Southern RRs: U13s 22nd; U15s 24th

The club took U13 and U15 girls' teams to the South of England Road Relays on Saturday at Aldershot, and it was an extremely promising start to the new season for them.

The Under 13 girls did the club proud by placing a solid 22nd out of 70 starting teams, ahead of all of our Met League rivals and 2nd behind Chelmsford in Essex, ahead of Mayesbrook.

Alicia McArdell started the ball rolling over a circuit of 2.3k and, after finding herself virtually last at the start, did well to rally through to 27th, her time being 9 mins 15 secs. Next away was new recruit Rosie Poole, only just 11, who only lost one place and ran with great commitment for her new club in running 9 mins 43 secs. Sky Mulvey took the last leg and ran really well, overtaking 6 runners to record a fine 9 mins 17 secs.

For the Under 15 girls team, Amelia Barrett started out on the 1st leg of 3k and ran strongly throughout to place 24th out of the 62 starting teams, Amelia's time was 11 mins 45 secs. Another new recruit, Isobel Moss, in her 1st race as a 1st claim athlete for Woodford, ran well to gain a place in running 12 mins 16 secs. Having struggled to find a 3rd leg runner, Jessica Lambert from Roding Valley School (forms already completed) ran in her very first race for Woodford and ran really well to come in 24th in a time of 12 mins 27 secs.

Again we were 2nd home in the county and also beat our Met League rivals in this race. It is worth noting that the Under 15 girls team would have placed 21st in the Under 17 Women's race, as this was over same course with 3 legs.

The most important thing to me was the way the girls supported each other and really bonded well together.

These will all be around this season and are relishing the challenge, no matter what the opposition is. It was a most enjoyable day with a great atmosphere.

John Stow