Watford and wet feet
The 2014 Watford Half was held in glorious sunshine although there was evidence of the previous week's foul weather in a couple of spectacular water hazards out on the course, much to the despite of anyone who'd plumped for new shoes.
A healthy crowd from the club were there to mix it up with Hertfordshire's finest. For the ladies' team, Cathy J pulled out another PB with an excellent 1:26:44. Next time anyone sees her, be sure to give her a congratulatory dig in the arm - she loves that sort of thing (seriously, don't - she'll kill me). Elinor East, returning from injury, clocked 1:33 and Bridgit 1:34.
For the men, little-known exciting prospect Dan McKeown (ahem) was first Heathsider over the hills and through the puddles, in 20th place overall. Tom Livermore was less than half a minute behind with an impressively manly run, regardless of his decision to wear leggings. George Stewart ran through the pain barrier to finish just ahead of a resurgent Adam Mitchell, while Ed Garrett (vet) held off Andrew Brooker (depressingly young). All of our first six were inside 80 minutes.
There don't appear to be any official results for teams up as yet, but from squinting at the results for a few minutes, I've come to the conclusion that we missed out to Vicky Park, confound them, in men's and ladies' categories, although our creaky old vet men may just have retained their team title from last year.
Further back, I think a special mention's in order for Dave Hellard who was pacing for 90 minutes and judged it pretty much spot-on with a gun time of 1:29:57. It's entirely possible he may have been pacing the 18-minute group at parkrun the previous day (see results).
Elsewhere...
Phil Bentley clearly couldn't face the prospect of a weekend without cross country, so he went along to the Cambridge Harriers open 10. Don't be fooled by the name: they're actually based in south-east London. And their club badge makes them look like the Freemasons. (Cambridge H 10 info.) We also had runners at the Last Friday 5k and the Regents Park 10k, and Ken Heney was inside three hours at the Muscat Marathon in Oman, where I somehow can't imagine there were too many ankle-deep Watford-esque puddles.
The winner of this week's photography competition is Pete Crockford for this snap in which he truly captures the essence of staging a youth cross country race in Hendon. We had 19 of our youngest and finest at the North West London XC so well done to coaches, parents and (not least) the runners themselves! Results below.
The weekend's results
North West London Young Athletes' League Hendon, 1 Feb 2014
U17M (13 finishers)
5 Johnny Naylor 19:02
U15M (22 finishers)
17 A Turl 15:32
20 Antanas Weston 16:18
U13M (28 finishers)
3 Liam Garrett 11:16
U11M (54 finishers)
8 R McGonagle 7:19
24 Z Paul 8:05
34 O James 8:20
38 A Reed 8:30
48 Z Brooks Kaufman 9:00
U17W (9 finishers)
7 Genevieve Weston 16:32
U15W (22 finishers)
8 Ottavia Laidler 13:12
U13W (36 finishers)
11 Meg Naylor 7:19
12 Phoebe Crockford 7:20
17 Sylvie Allan 7:41
25 Rachel Finke 7:53
32 A Jevons 8:53
U11W (54 finishers)
15 Rose Garrett 5:49
49 Nell Swinhoe 7:08
51 F Weston 7:17
London U15/U17 Games (Lee Valley)
U17M 60M
2 Isayah Boers 7.63s PB
Watford Half Marathon
| 20 | Daniel McKeown | 01:16:52 |
| 21 | Tom Livermore | 01:17:04 |
| 33 | George Stewart | 01:18:28 |
| 39 | Adam Mitchell | 01:19:04 |
| 45 | Edward Garrett | 01:19:22 |
| 47 | Andrew Brooker | 01:19:45 |
| 57 | Mark Anderson | 01:20:43 |
| 71 | Julian Ferraro | 01:21:26 |
| 72 | Chris Hartley | 01:21:33 |
| 77 | Gavin Evans | 01:21:57 |
| 111 | Anthony Wilkinson | 01:24:39 |
| 119 | Chris Burn | 01:25:01 |
| 128 | Stuart Meiklejohn | 01:25:27 |
| 137 | Dominic Jackson | 01:26:06 |
| 138 | Patrick Waldron | 01:26:11 |
| 151 | Catherine Jeremiah | 01:26:45 |
| 227 | David Hellard | 01:29:57 |
| 235 | Joseph McKeown | 01:30:12 |
| 261 | Costi Stavrianakis | 01:31:27 |
| 294 | Padraig O'Brien | 01:32:51 |
| 305 | Elinor East | 01:33:15 |
| 309 | Richard Hewett | 01:33:24 |
| 331 | Bridgit Napleton | 01:34:07 |
| 339 | James Felstead | 01:34:23 |
| 372 | Henry Hamilton | 01:35:34 |
| 401 | Ryan Prestson | 01:36:41 |
| 474 | Brian Boyle | 01:39:06 |
| 492 | Nick De Sausmarez | 01:39:36 |
| 500 | John Mullee | 01:39:53 |
| 523 | Jane Higgins | 01:40:44 |
| 606 | Caroline White | 01:43:01 |
| 622 | Andrew Prystawsky | 01:43:18 |
| 629 | Daniel Wrapson | 01:43:26 |
| 693 | Tom Bedwell | 01:44:48 |
| 734 | Catherine Doherty | 01:45:51 |
| 737 | Jesper Lycke | 01:45:56 |
| 810 | Howard Monk | 01:47:51 |
| 1381 | Sarah Illingworth | 02:04:12 |
| 1523 | Aisling O'Brien | 02:11:34 |
| 1598 | Carolina Graterol | 02:16:06 |
Cambridge Harriers 10 (XC), 1 Feb 14
8 Philip Bentley 73:55
Muscat Marathon, Oman
TBC Kenneth Heney 2:56:56
Mornington Chasers Regents Park 10k
27 Rhodri Gabe 40:03
208 Caroline Essex 49:10
148 Sandra Buckton 50:59
Last Friday of the month 5k
42 Cathy Jeremiah 19:10
128 Alun Nash 22:26
Assorted parkruns