ahead of Liam Garrett, another youngster who's running fantastically well.

The Men's Vet team finished 4th again with a number of top 3 age group performances, including in the VM55 Ash in 1st and Gavin Evans in 3rd, while Pete Crockford was the 2nd V60.

All this means with just the Ally Pally race to come the club sits 2nd in the Harold Williams Trophy behind Highgate Harriers and VP&TH with all 3 teams on 44 pts and separated on the number of race wins. 

In the team standings London Heathside now lead the Senior Women's League by 39 pts from VP&TH, with Highgate Harriers in 3rd. 

The Senior Men currently are 3rd overall and while Highgate Harriers appear to have the title secured VP&TH are only (?) 380pts ahead in 2nd.  In the Vets the women lie in 2nd overall 22 pts behind VP&TH and 97 pts ahead of Serpentine in 3rd.  The Vet Men lie 4th overall 142 pts behind Trent Park.

Individual League placings with one race to go see Rebbecca Piggott 3rd in the senior women, 2 pts behind the leaders, Emily Reichert is 4th VW35, Satu Hietanen is the 1st VW45 and Jacqui Wastell 1st in the VW55.  Fiona Holland sits 5th in the VW60 age group.  As for the men Seyfu is the leading U20M and 8th overall in the senior men with Tom Aldred in 14th.  In the age group categories Martin Potter is 2nd in VM50 3 pts behind the leaders.  Ash leads the VM55 by a healthy 8 pts with Dominic Jackson 3rd and Gavin Evans 5th.  Pete Crockford leads the VM60 standings and Carl Heap 3rd in VM65. Things can change quickly here with runners able to drop their worst result.

The latest tables and standings can be found at www.metleague.run

Next club XC race is the Southern Championships at Parliament Hill on 26th January. You needed to register for this already, but for those not running it will be a great spectacle and opportunity to vocally support the team.  The club are then hosts for the final Met League race at Ally Pally and for those who can't face that hill or muddy field they are more than welcome to volunteer to help the club organising team."

Sunday League XC, Watford, 13.01.19

Emilia sent in this report from the Sunday League: "Seventeen Heathsiders went to Watford on Sunday to run in the penultimate Sunday League cross-country race of the season, involving a guelling 9.5km course over numerous steep hills.

Scarlett Parker ran well to finish first in from the men’s side, followed by Lee Connor and Tom Bedwell.  Jessica Vinluan was first from the women’s side, followed by Emilia and Kim Butler.  Credit is due to the dirty doublers (Tom Bedwell, Jessica Vinluan, Kim Butler, Ken Townsen and Emilia) for whom this was the second cross-country of the week-end, as they had run in the Met league the day before.  Kim and Rachel decided to make it even harder for themselves by running an extra 10k to or from the nearest tube station. For birthday boy Ken, on the other hand, it was just a way of celebrating the passing of another year (happy birthday Ken!). 

Thanks are due to captains Laura Boothman and Tim Marshall for their support.  Laura raised the standard of Sunday league baking to new levels with some creative Gingerbread hedgehog and squirrels.  Thanks are also due to Lenny Martin, who, having run a 40+ mile ultra the day before, decided against a well-deserved lie-in, and became race photographer of the day.

The absence of several additional super star runners due to illness and injury meant that, despite valiant efforts, Heathside’s rankings dropped slightly, reaching 14th place for the women and 10th place for men.  We hope to see Heathside’s recovery in the next race in Royston on 10th February."

Culford XC, Suffolk, 06.01.19
Fiona Holland had a strong run in the Suffolk xc champs at Culford last week, over a longer than advertised 10K ( 6.4 miles). Fiona came in 2nd V60 in a time of 54.24.

Country to Capital, trail race, 70K, Wendover, 12.01.19

Lenny Martin took part in the Country to Capital race on Saturday - a 70km trail run from Wendover to London, finishing well up at the top end, in 6h15 for 40th place out of 370 finishers.

The Sevenoaks School Knole Run, Sevenoaks, 12.01.2019Simon Baker reports: "Four Junior Heathsiders missed the Met League on Saturday 12th January representing their schools at the prestigious Knole Park run in Sevenoaks. The race has been run since 1973 over a challenging undulating parkland course with mixed age group teams. Thomas Archer and Mia Manttan both recorded 20th places".

Parkruns
A massive 717 people took part in Finsbury Park, 508 at Highbury Fields and 399 at Ally Pally – huge increases in the usual numbers – people’s good intentions and New Year’s resolutions are obviously kicking in. With Wormwood Scrubs xc and the Sunday League xc this weekend, numbers of Heathsiders running were down somewhat, but  – first places were achieved by Cathy Jeremiah at Jells Parkrun in 21.32, and Fran Owen at Teignmouth Promenade in 19.49. Full parkrun results for Heathsiders can be found here.

