South of England Relays: Young Athletes & Women

Fine warm weather greeted our young athletes at Rushmoor Arena where we had under 13 girls and under 15 girls teams, and 2 boys for an incomplete under 13 boys team, and then a women's team.

The best individual performance came from Canaan Soloman on the 1st leg over 3k in which he took the lead from the gun and just kept a safe 10 metres ahead of the chasing pack until 600 metres from home, when he burst away from the field to cross the line 18 seconds clear in 10 mins 20sec. That remained the fastest lap of the day until Tonbridge's Tom Kendrick, a 2 mins 12 secs man over 800 metres this summer, swept his side into the lead on the last leg in 10 mins 16 secs. Our second leg runner was young Alfie Poole, who has only just joined Woodford, and he ran brilliantly to clock 11mins 45secs and hold an excellent position of 4th place at the next change over. If only we had two other runners! Still, this bodes well for the coming winter season when these two will be joined by Harry Cavell and James Wakefield amongst others.

Our Under 13 girls team was started by Rosie Poole, who was with the leading pack most of the way to hand over in 18th place, returning 8 mins 55 for the 2.3k course, a time that placed her 30th out of the 230 runners who completed this course. Jodie Ratcliff ran well to hold this position on the 2nd leg, running 9 mins 24 secs. On the last leg 1st year Under 13 girl Aoife Guyet was fantastic and hung on really well to concede just 1 place with 9 mins 30 secs. The team was 19th out of 81 starting teams.

The Under 15 girls had a good team and first away was Amelia Barrett who, like Rosie, went with the leaders to finish 15th over 3k to record 11 mins 26 secs, a time that placed her 30th fastest out of 225 girls who completed this course. Next away was Alicia McArdell, a first year Under 15 girl, who ran well to come in 16th in 12 mins 01 secs. On the final leg a very good run came from Jessica Burgess, who passed 4 girls to bring the team home in 12th place in 11 mins 40 seconds. Over 75 clubs started the first leg.

Woodford improved from 22nd to 19th in the Under 13 girls from last year, and from 24th to 12th in the Under 15 girls. They beat all their Met League rivals and Chelmsford were not that far ahead in either age group, which bodes well for the Essex Champs later this winter.

"The great thing to see today was the excellent support shown to one another and that team events like this bring the best out of our youngsters,They all thoroughly enjoyed their day out. My thanks to all the parents who transported the youngsters to Aldershot," said Team Manager John Stow.

Two hours later our Senior Women's squad arrived for their 4 x 3.881 metres relay. Without some of our best runners we were not expecting a great result but the ladies rose to the occasion, not allowing their younger counterparts to steal the show.

Linda Jackson ran the first leg and did very well indeed as she has been short of training due to other commitments. Linda placed 30th in 15 mins 15 seconds. Next away was Emily Moss who has had a good summer and returned specifically from where she is working in Germany, and promptly took us up 8 places to 22nd in 13 mins 59 secs. Bernadine Pritchett, who has been running very well lately, took her recent good form onto the roads and stormed around the Rushmoor arena to bring us up to 10th in 14mins 18secs. On the last leg our runner Rachel Lund held on really well to bring the team in 12th place out of 60 starting teams.

"When you consider we had two vets in the team we did really well, and it was pleasing to see the four ladies really give their best. Roll on the Met League when we hope many others will be present as we go in search of an overall win this winter," said manager Stow.