Met League 1: Senior Men
Men´s Report - Amended
On Saturday 10th October the Start Fitness Metropolitan Cross Country League opened at the customary location of Claybury, where fast starts and sharp elbows are needed, which gives everyone a good wake-up to get the season started. The Men´s team had a mostly familiar look to it but the performances from some athletes were anything but familiar, meaning that the team got off to an excellent start to the season.
Photos (by Alex Wardle)
First in for the team was Tom Phillips, breaking into the top 10 in the very first Met, coming in 9th. Tom has started his training 3 weeks earlier than usual as he feels it will suit his new training method, and he would have been pleased he made this decision as our next man in, Tom Beedell, 13th, showed his excellent recent form of running a half marathon PB (71.28) by starting fast and making sure Tom P had a good battle to be first Woodford man in. Next in was Angus Holford, who had shown good form two weeks earlier in the Essex relays and produced even better this time, coming in 17th. Anyone who has known Angus for some time will not be shocked by this result, but it was an excellent return to top form for the good Dr, and it was such leaps in form that helped the team so much on the day. Emphasising this point was next man in, Daniel Steel in 20th. Daniel's best Met result of last season was 66th so to see such a massive jump was very pleasing, and with Daniel targeting the Istanbul Marathon next month this manager will keenly look out for the result.
Just behind was Daniel Bruynooghe in 22nd. To gain Daniel back after two years of injury was very pleasing and with this run he showed his undoubted ability. In fact for the first lap he was tracking the two Toms and had to let them go in the second half of the race, which is to be understood as he is only doing 10 - 20 miles a week, which shows the power of talent and consistency of training! In just behind was new winter man Ryan McKinlay in 24th. Having changed jobs 6 months ago Ryan is doing well to keep his running to a high level, and his position in this race showed what ability he has, and he no doubt will be looking to come even higher if training keeps going well. Up next was Omar Mansour in 31st. With most athletes, if they said that training wasn't fully clicking yet then they pulled out a 31st in the Met, you'd think they were pulling your leg, but this manager knows the talent level of Omar and this result begs the question that if training fully clicked, how high could he go? In 36th was Bertie Powell. Bertie is an ever present at the Mets for Woodford over 11 seasons, but sometimes over the last two seasons only sheer determination has been the thing keeping him going as he has being plagued by injury. So it was pleasing to see him with a proper running action (rather than a hop or limp) and improving massively on his 120 at this fixture last year.
In next was a non-scorer for us, as Canaan Solomon is still U17! 40th was a 10 place improvement for Canaan from this fixture last year, and his style looked comfortable throughout and the aim this season is for him to mainly enjoy the league races as he gets ready for the track season. In just behind was Simon Beedell in 41st. Simon is only two weeks past running a PB in the Berlin Marathon (2.34.34) and it shows his strength that he never doubted that he would run in this race, which in such good form was great news for us! In next was Kevin Murphy in 46th. You don't get life membership of Woodford at 40 without being an exceptional person, and Kevin, with work and family duties, running has been done but to no real intensity. At the end of lap one (of three) Kevin's face showed signs of strain which highlights how important intensity of training is to a race! This manager can not think of many runners who would not have been swallowed up by the field, but Kevin is made of strong stuff, and his 46th was a very good result. This manager just hopes Kevin's legs the next day would allow him to tackle real challenges like stairs and slight inclines without too much pain!
In 11th for the team was Paul Scanlan with another exceptional run from a team member. Last year Paul had been 138th in his Met league appearance, but his summer at the 800m had made this manager confident to say to him before the start that top 100 was very expectable. However coming 59th was a great run, as Paul lying in the pen at the finish showed he had given it his all, but the pleasure of his achievement meant that he soon forgot his fatigue! In just behind was Tony Russell in 60th. Tony is only three weeks back into training, so to produce a result like this off so little shows that he is operating at a new level, and if consistent training can be achieved it will be interesting to see how high Tony could come.
This closed the team in 60 and so beat our performance of last year by 23 places. Thanks to outstanding performances by the whole team, this was our first victory in a Met League race in two years, and to record it at home in the first fixture of the season was an outstanding result, and highlighted how well our team had run.
