Met League 2: U15 & U17

It was like late summer at the Scrubs with temperatures hitting almost 18 degrees for our second league fixture.The going underfoot was good.

The loss of Abigail Reid, Emily Caton, Matilda Frith, Nathan Wright, Chris Richardson, Luka Norden, Harry Stockill and Emma Lord, all racing for their schools, left a large hole in our squad plus Jimmy Geller running at Cross Challenge which his coach agreed and released him for.

Those that were able to run should be proud of themselves as they all did the club proud by putting in great performances which enabled the young athletes squad to hold onto their lead in the Howard Williams Junior Trophy.

Under 15 girls

Bethan-Rose Davies made her league debut and although she admitted to not feeling great at the start Bethan ran an excellent race to place 2nd from the 44 starters in 14 mins 46 secs, some 22 seconds behind race winner Keira Shaw from Herts Phoenix.

The supporting athletes behind Bethan must be commended. What would WGEL do without such excellent club athletes in the likes of Tess Noblet 22nd in 16 mins 54 secs, Ella Treynor 27th in 17 mins 20 secs, Amber-Higgs Smith 31st in 17 mins 28 secs and Juliet Taylor 33rd in 17 mins 46 secs. Hats off to these wonderful club athletes.

Under 17 girls

We had just two starters. Kezia Beeton, now in a netball academy, is trying her best to keep her running going and held on well to her forward position with 4th 15 mins 03 secs.

Kezia has come all the way through the age groups for WGEL. Another wonderful club athlete, Isabella Worwood, placed 15th in 17 mins 59 secs. Again what would WGEL do without another great club athlete.

For team positions the races are combined WGEL were 4th on the day but are 2nd overall.

Under 17 men

Alfie Ward had a very good race in placing 9th in 13 mins 41 secs. Alfie has been slowly getting back to his best following injuries. Godwinner Nkebani placed 22nd in 14 mins 43 secs, which for him was an improvement on his race at Claybury.

Under 15 boys

With Luka and Harry out racing for school it was good to see the excellent support their team mates gave. Max Koschek, 32nd at Claybury, improved to 18th here in 14 mins 56 secs - a fine run from the lad. Again behind Max there was some great support once again from great club athletes Oliver Brown 23rd in 15 mins 06 secs, Aidan O’Driscoll 28th in 15 mins 13 secs, Patrick Hayden 32nd in 15 mins 32 secs, 36th Johnathon Ghebretinsae 16 mins.

Again what would WGEL do without the wonderful support of these young athletes.

For team purposes the points are combined. We were 7th on the day but lie 4th overall.

Jimmy Geller toed the line alongside top athletes from the UK in the UK Cross Challenge event at Milton Keynes. The course was grassland but did incorporate some short steep climbs Jimmy placed an excellent 11th after passing six runners on the run-in. Jimmy ran 19 mins 47 secs for the 5900m course.