Met League, Claybury, 16/10/2021 – Seniors
Met League, Claybury, 16/10/2021 – Seniors
Woodford’s men’s cross country team finished 2nd at the first Met League of the 2021/22 season at Claybury. The team was headed up by second-claimer Tom Frith, who took the individual win with some fine front-running. After initially thinking that Highgate’s Seyd Ghafari and Jacob Allen were simply sitting on his shoulder and preparing to strike, Tom pulled away at the start of the final of the three laps and soloed to victory, Woodford’s first individual Met win since Adam Kirk-Smith on this course in 2018. Highgate filled the next 5 places behind Tom Frith, setting them on course for a convincing victory, but Woodford’s men finished 12 in 83, to edge out Victoria Park for second by just 5 points. The women’s team took first place in the Division Two, headed up by Suzanne Phillips, pleased with her 21st place less than two weeks post London Marathon, so beginning their push for promotion in the best possible way.
The men’s team was, as often the case, a sociable coalition of runners with different objectives and facing different challenges. Like women’s manager Suzanne, there were several brave and pleasing runs from those with recent marathons in their legs, including Michael Waddington, in 22nd (3rd scorer), Tom Phillips in 29th (5th scorer), Simon Beedell in 65th (9th scorer) and Julian Russell in 118th (2nd scorer on B team). All reflected on how good marathon training is for cross-country performance, but putting that into practice so soon after their 26-mile efforts deserves kudos.
The juniors did their bit with Tom Adolphus (42nd, 6th scorer) making huge strides over his first year in the age-group back in 2019/20, and Rhys Edwards (64th, 8th scorer) making his senior Met League debut.
There were those unsure of their form after the long cross-country hiatus and changes in training. James Stockings had taken a longer summer break in training than he reflected was ideal, but managed a very strong 15th to be 2nd scorer, and first first-claimer for Woodford. Angus Holford was very pleased with his 25th, just 6 weeks after returning to any kind of group training. We must hope that Jack Gooch is proved wrong in his assessment that his form is in a downward trajectory, as more performances like his 51st place. Rob Wilbraham, in his first Met League since 2018, did well to make the top 200 in 195th, to be 5th in our B-team. Ben Phillips was exactly 200th (6th in B team), picking up where he left off from his last Met League, in 2012 when he finished 195th. It is great to see that temporary absences haven’t dimmed the passion or class of either runner.
There were Vets seeking to maintain past form, and win individual battles with their peers. Richard Holland (170th, 4th in B team) was first V-60 of the day, and we look forward to seeing more of him as he’s returned to a more local base. Paul Stockings (258th, 7th in B team) though regretting an over-fast start held his place well and was 7th V-60. Alistair Holford(331st, 8th in B team) achieved his target of avoiding being lapped by son Angus. Trevor Powell (368th and 2nd V-70) rivals son Bertie’s consistency, and most likely hefty appearance total too.
The A-team was made up by Tom Beedell in 81st (11th scorer), shepherding an ankle injury through to an A-team place, just ahead of Harold Wyber in 83rd who closed the 12, with Bertie Powell pleased to continue his streak of consecutive Met Leagues in 79th (10th scorer).
All five of our participating women scored for the women’s A-team. Behind Suzanne, next in was 17 year -old Jessica Adams in 40th place. She gave a really strong and mature performance at her first race of the longer 8k distance. It’ll be exciting to see more cross country races from this young athlete over the season. Alicia McArdle came home in 43rd place which was an impressive run considering she admitted to some back trouble leading up to the race. Zoe Watson was next in 55th place. Zoe’s endurance and experience showed in her even pacing over the 3 lap course. Kate Stockings came home in 87th place which completed our women’s team comfortably all in the top 100.
Dan Steel (117th) found himself in the rare position of opening our men’s B team, a testament to the strength of the 12 ahead and, along with Julian, and Peter Caton (146th) providing some reassurance that the strength of the A-team will not drop off if some squad rotation is enforced. The B team was 2nd in Division 3, so also setting its promotion push on track.
The ‘22nd man’ to our 21 finishers were the many Woodford volunteers and marshalls for their support out on the course, and in making the race happen. There are too many to mention, but from Tony Pamphilion crafting a fresh start-line between every race, Andy Coleman at the furthest marshall-point to Bernadine Pritchett with shouts of encouragement during the race and maintaining strict order in the finish funnel, the squad and Club appreciates it.