Medals for Juniors at Essex Road Relays
WGEL junior squad headed to the Northern Gateway Sports Park in Colchester last weekend (Sunday 10thApril) to compete in the Essex County Athletics Association Road Relay Championships 2022.
The venue, a purpose-built VeloPark, was a new destination for this competition, one that dates back to 1970. It certainly attracted interest with 189 teams across Essex entered in all categories. Teams were made up of three boys or three girls with each athlete running one and a half laps of the VeloPark (2.6km). The surface was smooth tarmac but undulating, and it certainly presented a challenge to the athletes, one that might not have been observed by the paying public behind the perimeter fence!
WGEL had two boys and two girls’ teams in the U13 competition and one boys and one girls’ team in the U15 competition. Given the clash with Easter school holidays, this was a good result. U13-U17 Girls started proceedings with all age groups setting off together. The boys’ race followed immediately behind.
U13 Girls Race Report
Chelmsford AC had been the team to catch locally over winter, and were pre-race favourites. Their three teams lined up alongside 9 other teams from City of Southend AC, Colchester Harriers and Colchester & Tendering.
Leg one: WGEL’s Eliza Bridges and Daisy Anderson opened the girls relay teams. Both athletes have been consistent over the winter and ran excellent legs. One second separated them with Daisy (10mins 20s) 3rd at the change, with Eliza (10mins 20s) 4th for WGEL overall.
Lottie Wilkin (Chelmsford) ran the fastest on leg one in 9mins 23s.
Leg two: Faye Owers (10mins 43s) and Ella Traynor (10mins 45) took on WGEL’s second leg and both ran superbly. Tracking each other step for step they kept WGEL ahead of Southend AC and Colchester & Tendering to hold 3rd and 4th place.
Fastest on leg two were Amelie Shipton & Erin Kelly (Chelmsford) who both ran 9mins 41s.
Final Leg: WGEL A team were in 3rd position and B team in 4th going into the final leg. Autumn Le-Chevalier Jones (10mins 07s) ran anchor for the A team. Autumn ran the fastest WGEL U13G leg on the day.She was determined to hold her team’s position, despite fierce competition from Southend athlete Jessica Walker (9mins 57s) who was closing in quickly.
WGEL A team overall time was 31 mins 11s, which secured bronze medals! They were just behind silver medalists Chelmsford B (29mins 45s) and gold medalists Chelmsford A (28mins 31s).
Sophia Parker (11mins 11s) led WGEL B team home in 32mins 16s overall and secured 6th position. Sophia, in her first county race, deserves huge praise. Not only agreeing to run at the last minute, but as a lower U13 age group runner she showed no fear making her debut on the anchor leg of a relay! This was a great all round result for WGEL U13G and their smiles at the end were evidence as to how much this meant to them all collectively!
U13 Boys – Race Report
Havering AC were pre-race favourites, with junior international Freddie Rowe on the team. WGEL boys lined up with 10 other teams from Southend AC, Chelmsford, Colchester & Tendring, Loughton AC and Orion.
Leg one: WGEL had Teddy Newson and Leo Everitt on the first leg. Teddy has been training well and was an easy pick for the first leg given his cool, steely focus! Leo, was a hero stepping in at 12th hour for the B team due to sickness. Leo rarely runs more than 200m in training! Teddy (09mins 53s) ran a good first leg. Starting slowly, moving though the field he handed over in 4th place, behind three flyers. Led by Findlay McLaren (Havering) who ran the fastest opening leg in 8mins 26s.
Leo handed over for WGEL B team in 7th (11min 32s) place and was pleased to cross the line!
Leg two: Oliver Brown (9mins 33s) and Zac Everitt (10mins 51) ran leg two. Oliver had a superb run, catching Southend’s second leg runner, and moving WGEL A team into third place. Zac, as lower age group U13, also had a great run, moving the B team into 6th place.
The fastest leg was from Shea Sweeny (Havering) who ran 9mins 07s.