FULL RESULTS

Culford XC, Suffolk, 06.01.19
Fiona Holland 54.24 (2nd V60)

Country to Capital, Wendover, 12.01.19
40th Lenny Martin 6h 15

The Sevenoaks School Knole Run, Sevenoaks, 12.01.2019
U20 Men (250 runners) 5.8 miles
1st T Tarragano U20M 31:31
20th Thomas Archer U15B 34:47

U20 Women (97 runners) 3.1 miles
1st S Foley 19:12
20th Mia Manttan U15G 21:46
31st Izzy Fornasari-Watkins U13G 22:23
60th Milly Fornasari-Watkins U13G 24:53

Met League, Wormwood Scrubs, 12.01.19

JUNIOR RACES

U11 Boys (55 runners) 1500m
1st T Cadwallader (TVH) 5:46
3rd Benjy Bediako 5:54
7th Ben Redland 6:16
11th Eric Beale 6:26

1st Woodford Green and Essex Ladies 167 pts, 3rd London Heathside 141 pts

U11 Girls (64 runners) 1500m
1st I Kyson (WG&EL) 6:04
22nd Elkie Baker 7:02

1st WG&EL 198 pts, 13th London Heathside 35pts

U13 Boys (62 runners) 3000m
1st J Geller (WG&EL) 11:43
3rd Spike Blake 11:59
13th Ivor Joslin 12:47
17th Tynan Parker 13:00
20th Stan Hasson 13:08
43rd Max Deasy 14:21

1st WG&EL 218 pts, 2nd London Heathside 189 pts, 17th London Heathside B 19 pts

U13 Girls (56 Runners) 3000m
1st A Reid (WG&EL) 12:35
16th Hattie Munday 14:22
44th Amara Odeogberin 15:25 (listed as déclaration error)

1st WG&EL 195 pts, 14th London Heathside 35 pts ( with Amara’s 11 pts we will be 12th)

Junior Men (96 runners) 4500m
1st M Ali (ESM) 13:09
5th Lemi Mideska 13:42
15th Jake Evans 14:26
21st Abel Woldegiorgis (7th U15) 14:42
27th Ruairi McGonagle (9th U15) 14:49
36th Oliver O’Connor (14th U15) 15:18
50th Bedo Aron Draskoczy (22nd U15) 15:48
67th Lucas Maher (36th U15) 16:57
68th Kit Naylor (37th U15) 17:05
71st Arthur Reed (38th U15) 17:14
79th Raymond Edwin (45th U15) 17:35

1st ESM 340 pts, 2nd London Heathside 319 pts, 14th London Heathside B 167 pts, 22nd London Heathside C 44 pts

Junior Women (61 runners) 4500 m
1st F Stapleton (SBH) 15:11
8th Rose Garrett (4th U15) 16:14
30th Matilda Heath (16th U15) 17:59
46th Ella O’Flaherty (27th U15) 19:48
60th Fabienne Weston (34th U15) 21:31

1st SBH 227 pts, 8th London Heathside 102 pts

Howard Williams Trophy (Juniors)
1st WG&EL 104pts, 6th London Heathside 79 (down 2 places)

SENIOR RACES

Senior women - (293 runners) - 6000m
1st R Walcott-Nolan - Newham Essex Beagles - 22:23
5th Rebecca Bunting (1st V35) 23:10
6th Rebecca Piggott 23:15
7th Josie Hinton 23:22
16th Rosa Serafini 24:18
17th Olivia Desborough 24:25
18th Catrin Tyler 24:28
27th Annabel Litchfield 24:59
35th Ula Cartwright-Finch (3rd V35) 25:12
40th Emma Watson 25:18
47th Leigh James (5th V35) 25:37
48th Sue Rust (3rd V40) 25:38
59th Eilidh Wagstaff 26:11
62nd Tara Shrestha-Carney 26:15
66th Angelica Datta 26:19
72nd Emily Reichert (10th V35) 26:40
73rd Tatyana Potiyenko 26:42
76th Louisa Pointon 26:52
86th Laura Hunt 27:11
87th Jennifer Wing 27:14
91st Sarah Swinhoe (2nd V45) 27:18
110th Jessica Vinluan (15th V35) 27:53
118th Rachel Rosenthal 28:12
122nd Jaqueline Wastell (2nd V55) 28:21
135th Elizabeth Beard (9th V45) 28:56
138th Madeline Minson (8th V50) 29:00
142nd Satu Hietanen (10th V45) 29:21
144th Bethany Wells 29:28
159th Emilia Vynnycky (11th V50) 30:06
161st Ruth Miller (3rd V60) 30:10
182nd Sarah Duke 30:52
184th Rebecca Sweet (28th V35) 30:56
201st Fiona Holland (6th V60) 31:46
202nd Kimberli Butler 31:46
209th Siobhan Burke 32:09
225th Marianne Gibson (18th V50) 33:20
226th Samantha Taylor 33:20
227th Rebecca Marshall (21st V40) 33:24

