Met League race 1 2026-27: Young Athletes
There was a record turnout of 91 young athletes for WGEL across the seven races. This is a testament to the coaches within the club. The weather was good - windy but fairly warm, which we have become used to with this fixture over the years.
Prior to the fixture, club members put in many hours of work filling in cracks on the course following the heatwaves in the summer. Many WGEL members, including our Exec Committee, were out on the course marshalling to ensure safety. We must thank all these individuals who helped make it a great day of racing. John Stow having stood down as team manager, Joe Everitt is now at the helm, along with others. We are grateful for their help with handing out all the numbers and ensuring the portal is in good shape.
Under 12 Girls 2.25K
Following age group changes, the league increased the distance of the U12 races based on England Athletics recommendations. This was a tough course involving four hills, but it did not put our runners off in the slightest, and we had no fewer than 19 athletes in a field of 36 starters.
Kaya Affleck led the team home with a fine run giving her 3rd spot. Earlier this year Kaya ran brilliantly in the National Primary, placing 7th. Not too far behind Kaya was Esme Cherry in 5th. These two were regular starters last year in this age group. Our next two runners, Francesca Lys 7th and Hannah Hussain 8th, had a great battle up the hill. WGEL romped away with 1st place in the team race.
Many of the others were making their Met League debuts so great credit to them all. Dulcie Qureshi 11th, Anna Spence 12th, Shay Blackett 13th and Lula Qureshi 14th packed brilliantly and finished 2nd team. Following on were Amelie Fabian 15th, Ella Johnson 16th, Nuanxi Zhou 21st and Ottillie Porter 22nd who, remarkably, took 3rd for a clean sweep of the team places.
Such is our strength in depth we still had another seven finishers. They all did so well! Emmy Cormack 24th, Polly Whelan 26th, Robyn Rex 27th, Nina Kumar 28th, Nell Ferreira-Kocijancic 29th, Sofia Lalani 31st, Lylabelle Brin 32nd. Well done girls! The winner, Florence Phillips of Highgate, recently ran a 1500 metres on the road in 5 mins 29 secs.
Under 12 Boys 2.25K
Again, we had 19 runners in a field of nearly 60. The winner, Owen Lewis, recently ran a 1500m on the road in 4 mins 57 secs and was 2nd in the National Primary earlier this year. Charlie Tonge led our team home in 3rd place. Charlie has run 19 mins 49 secs for 5K this year so it was a fine effort from the lad. Even more impressive was Ioan Williams in 4th place, as this was his debut. Closing fast at the end was William Lowers in 5th. William ran a fine 1 mins 48 secs for 600 metres this season. In 10th spot was Lenny Curling. Lenny has produced some excellent 2k parkrun times recently, These boys won the team event on the day - great effort!
We still had another 15 athletes, many making their Met League debuts. Harry Ringer 11th, Sullivan Wynn-Owen 14th, Jack Williams 17th and Michael Berry 19th. These four lads gained us 2nd team in the day - great running, lads!
Rex Quorn was 24th, Harry Davies 25th, Sebastian Saleh 28th and Leonarde Chemi 28th. These four boys all ran well and gave us 5th team spot.
Such is our strength in depth we still had another 7 athletes, most making their debuts. Fine efforts from the following: Archer Spiller 37th, Alfred Philpotts 41st, James Welsford 46th, Teddy Gull 47th, Joseph Richards 49th, Niyam Punj 54th, Max Everett 56th. Again, well done to all those U12 runners - you did the club and yourselves proud today!
Under 14 Girls 3K
We had nine Woodettes on the line for this one. Chloe Ward had a fine run to place 6th, just over 30 seconds behind the two leading girls - Clements and Samuels, both from Enfield. During the summer Chloe lowered her 1500m time to 5mins 3secs. Next in was Rosie Barron in 13th place. We are getting use to Rosie putting in fine runs over the country. Our 3rd scorer and making her debut was Mia Francis in 20th. Completing the scoring quartet was 200m specialist Phoebe Quorn in 23rd. Phoebe had an excellent summer over 200m, leading to national titles. These four girls gave us 2nd team on the day. Well done to you all!