Final Leg: WGEL A team were in 3rd with Sebastian Reid the anchor man. Sebastian ran a great leg, the fastest on the U13 Boys team and bought WGEL A team home in 28mins 47s overall to win bronze medals for the team! Ethan Day led WGEL B team home in 32mins 49s and in 6th place. This was a good run from Ethan, who was just back from School holidays and despite little training stepped in for the team.
WGEL A team finished just 35 seconds behind second placed Chelmsford (28mins 11s). Havering (25mins 48s) won gold with their Freddie Rowe running the fastest leg of day in 8mins 15s. Bronze medals were a good result for WGEL given a number of the team who are still lower age group.
U15 Girls Race Report
Havering were the pre-race favourites, with Colchester Harriers dark horses given their junior international Lyla Belshaw. A total of 7 clubs competed, including City of Southend AC, Colchester Harriers, Havering, Loughton and Chelmsford.
Leg one: WGEL had Matilda Frith, fresh from her recent Southern road relay team gold, on leg one. It was a fast start, with Lyla Belshaw (Colchester) on home territory setting a ferocious pace. Lyla (8mins 33s) finished 60s ahead of the field in first place with the fastest U15 Girls leg on the day.
The next positions were closely contested. Matilda had made her way through the field with a fine run to hand over in 5th and with 4th placed Southend and then third placed Havering just ahead. Colchester Harriers and Chelmsford were already clear by this stage
Leg two: WGEL’s Eva Kinnman took the baton from Matilda. Eva, trains with the sprints team, but enjoys occasional 5km runs with her family. It was brilliant of Eva to step in to help the team! Eva (12mins 17s) ran well and despite falling back to 6th was a hero for enabling her team to complete. Rosie Warner (Havering) ran the fastest second leg in 9mins 33s.
Final Leg: Tess Noblet ran the anchor leg for WGEL. Tess is coming back to form and ran very well moving ahead of 6th placed Loughton AC to claim 5th for WGEL in a total time of 32mins 37s. This was a good result and pleasing for them to have a completed team and to compete at county level against high quality opposition together, particularly as all the team are lower age group U15.
Havering won gold (28mins 47s), with Colchester Harriers (29mins 07s) in silver position and Chelmsford (29mins 45s) in bronze.
U15 Boys – Race Report
Colchester and Tendring, were the surprise pre-race favourites, with talented junior middle distance runner Sam Plummer amongst their ranks. WGEL boys lined up with 9 other teams from City of Southend AC, Chelmsford, and Colchester & Tendring & Ilford AC.
Leg one: Godwinner Nkebani ran the first leg for WGEL. Godwin has been training hard with his coaches (John Stow, Richard Thurston and Alastair Fabian) and, despite not wanting to run the opening leg, raced very well. Godwin (9mins 17s) handed over in 5th place, 8s down on 4th placed Finely Greenleaf (Colchester Harriers) and 20s down on bronze medal position athlete Rilwan Choi (Southend) .
Sam Plummer (Colchester & Tendering) ran the fastest leg in 8mins 4s.
Leg two: Aidan O’Driscoll ran leg two for WGEL. Aidan is improving all the time and growing in confidence. Aidan (10mins 2s) kept his cool, focused on his race and finished neck and neck with 6th placed runner Oliver Taylor Bush (Havering) and ahead of 7th placed athlete Ben Howard (Colchester & Tendering B).
Fastest leg was from Stanley Hobbs (Colchester & Tendering A) in 8mins 9s
Final Leg: WGEL anchor leg was run by Joseph Arnold (10mins 15s). Joseph is also improving all the time. He trains sensibly, once or twice a week with his primary sport as football. He’d played a game the day before and his legs were tired, but he gave it his all and closed the team in 29mins 34s.
The fastest leg of the day was from Joseph Grange (Ilford AC) in 7mins 48s. Overall, Colchester & Tendring won gold (24:42), Havering silver (26 06) and Ilford bronze (26:51).
WGEL Boys finished 7th overall which was a good result from a team developing and competing against county/national standard athletes.
This capped a fantastic day, with the relays once again bringing out the best in team WGEL. The athletes love competing together and WGEL squads are now a regular feature at county events. The competition has been warned!