Met League Trent Park: Young Athletes
An overcast day greeted us at Trent Park but after a spell of dry weather the ground underfoot was not to bad although still soft in certain parts of the course.
WGEL juniors retained the Howard Williams Trophy for the fifth season in a row from Shaftesbury Barnet with London Heathside 3rd.
Under 15/17 Boys
We had just two runners in the U17 boys race but how well Jimmy Geller and Nathan Wright ran. The race settled into two groups, the first with our two lads running alongside Michael Cattini from Harrow AC. A second group of runners were 20 metres down after a kilometre which included the Under 15 Boys winner.
Dropping down to the bottom field the three lads were still grouped together but as they reappeared Cattini had stolen a march on our lads. Over the final part of the course Cattini pushed hard for the win with Jimmy Geller 20 seconds in arrears and Nathan Wright just 5 seconds back. For Jimmy this was a great run on a very limited period of training in the last few weeks and this will have given him a lot of confidence. Nathan too should be pleased as he grabbed another top three spot. These lads have been tremendous along with Reuben Fabian (on holiday) as they have gone through all the age groups. Next season the senior team will have the benefit of these three talented and hard working runners.
The Under 15 Boys run along with the Under 17s and they had a victor in the shape of Luka Norden. Last week he lost a shoe whilst lying 6th in a Schools Inter Counties race, this time there was no such reoccurrence. Luka continues to thrive and he held his own all the way by holding off Luke Dunham, the Hertfordshire U15 boys champion who has also turned in a 16 mins 21 parkrun.recently. At the end Luka was closing down on the 4th to 6th placed U17s. He now concludes his season with the English Schools XC, his last race over XC, in five weeks time. Harry Stockill, who is Luka's training partner, also rose to the ocassion by placing 5th, just 36 seconds behind his clubmate. The lads will now focus on a block of training before the big championship races next month. Max Koschek also excelled with 14th place, his highest placing in the league. Likewise the same should be said for Aidan O'Driscoll with 18th. Both these lads work hard in their training..
We had a welcome return of Ethan Day for 28th, great to see you again Ethan with Johnathan Ghebretinsae placing 30th. Great to have him back too.
Girls U15/17
This marked a return of excellent form for Abigail Reid. In the race itself Lauren Russell took control but this time, unlike at Welwyn, she had company. Abigail stuck with her and only over the latter part of the course did the Highgate athlete gain a small advantage.
Abigail ended up just 11 seconds down on Russell, which was a huge improvement on last December when the gap was 80 seconds in an Inter Counties race. Emily Caton ran really well for 4th place on a course familiar to both girls as they train at Trent Park on Sunday mornings. Same for Emma Lord, who has been a fantastic supporter of our club for 18th place.
In the Under 15 girls race combined with the Under 17s Bethan-Rose Davies was glad there was no 900 metre climb this time out after last Saturday and, although not a lover of uneven ground, she ran well for 5th. Molly Sherrin must be hugely praised as she came straight from an academy football match to Trent Park to support the club. Molly was brilliant for 7th spot. What a great club girl she is! Summer Maw, new to our club, showed great spirit for 13th, which was a great effort. Juliet Taylor continues to improve and is so consistent with training for 22nd, with Darcy Mackenzie 28th.
Well done to all the girls!
The Under 15/17 men won on the day but could not quite close the gap on Shaftesbury, who won overall by just 24 points. It was an exciting season between two great clubs.
The Under 15/17 girls also won on the day and thought they had won overall until a London Heathside runner who had originally appeared as a guest on the results was then reinstated under their banner which meant our girls were also 2nd overall, just a few points in arrears. Again, exciting racing between both clubs!