Division 1
1st London Heathside 306 pts, 6th London Heathside B 176 pts

Vet Women
1st London Heathside 139 pts, 6th London Heathside B 72 pts

Senior Men - (547 runners) - 8000m

(1st Roger Poolman - Highgate Harriers - 25:42)
7th Seyfu Jamaal (1st U20) 26:25
11th Jem O'Flaherty (3rd U20) 26:45
23rd Tom Aldred 27:23
28th Liam Garrett (4th U20) 27:35
46th Charles Hardy 28:22
60th Peter Northall 28:36
91st David Hellard (6th V40) 29:24
106th Simon Dunderdale 29:48
110th Francesco Melloni 29:51
134th Henry Turner 30:21
143rd Alex Sweet 30:27
144th Joseph Mckeown 30:31
147th Martin Potter (2nd V50) 30:39
152nd Michael Cockings 30:49
155th Peter Gould 30:53
159th Asmelash Abrha (1st V55) 31:00
169th Joseph Clemoes 31:07
170th Jake Spencer 31:10
191st Matthew  Cockerill (10th V45) 31:37
203rd Stuart Meiklejohn 31:52
205th Nick Ohora (11th V45) 31:55
206th Matthew  Wheat 31:56
211st Dennis Curry (27th V40) 32:02
214th Gavin Evans (3rd V55) 32:07
220th James Gibson 32:11
224th Tom Haworth 32:13
226th Jonathan Shipley (30th V40) 32:14
234th John Flahive (8th V50) 32:27
236th Matt Collins (33rd V40) 32:32
249th Paul Mercer (35th V40) 32:49
250th Paul Beale (19th V45) 32:50
251st Ben Racie 32:51
260th Rob Shulman (9th V50) 33:04
264th Andrew Owen (10th V50) 33:07
270th Tom Bedwell 33:13
276th Christopher Vincent 33:21
279th Jonathan  Litchfield (37th V40) 33:26
280th Pete Crockford (2nd V60) 33:27
304th Philip Hogg (28th V45) 34:05
307th Rajiv Ratan 34:06
312th Thomas Davis 34:09
317th Dominic Jackson (6th V55) 34:14
329th Oliver Murray (29th V45) 34:36
348th Tom White 35:05
350th Jonathan  Hopkin  (16th V50) 35:07
351st Luka Melon (51st V40) 35:07
362nd Tony Killilea (19th V50) 35:30
385th Leo Pemberton (59th V40) 36:10
389th Chris Prickett 36:15
392nd Francois Barou      (61st V40) 36:18
410th Norman Mitchell (14th V55) 36:45
427th Stuart Amblin (27th V50) 37:15
433rd Scarlett Parker (47th V45) 37:25
437th Daniel Wrapson 37:34
455th Shaun Kennedy 38:33
456th Elliot Reed (51st V45) 38:38
457th Ben Montilla (70th V40) 38:39
466th Russell Weston (18th V55) 39:01
478th Tim Sander (35th V50) 39:36
492nd Matthew Taylor 40:23
498th Joel Hawes 40:39
500th David Walton (23rd V55) 40:48
517th Ian Whisson (13th V60) 43:06
527th Ken Townson (40th V50) 44:39

1st Division
5th London Heathside 807 pts

Vet Men
4th London Heathside 224 pts, 8th London Heathside B 127 pts

Howard Williams Trophy (Seniors) after 4 of 5 races
1st Highgate Harriers 44 pts (5 wins)
2nd London Heathside 44 pts (2 Wins)
3rd VP&TH 44 pts (1 win)
4th Serpentine RC 40 pts

Sunday League, Watford, 13.01.19

Women
45 Jessica Vinluan 48:40
73 Emilia Vynncky 51:36
90 Kim Butler 53:54
110 Edyta Stott 55:28
134 Rachel Scott Halls 58:05
170 Louise Cripps 64:26 

Men
56 Scarlett Parker 39:28
67 Lee Connor 40:16
85 Tom Bedwell 41:28
114 Mark George 43:28
128 Andrew Wooding 44:35
140 Rob Bean 45:18
148 Tim Marshall 45:36
174 Mario Masserati 47:42
175 Nick Dodd 47:45
191 Mike Hickey 49:06
258 Ken Townson 55:48

Compiled by Caroline with thanks to Lenny, Fiona, Sue, Emilia and very big thanks to Simon for extensive result gathering and report writing on the Met League. Apologies for any errors.