Met League 1: Young athletes flying at Claybury
Woodford’s young athletes got off to a flier in their opening fixture of the Met League at Claybury on Saturday 12th Oct. The junior races are hotly contested with new joiners from last season, Windsor Slough Eton & Hounslow, Southwark AC and St Mary’s Richmond adding to traditional junior powerhouses of Shaftesbury Barnet, London Heathside and Victoria Park and Tower Hamlets.
The expanding number of clubs swelled fields last year and this season looked to be no exception with 189 athletes lining up in the U11-U13 age group races.
Met League Competition
The Met has three competitions. All scoring is based on a reverse points system. If there are 50 athletes in a race the winner scores 50 points. The 50th finisher scores 1 point. The individual competition adds up an athlete's total score based on their best 4 results from the 5 league races. The highest scoring athlete wins the competition.
The team competition is based on a system of “4 to Score”. The first 4 athletes to finish constituting a club's “A” team. The next 4 athletes are the “B” team. The club with the highest scoring “A team” wins the fixture. The club with the highest scoring “A-team” across all 5 fixtures wins the league.
Clubs also compete in the Howard Williams Trophy (HWT). Points in this competition are allocated based on the total number of member clubs that competed in each gender and age group race. E.g. If 15 clubs compete in the U11 Boys race the first placed club receives 15 points. The winner of the competition is the club with the most HWT points across all age groups (U11-U17) after all 6 fixtures.
Claybury - Course Report
U11’s ran a loop of 1500m in Claybury Park. The U13s ran the loop twice (3km). The course was dry underfoot with some long grass sections and gravel paths.
Race Results
U13 Boys - WGEL had 6 athletes in a total field of 48 with 13 teams competing. This was a fiercely competitive fixture. Previous U11 and last year’s U13 medalist Joshua Maidan (Herts) won the race in 10 mins 32s. Ben Kasper and Dennys Pascal (SBH) completed the podium and were well clear of 4th placed Cinesi (VPTH).
Eric Frith (5th) led Woodford home with a great run. Eric ran a sensible race. Despite the leaders getting away he kept his cool and remained well clear of a chasing pack. Oskar Prince (9th) was part of this chasing pack and was pleased with a top ten finish improving on his 27th last year. Oskar made great strides this summer on the track. His training has been limited due to school and other sporting commitments but this was a typically gutsy run from Oskar. Daniel Hayden (32nd) is another who has made great progress this summer and with a great run from debutant Alfie York (36th) they completed the A-team.
Austin Smith (44th) opened the B-team with Zayn Chowdhury (46th) stepping up from the Wasps to make his debut as an U13 completing the squad.
Shaftesbury Barnet won (167 points) the fixture ahead of VPTH (153 points) with Woodford A-team third (114 points). Woodford B-team were 17th. The boy’s squad is relatively small this year. There are more athletes who could be available in later fixtures, but the team could be dependent on a small hardcore of runners this year!
U13 Girls Race report
WGEL had 12 athletes in a total field of 49 with 13 teams competing. Experienced Met leaguer Violet Muralidhar (ESM) won the race in an impressive 11mins 44s. Laura Graham (SMR) and Alexandra O’Brian (Highgate) completed the podium.
Chasing the leaders, Eva Prince (5th) was executing a trademark “leave it all out there” run and was first home for Woodford. Eva has limited time to train with school and other sporting commitments but is a natural racer!
Grace Cherry (8th) is training well after a good summer and secured an impressive top ten finish as a first year U13. Poppy Barker (17th) made a great debut in the green and white. Poppy has been training with the squad since August when she joined from Newham and is progressing well. Lottie Oates (19th) is another athlete who had a great summer on the track and is now turning that into good performances over the country. Lottie closed the A-team.
Kehanique Lowe (23rd) opened the B-team. Kehanique’s passion is track and hurdles, but she enjoys cross country and ran a good race with teammates Maia Lalani (29th), Sophia Stephenson (31st) and Chloe Summers (33rd) completing the B-team. These were good runs from the girls and confidence boosters for them all as to what they can achieve this winter.
