Met League 3, 2024-25: Young Athletes

After a recent cold snap the weather was kind to our athletes as they arrived at Hillingdon House Farm for our third fixture. This is the furthest our athletes have to travel and no less than 50 youngsters made the trip to support WGEL in their quest to regain the overall Howard Williams Junior Trophy. They did that in great style as we hold a big 13 point lead over SBH and we could be bringing five trophies back to Ashton next April after the Met League AGM. We lead in U11 Boys and Girls, U13 Girls and Junior Men.

Many athletes showed a great, professiional attitude by walking the course and warming up in small groups. It was great to see.

49 WGEL Junior photos by Alex Wardle 

Photo gallery of all clubs by Graham Smith Photography

U11 Boys

WGEL had no fewer than 12 athletes on the starting line from a field of 40+. All the races included the notorious former artificial ski slope. It should also be mentioned that Jack Tonge was not feeling great but still toed the line in support of WGEL.

After around 1500 metres of the 2k course, coming out of the wooded section, Stockdale of SBH was leading, closely followed by Raphael Thomas. Close behind was an ESM runner and Jack Tonge, with Jesse Geller another 10 metres back. At the finish, four runners were in a mad scramble all trying to win the race. Stockdale just held on to win from Jack with Raphael in 4th spot. Only three seconds separated the four of them. In 5th place Jesse was running an inspired race just 20 metres back from the leading four. Closing in our squad was Theydon Bois student Ethan Dawkes, who was making his debut. Like Raphael and Jesse, he is only Year 5. The lads got victory on the day but are being hard pushed by SBH.

The next four lads home put in a great shift for WGEL as they came 3rd on the day and 3rd in the league. Great credit to Patrick Langan (18), Noah Gavin (19), Luca Cook (19) and George Davies (20). These lads warmed themselves up, so well done to you all.

The other four lads deserve special mention. They came 5th on the day, which is a fantastic performance. Well done Luke Foley (23), Dylan Williams (24), Ado Barron Smith (32) and Noah Parker (35).

To have 30% of the starting field is staggering and just shows how these lads are so committed. Well done to all 12 boys.

U11 Girls

We had 9 Woodettes on the start line from over 35 runners and, again, how well they all did! The leading trio played a big part in WGEL's win in this age group last year and are playing an even bigger part this year. They train together and warmed up together and really worked hard throughout the race. TVH's Sophie Davies won the race but our girls were close by. Chloe Ward, consistent as ever, was 5th, Rosie Barron was 6th and Phoebe Quorn, with a tremendous sprint at the end, was 7th. The girls found it hard but were happy with their results. Another to produce a great finish was Daisy Whelan in 11th spot. That closed the team into a commanding lead overall. Worth noting that Daisy and Chloe were both a minute quicker than last year and Phoebe 40 seconds.

The next four girls placed 5th as a team. Ava Pugh placed 13th, Kaya Afflecj 17th, Jessica Cole 25th and Emilia Herbert 26th. Like Daisy, Ava, Emilia and Jessica had a hard schools race midweek and were still feeling the effect of that run. These four girls were great today and pushed through with great determination.

Great credit to Hannah Hussain in 32nd place.

Under 13 Boys

Just four Woodies on the start line from 55 runners, but how well they all fared!

Eric Frith is really making big strides this season and got a fully deserved top three spot after an excellent run, finishing just 17 seconds behind the winner, Pascal of SBH. Eric’s next outing is in a week's time in the red vest of Essex at the SEAA Inter Counties at Croydon and, though it is his first county call-up, he should feel confident in a top class regional championships. Joining Eric will be Oskar Prince, who was 12th today but will run for the county for the first time next Saturday. Oskar achieves this on a very limited amount of training due to other commitments. In 15th spot we had Henry Richards, returning after a nasty foot injury kept him out for a few weeks. Henry is a bottom year lad and will hopefully get his county colours when he competes in the Essex Schools champs next year. Closing the squad was Daniel Hayden in 41st spot. Daniel is improving all the time and is a great club lad.

Well done indeed to all four lads who kept WGEL 4th in the table.

