Met League 15/10/2022: Stockings/Phillips top 6; super oye debut Doye
Late withdrawals due to illness, and planned recovery time after the previous week’s London Marathon, meant slim Woodford senior teams lined up for the opening Met League of the season at Claybury. Autumn rain had briefly threatened some slippery conditions, but this gave way to the now-traditional opening-day summer-like sunshine and heat shortly before the senior races, and the going was firm. The men’s team was led in by James Stockings in 5th, closely backed up by debutant Joel Doye in 11th. The women were led in by Suzanne Phillips in 6th. The teams sit 5th and 8th in the fledgling Division One tables, respectively.
The women’s team had four runners out for the first race of the season. First home was Suzanne Phillips in 6th place, which she was very pleased with and said it felt great to be back in the top 10. Then Alicia McArdell had a solid season opener in 29th and it will be good to see what the rest of the cross country season brings for her. Jessica Adams (U20) and Kate Stockings came home in 62nd and 63rd respectively. Jessica ran well despite admitting she had not run any longer distance runs so she showed some good strength in the claybury course. And Kate ran impressively just two weeks after running the London Marathon!
Leading man James recently switched his first-claim allegiance to Hercules Wimbledon. The club will be sorry to lose performances like this in the major championships and when future Met Leagues clash with Wimbledon’s Surrey League, but will welcome having James in the team wherever possible. James’ sprint finish enabled him to lap his Dad Paul Stockings (315th) for the first time on this course, but Paul’s contribution in closing the scoring 12 was just as valued.
Next in was Joel Doye, in 11th. Still an U20 and making his senior Met League debut, this was a hugely encouraging and mature performance from Joel, home-grown and coached by John Stow. The management hope that Joel’s still-U17 training partners, many of whom stayed to watch, remain inspired and will be turning out alongside him this time next year. On the start line, team manager Tom Beedell (19th) had been pointing out potential benchmark competitors for Joel, but Joel, Tom and Angus Holford (20th) all exceeded their expectations or targets of a 20th-30th place finish, reeling in several runners through the second half of the race.
Josh Entwistle (27th), Tom Phillips (49th) and Dan Steel (70th) all started sensibly and maintained their position throughout the race. Josh’s appearance was a rarity given his work commitments and a general dislike of XC. Tom had recovered well from a half marathon PB just six days earlier, though was disappointed to learn later on in the clubhouse that James had gone one better than his own Met league PB placing. Dan’s strong performance demonstrated that last season was a blip and he’s in fine shape to tackle the NY marathon next month. In reverse fortunes, Simon Beedell (82nd) was below his level from last year, which had been attained through marathon training.
Bertie Powell (137th) stepped seamlessly from team registration duties to the start line, and won a three-way Woodford race with Peter Caton (153rd) and Rhys Edwards (162nd), who are both building back fitness. It looks like Pete is almost back to his best, and coped well with a damaged shoe.
Paul Stockings (315th) was coping with illness but demonstrated a dogged commitment to increasing his tally of Met league finishes. Nevertheless it meant his promise from 12 years ago uttered to Stuart Phillips that he’d never get lapped by his son was broken.
Roger Green returned to the winter racing scene and led in the B team, of one, in 345th place, and was last Woodford man home, an accolade usually saved for Trevor Powell. Trevor hopes to be back before the end of the season but dutifully kept a track of assigned race numbers and supported the team during the race.
In the men’s team competition Woodford stand 5th on 945 points, within striking distance of third placed London Heathside (1075) but somewhat adrift of the early leaders and multiple champions Highgate (1445) and chasers Victoria Park (1386), and shockingly behind the Highgate B team (976). This is the price of a lack of strength in depth on race-day. The managers will be working hard to fix this. Woodford’s women are 8th after their return to Division One, on 157 points. Victoria Park lead the women’s table, with 327 points to London Heathside’s 318.