Met League Race 3: Young Athletes
With the festive season now upon us, a smaller than usual squad of young athletes turned up at Wormwood Scrubs to be greeted by very windy conditions but, unlike at Stevenage, at least we did not have the driving rain as well.
Despite the absence of three of our best runners, Sidnie Ward, Maxwell Chinn and Louise Gilbert, all who had valid reasons not to be racing, we still had three top ten placings and some healthy placings from the others.
In the first race, Under 11 Jimmy Geller had a tremendous run to come 2nd. What was encouraging here was to see older athletes and parents cheering Jimmy all the way to the finish. Behind Jimmy was Dylon White in 22nd and Sid Cody in 25th. Worth noting here, Sid’s dad Steve, who brought no less than six athletes to the race, will be assisting John Stow with coaching the athletes that come from Harlow. In the girls race Holly Hudson, who is just 9, had another great run for 6th place.
Liam Waldron produced another fine run to place 18th in the Under 13 boys race from a large field of 60 starters, just a minute behind the winner. In 48th place was Woody Hudson.
In the Under 13 girls race Georgina Handford, 28th at Claybury, should feel very pleased with 16th and seems to be growing in confidence.
Canaan Soloman toed the line in the Under 17 Mens race and should be happy with 3rd. The winner, Jamie Philpott, was nearly a minute ahead of Canaan at Liverpool - this time Canaan cut that to just 14 seconds, a much improved performance. James Wakefield should also be happy with his fine 18th place after recovering from a nasty illness. Harry Cavell, so reliable, placed 26th.
In the Under 15 boys race Joe Geller ran his best race by far over the country by scooping 11th out of 45 starters. Joe is bottom year, too. Todd Maleary should also be satisfied with 18th behind Joe with brother Hayden also showing signs of a return to form with 33rd.
In the Under 15 girls race Siena Taylor had a strong run to place 18th from 40 plus starters with Olivia Corbett just 10 seconds further back in 22nd. Millie Finch was another to improve with 30th.
Overall a good all-round performance from our youngsters, many who improved on their previous races from this league. The club currently sits 9th in the Howard Williams trophy from 20 clubs.
I want to thank the parents for bringing the athletes to the Scrubs at a time all are very busy with Xmas only a couple of weeks away.
Lets hope our turnout at Horsenden Hill is better and that we can climb the overall table.