Met League 5, 2024-25: Young Athletes
A gloomy wet day greeted our athletes at Trent Park, which was its usual sea of mud. A late change of course meant the U13/15/17s had two cruel climbs on the left hand side of the park.
It was a day for WGEL athletes and coaches to celebrate, as the club managed to annex four age group titles plus the overall Howard Williams Junior Trophy.
The Junior Men's squad (photo: Amanda Stephenson)
The U13 Girls squad (photo: Amanda Stephenson)
U11 Boys
The boys had two laps of the top field, mostly flat but a tough slog in the muddy conditions. The winner, William Stockdale, the former Year 5 National champion, scored a close victory with Jack Tonge 3rd and Jesse Geller 4th not far behind. Both our lads were with the leading group of four and yielded excellent results, with Jack picking up the best individual title over the five races and Jesse runner up. Year 5 lad Ethan Dawkes, a committed swimmer, was next in with another top 10 placing (9th), followed by Patrick Langen in 10th.The lads packed well but were just beaten by Shaftesbury Barnet on the day, but they held onto their overall title.
The next four lads were never that far behind and they placed 3rd on the day. Excellent all-round performances from Alfie Perkins 11th, Raphael Thomas 15th, Noah Gavin 17th and Lucas Sender 20th.
From the starting number of 45 boys WGEL also had four more athletes, placing 9th on the day. Great turnout boys! And well done to Luke Foley 27th, Dylan Williams 31st, Stanley Perkins 35th and Noah Parker 42nd.
U11 Girls
We were missing one of our “terrible triplets" (Phoebe Quorn on a skiing trip) but her two teammates again showed their class. This time Rosie Barron got the better of Chloe Ward, with Rosie 3rd and Chloe 4th. Both girls have been tremendous throughout the season and now have the National Primary on the 22nd March to look forward to. Ava Pugh was next in, making light work of the heavy conditions, with Kaya Affleck, a year 5 girl, also having a great run for 12th place. This once again gave them 1st place on the day but in truth they could have all had a day off and still won overall, such was their commanding lead. The next four girls placed 3rd on the day and again packed well. Credit to Emilia Herbert 18th, Jessica Cole 19th, (these two are great friends and train together), Nola Glover-Hammon 21st and Esme Cherry, a year 4 girl, 23rd. One must also praise Hannah Hussein who was 32nd.
Under 13
Only three Woodies on the start line but they did the club proud by placing 6th on the day and 4th overall. Football commitments meant a couple could not make it. Oskar Prince ran a good race to place 10th. This season Oskar has done well on a very limited amount of training due to other hobbies he enjoys. Eric Frith sportingly turned out for us despite carrying a niggle in his leg and placed 16th. Daniel Hayden must also be praised for his placing of 29th. Well done all three of you lads.
Under 13 Girls
A great turnout with no fewer than 10 Woodettes on the start line. Eva Prince said prior to starting, “I love the mud”. She got a great start and really took the race by the scruff of the neck, and was leading a small group at halfway. Grace Cherry, too, was prominent. Towards the latter stages of the race Eva was tiring after putting so much into the early part of the race. Grace was running an inspired race and pushed up on Eva then got away for a fine 5th spot. How this girl has improved this season! Eva finished 6th. After a steady start Lottie Oates came through like a train, just missing 10th spot by a second, and having to settle for 12th. Poppy Barker, having another fine race, came 16th. The girls were victorious again on the day, and won overall.
The next four girls home gave us 8th on the day. Well done for your fine efforts Kehanique Lowe 19th, Sophia Stephenson 21st, Chloe Summers 31st and Aoibhean Pearce 37th.
Good runs came from Maia Lalani 38th and Jessica Dawkes 43rd. A fine overall showing from our girls.
Junior Men (Under 15/17)
This is a combined race where there was around 80 starters.
Under 17
In the absence of Luke Dunham (running for England) his Herts Phoenix team mate Ben Murphy, hoping to run 8:30 for 3k this summer, took the race out. Our lads gave chase and it was Oscar Eaton who led the chasing group a few seconds down at halfway. Harry Stockill then closed on Oscar to finish 2nd, just 10 seconds shy of the Herts Phoenix athlete. A great run from Harry in the mud. Oscar was 4th, which was another fine showing, and Luka Norden was 6th. Luka said he just couldn't get going properly in the muddy conditions but it was nevertheless a good run for him. Aidan O’Driscoll had a fine race too for 10th, with Josh Stephenson, fresh from a week off, placing an excellent 11th. Max Koschek, a 400/800m man, would not have liked these conditions one bit but got round for 31st from the 40 or so starters.
Under 15
George Watkins scored a useful victory with just two Under 17 men in front of him. George said he felt comfortable in the mud and now all eyes are on the National in two weeks time, where he could spring a big surprise. New member George Keene, 26th at Welwyn a month ago, this time improved to 14th. A big step forward for this talented youngster. County schools athletes Kaden Nelson-Gursoy and Adam Amin improved also for 21st and 22nd. All three of these lads are bottom year Under 15s. The same can be said of Thomas Nicholls 33rd and Tayo Adentona 34th. All these lads did really well.
So overall on the day we just squeezed Herts Phoenix out by 15 points and were overall winners, which was one of the targets the coach and team manager had set for this age group.
Junior Women (Under 15/17)
Again, a combined race with around 60 starters.
Under 17
Molly Sherrin excelled yet again for a fine 4th place. Molly somehow fits some training in around her football commitments for Watford FC. Her teammate Summer Maw was next home, a welcome return after injury to place 13th. Tess Noblet, another who enjoys football, ran well for 14th with, in my eyes, our athlete of the year Matilda Frith in 15th. Matilda will always support the club regardless of the opposition or the weather. Some of these girls may well feature in our National League teams this summer.
Under 15
Sophia Parker, so reliable and so tenacious, ran really well for 11th from a large field. Sophia is now feeling more confident after her step up from Under 13 last season. Isla Fulling, who now helps with coaching at Harlow Town Park every Sunday morning, found the going tough and also said it was the muddiest course she had ever run on. Nevertheless she had a fine run for 14th.
So the Junior Women overall were 5th on the day and 5th overall.
Overall a fine showing from 52 young athletes at Trent Park. Praise must go to Joe Everitt who has helped hugely in getting the younger athletes out over the season, and to the other coaches for their support throughout the five fixtures. Finally, a big thank you to all the parents/guardians who transport the athletes to all the fixtures.