Opening the B team, and recovering from a first lap that put him right at the back in the pack, Sam Benge showed that training was indeed going well as he cut through the field, looking stronger each lap and taking a well deserved 74th place. Next came Julian Russell. Usually this manager at the end is so busy collecting discs and noting numbers that all else passes him by, but Julian's aim this season was to break 100 and when he gave his disc to this manager which had 100 stamped on it, this manager had to appreciate how close he'd just come to doing it at attempt one! But there is no doubt that if training keeps going well the goal will be achieved and that being in the top 75 could well be achieved by the end of the season. In next was Gareth Cavell in 107th. Gareth has started training with his son, U17 Harry, and had a story of Harry demolishing him on a training run, so with Gareth showing this sort of form it means that we look forward to next year when Harry becomes an U20! In next was Daniel Mann in 131st. Daniel is living on the other side of London now, but has chosen to stay with the club, and that is great news for us, for although not fully fit, Daniel can still produce performances like this, and will look to break into the A team when in full form. In fourth was Pete Caton in 136th. Pete was slightly disappointed with his position, but compared to last year where he was 192nd shows how much he has improved. But he will be looking to catch his good friend Joe Everitt in the top 100, when Joe returns from injury.
In fifth for the team was Alan Rugg in 142nd. It was great to see Alan running at this early stage of the season, as injury has delayed his start for the last two seasons. And with his current form he must be interested in what he can do this season with more time to train for the big Vet races. In next was Daniel Rowden in 158th. Daniel is far more comfortable on the track, this was in fact his first 8k race! He rightly started conservatively, but at the end said maybe too conservatively. But the main job of getting the 8k out the way and having no fear of racing the distance was achieved, and the ease which he got 158th means that next time top 100 could well be a possibility, although mud by then maybe a factor! In just behind was Nick Andrews in 159th . It was good to see Nick whose form looked good, and if he can stay injury free this manager predicts we could see Nick really produce some outstanding performances this season. In next was Tony Pamphilon in 165th. It was very pleasing to see Tony back as his running and training this summer had been truncated, no doubt he will be eyeing fellow V55 Alan Rugg to have a good battle this season.
In ninth was Stuart Smith in 213th. New member Stuart did this race last year before going off for a 5 month trip around the world! Getting back into shape in Tel's sessions, he ran a very good race and as he is not jetting off to far distant lands this manager hopes we will see him this season at a few more races.
This closed the team in 213 which gave us third in Division 2 on the day, but only 17 points behind second. We were lacking some of the usual B teamers, so to perform as strongly as we did is testament to the depth of the talent of the squad that we have.
Opening the C team was Richard Holland in 236th. Due to a combination of factors the club this year was lacking the grand display at the side of the course of previous years which detailed where the team was set up, but this manager had thought it hadn't caught anyone out. However to his delight and slight dismay he saw Richard on the first lap but he had no number! This manager had visions of the tour de France where such fixes are done out of car windows on the move, could such things happen in a cross country? But ex-club President David Hollingworth was fortunately on hand so that at the finish the appropriate number could be passed to Richard and we got to close our second team.
Next in was Neil Ford in 250th. This manager had an eagle eye out for Neil who has been leaving him behind in training runs, so where would Neil come, would he win it like this manager secretly hoped? Unfortunately, for this manager, not but this wasn't Neil at full canter as proved with him doing a 13 mile run the very next day, and still leaving this manager behind in the first half, after which this manager stopped! In next was Tom Spanyol in 334th. Tom had shown what a good club man he was by that morning bringing his van and helping set up the course, and his reward for this alternative warm up, was to beat his time of last year by 15sec and exactly one place, but also to beat Birthday man Paul Stockings who came just behind in 338th. Paul had got himself fit over the summer and must have been licking his lips at the prospect of tasting the low 200's in the Met this season, but injury had other ideas, and Paul had to take solace with ticking off another Met so keeping the margin on Bertie healthy for total number of league races completed. From one man who has completed over 100 Mets to another who was doing his first, Steve Taylor had the expression for most of the race of wondering what had he signed up to. But in 368th he stuck to the task well, and this manager would say he will find training a lot easier thanks to that race - a Claybury Met will get you ready for nearly anything training can offer!
Closing the team was the good Doctor, Trevor Powell in 378th. He would have been pleased to beat his time of last year by almost a minute and if he continues his form he can well be looking at some of the athletes ahead of him with anticipation. This meant our C team only closed 6 of the 8 needed but this put us 12th in the table but only 15 points behind getting into the top 10. Mention must go also to Ronnie O'Sullivan who came but was kept from running due to parenting duties, and Stuart Phillips. Turning 60 on Tuesday, Stuart started the race but had to drop out at the end of lap one, but he made the error of dropping out in front of the Woodford fans who then tried to get him back going! But you don't get to 60 without learning about your body and Stuart wisely chose to not push it and come back to race another day.
To have our A team win their first match in two seasons and although it is early on in the season to see the Woodford name at the top of the league was a very pleasing result, and as a few names were missing from our team, it made the performance even more outstanding. A large thank you must go to all the marshals and volunteers, in particular Graham Pribul and Terry McCarthy, who worked hard to ensure the day went well.