Met CC League, Young Athletes, Race 1 at Ruislip
Amongst those running true to form was Sidnie Sales who was back to something like her best after an uncertain year so far; she looked stronger and more confident finishing in 3rd place in the combined U15/17W race. Liam Blaikie also ran a sound race to finish 6th in the U15/17M race; with the early places dominated by Shaftesbury Barnet and St Marys runners, it was another consistent run from Liam as he held his own against the top year runners ahead of him. Amelia Barrett, our only U13G on the day, ran soundly in her first winter race for the club, finishing 4th in a small field of 18 runners.
Behind Sidnie Sales in the U15/17W race, Ellie Foster (in her first Met League as an U15) upset the form book by coming home in 8th place ahead of her older teammates, but this was a fair reflection of her recent progress as evident in our schools’ cross country league. We finished 9 runners in this race in all: Georgina Ferrari (12th) and Amy Doyle (13th) ran as usual in tandem; Holly Bedeau had another solid race for 19th with Kate Stockings (26th), Lauren Freeman (29th) and Stephanie Smith (30th) supporting well and Suna Yokes, out of sorts on the day, in 36th. The A Team score of 36 was good enough for 1st team whilst the B Team (104) was 7th.
We did not manage to close any other scoring teams. Apart from Liam, our other runners in the U15/17M race were James Stockings (a fine 13th) and Ryan Dunne, returning from a dose of Osgood Schlatter’s, in 32nd. For the U13B, our sole representative was Dominic Smith (28th) whose youthful exuberance probably got the better of him as he hared off into the lead for the first 200m before being reeled in by the field and, as normal order was restored, a strong looking contingent of Herts Phoenix runners then dominated.
It was also gratifying to watch some of last year’s U17 runners graduate to the senior ranks and perform admirably in the process. Alex Cornwell and Darren Southcott both had excellent performances in the Senior Men’s race, coming home 17th and 43rd respectively, whilst Karim Ali should also feel satisfied with 124th in a large field of 329. Becky Hewitt, meanwhile, had a fine run, coming in 28th and 6th scorer in the Senior Women’s field of 136 runners.
Note: An adult-sized black jacket was left on the ground at Saturday's base camp. Would anybody like to claim it?