Chingford League CC Relays
There was an end of term party atmosphere about Saturday’s Chingford League cross country relays held in the spring sunshine at Highams Park.
Young Athletes
Our U13s performed well with nine representatives making up one-and-three-quarter girls teams and half a boys team – boys and girls racing together in a single race. The small field of just nine starters were led round by Daniel Rowden who set the fastest time of the day (4mins 2secs) for the single lap course and brought our team home with a clear 70m lead at the end of the first leg. He handed over to Loren Alleyn, a year and a half his junior and almost a foot shorter but he held on well, only losing a single place by the time he finished his lap. Unfortunately, with only half a team, that was as far as our boys could get.
The girls on the other hand were close to having two full teams and the quartet of Alicia McArdell (4’ 29s), Jodi Ratcliff (4’ 45s), Rosie Poole (4’ 44s) and Isabel Levine (4’ 43s) had a comfortable win by some 100m or more over the nearest chasers with Alicia running the fastest girls’ leg of the day.
Our other part-complete team of Aoife Guyatt (5’15s), Katherine Myers (5’19s) and Niamh Bartlett (5’49s) also performed commendably, Niamh overtaking and out-sprinting the Orion non-scoring team to end her leg 4 seconds ahead when they ran out of team members.
The other junior age groups raced at the same time as the seniors with a 3.5km leg over a single lap of the park followed by a single lap in the woods and round the lake. Sean Kenny (U17M) formed a composite team with Isobel Moss (U15G), Grant Corton (V50) and Terry McCarthy (M50); both juniors rose the challenge of racing against their peers and more than held their own.
Following the races, the league trophies were awarded and Daniel Rowden (U13B) and Sean Kenny (U17M) both picked up 2nd place individual trophies for their league ranking in their respective age groups.
Seniors
Those seniors who ran enjoyed the low-pressure nature of the event which contrasted with the more high-profile events the team is usually involved in.
Our A team finished 5th of the 20 teams (Harold Wyber 11.52, CJ Shepherd 11.59, Ed Messer 11.27, John Wallis 13.42). Our B team was 12th (Steve Murray 13.36, Terry McCarthy 13.56, Steve Lambert 13.58, Alistair Holford 13.39). And a mixed C team was 17th (Sean Kenny 12.39, Isobel Moss 14.11, Grant Corton 15.35, Terry McCarthy 15.11).
The race was run in conjunction with the Essex CC Relay Championship (Results).