Essex League: One Tree Hill, near Basildon

This course is one of the most challenging you can find, with long extensive climbs and with little or no running on the flat. The extra incentive for our runners was that finishing in the top six gives automatic selection to represent Essex in the South Of England Inter Counties to be held at Horsenden Hill in late November.

Under 17 Men

The three lads - Oscar Eaton, Harry Stockill and Luka Norden - were given instructions to try and work together in order for them all to gain automatic selection. We thought that the severity of the course might cause our South Of England Inter Counties 800m champion Oscar Eaton to struggle. How wrong we were as Oscar made light work of securing his first win of the season! At the end of the first lap Harry Stockill held a ten metre advantage over Oscar with Luka Norden looking comfortable in 4th spot. Into the second lap of 3000m, Oscar closed on his teammate and the two lads started to draw away with Luke still in 4th. Coming into the final 1k Harry was unfortunate to get a stitch, leaving Oscar to secure a well deserved victory. Harry was also forced to concede second spot as Sam Horseley from Havering passed him late on. Luka was also unlucky that both of his shoes split, which meant he dropped back too, but he still finished 5th. All three lads gained automatic selection for Essex, and they also won the team race with just three to score and a very low score of nine points. 

U15

This race was over 4K and included many hills. Sophia Parker and Chloe Summers placed 21st and 22nd respectively. It was good to see these two taking on the best in Essex.

In the Boys race over the same distance Eric Frith placed 32nd. Unfortunately he was sick twice during the race and he should be given great credit for finishing.

U13

We had six Woodettes on the line for one circuit of 3k. Grace Cherry had an inspired race to place 4th thus gaining automatic selection. Poppy Barker found hidden strength to pass an athlete on the final uphill stretch to gain the last automatic place with 6th spot. This will be Poppy's first Essex selection. The rest of the squad ran really well: Chloe Ward 11th, Sophia Stephenson 17th, Grace Fayinka 25th and Isabelle Lake 33rd. The club placed 2nd place in the team event.

In the Boys race over the same course Henry Richards had a fine run, placing 4th to secure county selection. Henry enjoyed the course and was pleased with his result. Jack Tonge, a bottom year runner, ran well for 17th and hopefully in a year's time he should be emulating what Henry did. A fine run came from Max Tharrat in  22nd place.

U11

These races did not offer Essex selection but it was great to see large fields in both genders. Esme Cherry, our leading U11 girl and only a year 5, placed 13th. In the Boys race we actually placed 3rd in the team race with the following performances: Dominic Daza 11th Seth Fayinka 12th, George Davies 16th, Dylan Tharratt 33rd. These were fine performances from our lads who support our club whenever they can. So a good day for WGEL with 6 athletes selected for Essex on the 29th November at Horsenden Hill. We must thank all the parents for transporting our athletes to this event.