National XC Relays & Essex League

National XC Relays, Mansfield, Saturday 4/11/23

So just two teams for this year's event on a very wet day which left many parts of course very muddy indeed. A proper cross country event, many people said.

Under 15 boys  3 x 2k

Over 100 runners contested the first leg. Harry Stockill ran a fine race indeed. Committing hard from the start, he was close to Evan Grime, a 3:54 1500m runner, in the early stages. Grimes' front running started to split the field apart, and when the runners came out of the woods he was still in 7th place, with the leader well clear by now. He hung on well to finish in 9th spot, running 6mins 59secs, which gave him a top twenty placing overall from nearly 280 runners.

Next away was Daniel Arnold, who ran brilliantly. Like Harry, Daniel committed hard, and going into the woods moved up to 5th spot. He hung on well over the closing stages to come in 7th in 7mins 19secs. Without a doubt, he is improving rapidly.

With coach and Team Manager not risking racing Luka Norden as he is recovering from injury, Yuvan Kumar stepped in to cover. Full praise for Yuvan who had a real go in the early stages to try and hang on to our forward position. He understandably tired on the second part of the course to come in 33rd in 8mins 27sec.

Full marks to all three lads for having a real go and mixing it with the best runners in England.

Under 17 Mens 3 x 3k

Our three runners who took to this are working together in training and hopefully after Xmas we can look forward to some great results from them. They recently played  their part in placing the U17s level first in the Met League alongside SBH.

This was a big step up for them. Nate Harding ran 10mins 16secs for the 3k circuit - a good run over a very muddy circuit, for 54th. William Muffatt ran 10mins 42secs to remain in 54th, with Joshua Ssempiira running 11mins 29secs to bring us home in 60th spot.

This was a great experience for the lads, and they will have learned a lot from this event.

I must personally thank the parents for transporting these lads all the way to Mansfield and back in shocking conditions on the roads. Very proud of all six lads.

Essex League, Hylands Park

This was used as a trial race for the South Of England Inter Counties next month. In all the female races plus U13/15/17 boys, the first four across the line were given automatic selection letters.

Molly Sherrin is in a football academy and because of this is on limited training. However Molly will always support WGEL as and when she can. Her match on the day was called off, meaning she could be on the start line. Although Lyla Belshaw, an England international, won easily, Molly placed a brilliant second place. Behind Molly, Emily Caton also had a very good run for 8th place. Anaand Tratt also started the U17 race but, after being in 8th spot, the distance of 6k was probably too far as she is recovering from a recent virus, but she gave it a go so credit to her.

In the Senior Ladies race with 175 runners, Kezia Beeton made her debut in this age category although still U20. Kezia ran well for 19th and 2nd U20.

In the U15 Girls race Ella Traynor again proved she is in good form with 17th. Likewise, Sophia Parker was excellent too, with 8th spot in the U13 Girls race.

In the U15 Boys race Stephen Ng was unlucky, getting badly spiked early on, clearly affecting his performance. Stephen was 24th, one place behind Lucas Freedman who ran well. Rahul Solanki was 32nd Well run for all three lads.

In the Under 13 Boys race Emmanuel Olabanji had another great run for 12th. Eric Frith was 29th and Tayo Adetona was 33rd.

Aidan O’Driscoll ran in the Under 17 Men’s race for 27th place out of 42 starters.