Under 13 Girls

We had 8 Woodettes on the start line from 45 runners.

Eva Prince continues to be the spearhead of the team and once again produced an excellent run for 4th spot. Eva gives her all on each occasion and she too will be wearing the red vest of Essex next Saturday over the Lloyd Park hills, which is very much deserved. Next home and improving all the time was Lottie Oates in 13th spot, her highest position this season. Kehanique Lowe, who prefers the going on the track, was no slouch over the country with a fine 21st placing. Like Lottie, Soohia Stephenson is improving all the time and maybe the fruits of the long run in Harlow on a Sunday are starting to be seen. Soohia was 23rd. Poppy Barker, who looked brilliant at training last Tuesday, was 24th. Two girls who show great consistency and support for WGEL - well done Chloe Summers and Maia Lalani! - were 26th and 29th, and another great club girl, Jessica Dawkes, was 38th.

The interesting thing to note here is that the majority of these girls are bottom year Under 13s.

Although 2nd on the day to ESM, the girls still hold a reasonable advantage in the league overall.

Under 15/17 Boys

This being a combined race with over 100 runners in the start line.

The U15s had 60 runners setting out on the 4K course. George Watkins made his WGEL debut in the Met League. After an outstanding run at Liverpool he now faced the challenge of Highgate's Pflug, who is actually unbeaten this season. Pflug went with the two leading U17 boys, leaving George chasing hard 30/40 metres down. The powerfully built Highgate runner kept his unbeaten run going with George, who had been spiked early on, placing 2nd, some 15 seconds down. Although George was naturally disappointed, he will be able to have another crack at the Middlesex lad next Saturday at the SEAA Inter Counties XC. Daniel Arnold was next home in 5th spot with another fine run which saw him finishing strongly. Next in was Lucas Freedman, who had another good run on what was not really his course. Lucas placed 28th. Our 4th lad home was Adam Amin (38), who is steadily improving all the time after only joining us in the summer. Our final two lads are both bottom year U15s but they did well with Tayo Adetona 45th and Thomas Nicholls 47th. Well done to all these lads.

In the U17 category Harry Stockill had a much improved run from his last race and ended up just over 20 seconds behind the high flying Dunham from Herts Phoenix. In fact, Harry's time was two minutes quicker than the time he ran two years ago. Oscar Eaton placed 6th, glad to having his mock exams behind him now so another excellent run from him. Next in was Josh Stephenson (10), improving all the time. All three of these lads all live in Theydon Bois. Joshua Ssempiira, who mainly trains from home now, had another reliable run in 12th spot. Really good effort from Josh. Aidan O’Driscoll, on his way back after minor surgery, was sensible and got round safely for 25th. Aidan will run for Essex for the first time next Saturday. Max Koschek, who is looking forward to a good track season over 400/800m, placed 33rd.

The team won overall on the day by just three points from Herts Phoenix, but lead by 30+ points overall.

U15/17 Girls

Also a combined race with 54 starters.

U17

If I were to choose athlete of the season for 2024 I would be picking Molly Sherrin and Matilda Frith. Whatever the competition - road, cross country or track - these two would always support the club. Really proud of both girls. They turn up at YDL matches and fill gaps galore etc. Superb adverts for our club.

Molly led the way home in 3rd spot, another superb effort and she now looks forward to the Inter Counties next weekend. Anaand Tratt, gradually returning to her best, was 8th and Tess Noblett 9th. Both enjoy playing football as well. Well done to both with Matilda closing in the squad in 14th spot.

U15

Sophia Parker led our two girls home in 17th spot and is adjusting well to the longer races, as is Emilia Kozinska in 32nd. Both girls are only 14 so did really well indeed.

The overall position for our girls is 5th spot so all to play for over the final two fixtures.

So we end 2024 on a high and our next fixture is Welwyn Garden on January 11th, which will incorporate our annual XC championships (WGEL).

I want to finish by saying how proud I am of how all the runners went about their duties on Saturday. You have all done yourselves and WGEL proud.

Parents: you all take a bow too! You can't have over 50 youngsters there on Saturday without you transporting them.