Aoife Pearce (36th) opened the C-team. She was a little disappointed with her run but had raced at school in the week and was naturally feeling it in the legs. Sophia Khan (43rd) had her best race in a Woodford vest finishing just ahead of teammates Rosie Muffett (44th) and Jessica Dawkes (46th) who completed the C-team.
Woodford won (151 points) the fixture ahead of VPTH (129 points). The strength in depth of this squad was clear to see with the B-team in sixth and C-team in 14th.
U11 Girls - 18 Woodford athletes finished the race from a total field of 35 with 10 teams competing. Sophia Davies (TVH) won the race in 5 mins 40s in a tight finish with Alice Clements (Enfield). Chloe Wardwas third and first home for Woodford in 5 mins 58s.
Chloe has progressed superbly having finished 31st in this race last year and took a very well-deserved spot on the podium. Teammates Rosie Barron (4th) and Phoebe Quorn (5th) both had outstanding runs with Daisy Whelan (9th) running out of her skin to close the A-team in an impressive 6 mins 24s.
Ava Pugh (12th) opened the B-team closely followed by debutants Nola Glover-Hammond (17th), Christina Sneath (18th) and Adriana McNally (19th) who closed the B-team in 6 mins 46s. Jessica Cole (21st) was right behind this group with Dami Adetona (24th),Hannah Hussain (25th) and Ava Pledger (26th) packing well to close the C-team.
Emilia Herbert (27th), Lara Watson (28th), Elsie Mays (29th), Clementina Monti (33rd) Abigail Oronsaye (34th) and Adya O’Driscoll (35th) also packed well and with many making their debuts can all be very pleased with their runs.
Woodford’s A-team won (121 points) the fixture ahead of Heathside (80 points). The strength of this girl’s squad was very evident with the B-team third (78 points) and the C-team sixth (48 points).
U11 Boys - WGEL had 24 athletes in a total field of 50 with 11 teams competing. Jack Tonge (5mins 19s) won the race with a superb run! Moving to the front around halfway he opened a big gap on the chasing pack. Debutant Raphael Thomas (2nd) led the chasing pack, and after having a cold earlier in the week was pleased to open his Woodford account with a terrific second place.
Jesse Geller (9th) continued a fine family tradition of Met League runners following his brothers with a goodrun of 5 mins 43s. Patrick Langan (11th) continued his progress taking lots of places with a fantastic sprint finish and improving on his 27th place last year to close the A-team.
Alfie Perkins (13th) opened the B-team on his Met debut with Lukas Sendar (14th), George Davies (16th) and Luke Foley (18th) packing superbly to complete the team. Luca Cook (23rd), Dylan Williams (27th), James Fall (28th) and Sam Cormack (32nd) all made the C-team and the boy’s squad were not done there!
Luke Bachmann (33rd), Fintan McDonnell (34th), Finley Witchell (35th), Seth Fayinka (36th), Riyan Chowdhury (37th) Noah Parker (40th), Miles Dobson (42nd), Elon Lee (43rd), Stanley Perkins (44th), Ben Welsford (45th), Cohen Matfield (47th) and Konrad Wright (50th) completed the squad. Many of these boys have stepped up from WASPS and are making great progress putting their training into practice.
Woodford A-team won (181 points) ahead of Shaftesbury Barnet (171 points). The strength of this junior squad was evident again with Woodford B-team third (143 points) and C-team sixth (94 points).
Summary
This was a tremendous start to the juniors Met League campaign with Jack Tonge, Raphael Thomas and Chloe Ward all finishing in the top 3 in the individual competition and the squad topping the table in three of the four team competitions and taking third in the other.
Most pleasingly was also the strength in depth. With the B and C teams finishing highly in their respective leagues. This shows great strength in numbers and this will be much needed over a long winter season!
Next Met League: Horsenden Hill (Saturday 9thNovember 2023)