Chingford League fixture 1: 6th October

The wiser heads amongst our membership with an eye on the first Met League fixture decided against road racing in the dark at Hog Hill on Tuesday night. Apart from the lack of bright light, conditions were good, the surface smooth and sure, and there were a few takers despite the off-putting, steep incline over the first 200m.

Amongst the young athletes, there were some standout performances, notably by Liam Blaikie, who recorded the fastest time of the night in winning the U17M race in 10:15 (nearly a minute faster than his closest U17M rival); just over 30 seconds down was James Stockings, who won the U15B race. Our other winner of the night was Georgina Ferrari in the U15G race, with team mate Holly Bedeau close behind in 2nd.

Claudia Conway, Suna Yokes and Kate Stockings (4th, 5th and 6th U17W) and Sinead Sheehy (10th in U13G and making her first appearance for the club) also made valuable contributions to the club’s score.

In the senior 5k race, Darren Southcott, in his first winter as U20, made an excellent impression finishing 4th of the 150 starters, in around 17mins 30secs. Karim Ali, another first winter U20M, also had a good run and showed he is not fazed by senior competition. Our next runner home was Alistair Holford (21:10); he was closely tracked by Becky Hewitt (in her first winter outing as an U20W) for two thirds of the race with Becky crossing the line 40 seconds down. Becky had a further trial with the national triathlon squad at the weekend and is clearly benefitting from her training regime and will be a welcome addition to the senior women’s ranks this winter. Stuart Phillips took an evening off from Terry McCarthy’s Tuesday session and was satisfied to get a hard run in.

The facility at Hog Hill is first rate both for cycling and road running and more than a cut above its predecessor at Eastway – in any event, it is worth it for the view from the top of the hill.

Results