Nola Hammond-Glover was 25th having been involved in a hockey tournament earlier in the day, so a fine run in the circumstances. Rose Moynihan was 34th, Harriet Davies 36th and Euphemia MacQueen 45th. These girls, some making their debuts, did really well to place the team 9th. Finally a big well done to Beatrice Pender, who was 47th.
Under 14 Boys 3K
We had 17 Woodies on the start line from nearly 60, and how well our lads did! Raphael Thomas, looking for Hertfordshire selection from this race, led the team home in 2nd place, just a few seconds behind Danyal Janmohamed of Shaftesbury. Just behind Raphael was Jesse Geller in 4th, having a fine run. Jack Tonge was only one place further back. To close the team in first place was yet another bottom year runner, Theodore Burke in 6th.
Dominic Daza led the B team home in 9th place, followed by George Davies in 14th. Two more bottom year runners rounded off the B team: Josiah Saleh in 16th and Rudy Pearson 18th. Great running by these boys, who took 3rd team spot!
Luca Cook, so reliable, was 25th, Arlo Barron-Smith 36th, Jax Connor 39th and Luke Backmann 41st constituted the C team who finished 7th.
We also had another 6 runners all running their hearts out to represent the club: Arthur Hayes 45th, Samuel Green 46th, Ethan Porter 48th, Henry Cole 49th, Dylan Williams 50th and Noah Parker 53rd.
Under 16 Boys 4.2K
The field was 70 strong and for the first time this was not a mixed race with the U17 men.
William Godsave, making his debut for us, had an excellent run placing 7th. William has made great strides over the last year and this was further evidence of that. George Dolan was also making his debut and performed really well for 22nd. Our third scorer was an 800m runner, Jonny Nash, who is really finding his feet with cross country to place 26th. Eli Sabb was our fourth scorer in 28th. Eli had a good run following an excellent track season. The team closed in 5th place.
Henry Richards was brave to race with a cold, and he also got a stitch so he did really well to finish in 48th. Henry had an excellent track season and we are sure he will bounce back from this. Next in was Declan O’Brien having a good run for 52nd. The other two lads were once again making their debuts and both ran well: Joseph Drakes 53rd and Ivor MacQueen 61st. This team placed 15th. Well done, too, to Dillian Chauhan in 69th.
Under 16/18 Girls 4.2K
This is still a combined race and there was a good turnout of 82 athletes.
U15 Girls
Jemimah Ramchurn led the team home in a fine 6th place. Jemimah has to balance her hockey with her running so it was good that she was able to race. Next, in 7th, was Sophia Stephenson who had a great run for a bottom year girl. Poppy Barker, also bottom year, ran well too in placing 13th. Another one in the same boat is Lottie Oates 29th, who had her mum cheering for her on the course as she was busy marshalling.
Maia Lalani, yet another bottom year, was 32nd and is rapidly improving. Chloe Summers, who was out for a while in the summer, was 39th. It's great to have Chloe back, as she is a fine club athlete. Grace Thorpe, making her Met League debut, was 43rd and Isla Griffiths 47th. One place further back was Sophia Khan 48th. Great packing from these girls! The ever dependable Aoife Pearce was 53rd. Well done to all these U15 girls who had to compete with the older girls.
Under 17 Women
Isla Fulling led the team home in a really good race for 6th, which included a strong finish up the hill. Isla is now really committed and is starting training at Trent Park this Sunday. Next in was another superb club athlete in Sophia Parker who placed 22nd. Sophia will turn out in all weathers. It was good to have Emily Mathias back and she ran well for 24th, followed home by another excellent club girl, Alice Padian in 25th. Ria Firson was another to make her debut and finish 28th. Well done to her!
In the team race which combined both age groups, our A team were a fine 3rd - a great result! The B team were 15th. This was an excellent turnout from our girls, so well done to all of them!
Under 18 Men 5.5K
Unfortunately we only had one Woody on the start line but great to see Daniel Arnold, another great athlete who placed 14th. Hopefully we will have a better turn out at Trent Park.
To conclude, we have had an excellent start to the Howard Williams Junior Trophy. We are leading by seven points from rivals SBH and 10 points ahead of third placed Victoria Park!
We must thank all parents for transporting the athletes to Claybury - it is really appreciated! Next up it's Trent Park on 14th November. Hopefully not the mud bath of previous years, and we look forward to seeing you all there!