Chingford League – Relays & End of Season Trophies
On Saturday 8th March, East London Runners hosted the final Chingford League fixture of 2024-25 with the Relays in Wanstead Park. The relays are a separate, traditional end to the league season and conclude with end of season presentations.
As a reminder, in addition to the relays the Chingford league has two competitions. In the individual competition athletes score points based on their finishing place in each race. Race winners score a maximum 20 points. Runners-up score 19 points and so on. The athlete’s best 5 results (from 6 fixtures) are added up over the season. The athlete with the highest number of points overall wins the competition.
The team competition is based on the score of clubs’ highest finishing 4 athletes known as the “A team”. At each fixture, these 4 athletes' scores are added up. The highest scoring A team wins 20 league points. Runners-up score 19. All the club’s A team scores are added up over the 6 fixtures (not including relays). The highest scoring club wins the league competition.
Chingford League 2024 /25– Relays
The weather was sunny, and the ground was firm in places. The course was set around mostly flat grass parkland. Relay teams consisted of 4 athletes. In U11/13 competitions athletes ran 2km each. Seniors ran 3km. Senior races allowed combined U15/U17 and senior age group teams. Such is the popularity of the relays, a record number of 22 junior teams and 95 senior teams lined up at the start.
Senior Men
There was a historic victory for WGEL A team who won the senior relays for the first time since the competition's formation in 2008! The result was even more impressive given the team consisted entirely of U17 Men. The winning team were Oscar Eaton (11:06), Adian O'Driscoll (11:16), Harry Stockill (11:14) & William Muffett (11:48). They ran a combined time of 47mins 24s for the 4x3km legs finishing 35 seconds ahead of runners-up Southwark AC.
Such is the strength in depth, WGEL B team of Nate Harding (11:09), Josh Stephenson (11:46), Joe Oates (11:51) & Lucas Freedman (12:04) finished 3rd in a nail-biting final leg with Victoria Park finishing 2 seconds behind in 4th with a combined time of 48mins 52s.
Senior Women
WGEL U15/U17 combined to great effect in the Senior Women races. WGEL A team of Sophia Parker (13:58), Emilia Kozinska (15:18), Isla Fulling (14:14) & Marissa Higgs-Smith (15:59) were an impressive 6th. WGEL B team of Fiona Yip (15:53), Chinmay Jayaram (18:08), Isla Barron (16:04) & Juliet Taylor (16:59) were 10th. This was an excellent result and shows real progress with 2 senior women teams in the top 10.
U11 & U13 Boys
WGEL A team of Jack Tonge (08:13), Jax Connor (08:55), Patrick Langan (08:46) & Jesse Geller (08:12) combined superbly to win the competition finishing a minute ahead of runners-up Ilford AC in a time of 34 mins 06s. Again, the strength in depth of juniors was evidenced with WGEL B team in third. Picking up bronze medals were George Davies (09:01), Luca Cook (08:51), Lukas Sendar (09:11) & Noah Gavin (08:53)
U11 & U13 Girls
WGEL athletes Lottie Oates (08:52), Poppy Barker (08:45), Kehanique Lowe (09:06) & Chloe Summers (08:49) ran a superb race to win gold in 35mins 32s. Team-mates Chloe Ward (08:44), Phoebe Quorn (10:09), Kaya Affleck (09:32) & Rosie Barron (09:02) took silver medals finishing in 37 mins 27s. Completing a clean sweep of the podium was another WGEL team of Rosie Anderson (09:18), Aoife Pearce (11:03), Maia Lalani (09:34) & Rosie Muffett (09:48). This was an epic set of results!
Chingford League 2024-25 - Final Standings
In addition to the relays, it was a fantastic season for the squad across all age groups. Their commitment and dedication throughout the 6 fixtures provided a foundation for a terrific number of league and individual successes and in some cases helped create club history!
Results: http://chingfordleague.co.uk/this-years-results/
Senior Women Division 2 (Final Standings): Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies = 7th
Senior Men Division 2 (Final Standings): Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies = 9th
U17 Women Individual Competition
Winner Matilda Frith (WGEL 91 points). Runner up, Juliett Taylor (WGEL 85 points). Third, Charlotte Palmer (Loughton AC 74 points). Congratulations to Matilda who was WGEL first U17W winner since Anna Clark won in 2013!
U17 Women Team Competition
Winners - Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (117 points). Runners-up Loughton AC (77 points). Third, Trent Park (20 points). This was the first time that our WGEL U17 Women have won the league since 1998!
U17 Men - Individual Competition (Final Standings)
Winner, William Muffett (WGEL 99 points). Runner up, Samuel Lindsell (Enfield & Haringey 94 points). Third, Aidan Buckley (Loughton AC 76 points). Congratulations to William who was WGEL first U17M winner since 2019 (Rhys Edwards)
U17 Men Team Competition
Winners, Enfield & Haringey (114 points). Runners up, Loughton AC (108 points). Third, Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (97 points).
U15 Girls Individual Competition
Winner, Jagna Falkowska (Trent Park 99 points). Runner Up, Emilia Kozinska (WGEL 84 points). Third, Fiona Yip (WGEL 79 points). Congratulations to silver and bronze medalists Emilia and Fiona who had outstanding league campaigns and improved throughout the long winter season.
U15 Girls Team Competition
Winners, Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (120 points). Runners up, Trent Park (93 points). Third, Orion (90 points)
U15 Boys Team Competition
Winners, Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (114 points). Runners up, Loughton AC (105 points). Third, Orion (104 points). This was a tightly contested league. With no individual medalists, the strength of the team came from several different places, with a combination of athletes scoring for the club throughout the 6 fixtures. Lots of U15 boys faced fixture clashes or had different race priorities this season but again showed the strength of the squad as a whole to still win the league.
U13 Girls Individual Competition
Winner – Lottie Oates (89 points). Runner up, Poppy Barker (88 points). Third Grace Cherry (79 points). Congratulations to all the girls with a clean sweep of the podium! Lottie won gold with a strong finish to the season with 2x runners up and third-place spot in her final 3 fixtures enabling her to fight off the charge of her teammates!
WGEL U13 Girls Team Competition
Winners - Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (120 points). Runners up, Orion (103 points). Third, Ilford AC (89 points). WGEL U13 Girls were on tremendous form right from the opening fixture, they never looked back and were very worthy Champions!
U13 Boys Individual Competition
Winner – Eric Frith (98 points). Runner up William Godsave (Loughton AC 90 points). Third Kalif Ali (Ilford AC 87 points). This was a fine victory for Eric. He was remarkably consistent in his races with 4 wins and a third. Eric was Essex County Cross Country Champion this year and was delighted to add this league title to his season's honours list and he was pushed all the way by his friend William Godsave of Loughton AC!
U13 Boys Team Competition
Winners - Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (120 points). Runners up, Loughton (107 points). Third Orion (96 points). WGEL U13 Boys fought off a strong Loughton AC team and again it was the strength in depth that enabled the squad to prevail with ten athletes making the A team (first 4) over the season.
U11 Girls Individual Competition
Winner – Alice Clements (Enfield 99 points). Runner Up, Chloe Ward (WGEL 97 points). Third Rosie Barron (WGEL 90 points). This was a classy competition with these three girls battling it out all season for top spots. The girls were back and forth in both Chingford league and Met league and with team-mates such as Pheobe Quorn (85 points) and up and coming WASPS such as Kaya Affleck (74 points) nipping at their heels it made for an exciting season!
U11 Girls Team Competition
Winners - Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (120 points). Runners up, Enfield & Haringey (108 points). Third Eton Manor (107 points). WGEL girls’ consistency won the day, with a combination of 10 athletes making up the A team over the season. It was good to see a strong Enfield team and the emergence of Eton Manor at junior level adding to the quality of fields.
U11 Boys Individual Competition
Winner, Jack Tonge (WGEL 99 points). Runner Up, Lukas Vernal (Orion 94 points). Third, Jesse Geller (WGEL 91 points). Congratulations to Jack and Jesse who took gold and bronze medals after a terrific league season. The boys were very consistent. Jack won 4 and was runner-up twice over six fixtures. Jesse’s breakthrough came in fixture 4 (Olympic Park) when he won his first race to edge ahead of the chasing pack with teammates Jax Connor (78 points) overall 4th and Patrick Langan (70 points) 5th place.
U11 Boys Team Competition
Winners, Woodford Green AC with Essex Ladies (120 points). Runners up, Orion (112 points). Third, Eton Manor (94 points). WGEL U11s were very deserved winners. It was delightful to once again see the more experienced boys take their place on the podiums, but also the emergence of athletes through the ranks and many new WASPS competing for the first time.
Summary
Thanks to all parents, coaches and young athlete helpers for supporting and transporting the athletes to races even in the most-muddy conditions! It has been a terrific season with the Senior Men creating history by winning the relays for first time since their inception in 2008 and the juniors winning every league title across all age groups (bar U17 Men). Not to mention the breaking of several records with U15 Boys winning the league for the first time since 2003, and U17 Women for the first time since 1998!
This is all testimony to the athletes, who love the local competitive fixtures. Many of the older athletes who started as U11/13s now race in older age groups which is great to see and continues the league's legacy of providing exciting development opportunities for newcomers, improvers and the most experienced of athletes!
Next Chingford League: October 2025
The Senior Men won the relay for the first time in the club's history