Young Athletes London City Runner Met League 3
The highlights from Saturday’s London City Runner Metropolitan League fixture at Ruislip were a third consecutive Met win for U13G Rosie Poole, a 2nd place for U17M James Stockings and a solid supporting effort from our other young athletes.
Almost universally, the athletes reported the course to have been a tough challenge, particularly the long drag rising 20 metres early on in Copse Wood – conditions were also a lot muddier than had been anticipated. With the bulk of the course in the woods, it was not a spectator friendly route and was a little disorienting for the runners with its multitude of twists and turns and ups and downs until they were directed back out into the start field for the last fifty metres to the finishing funnel.
All races took a lap round the start field before disappearing into the woods. Rosie Poole already had a 15 metre lead over the other 28 runners by the time she came back past the spectators gathered at the start line. This was to be a lead she never relinquished, returning to the finish with a 10 second advantage over TVH’s India Weir. Behind her, our U13G team packed well with a resurgent Jodie Ratcliffe in 5th heading a Woodford trio with Katie Petyt (6th) nine seconds behind her and Edie Preece a further 8 seconds back. Edie sensibly opted for a cautious start in her debut race, gradually working her way through the field from the mid teens to finish with a fine 7th place. Aoife Guyatt backed up well in 13th and Olivia Hounsome put in a solid debut performance for 18th position.
James Stockings (who won at Stevenage) was our sole representative in the U17M race but was beaten to the line this time by Shaftsbury’s Michael Callegari (who had also won at Claybury). Both runners were well clear of the rest of the field by the end of the race, James having nearly half a minute on a chasing Shaftesbury runner in third place. With Amelia Barrett unable to race, it was left to another U15 runner to win the U17W/U15G race, St Mary’s Hannah Novakovic taking her chance this time. U15G Jessica Burgess, despite slipping a few places in the closing section of the race, had a fine run to grab 7th and only 19 seconds further back, Isabel Levine (a little more than a month too old for the U13 age group) proved a revelation in 8th place. Stalwart Stephanie Smith was 23rd in her first Met League race of the season.
Our U13 Boys team missed Canaan Solomon and so it was left to Alfie Poole to head our team of four back home in the field of 31 runners. Alfie (still only 10 and therefore too young to score), was as determined as ever and finished 16th, a minute and 15 seconds down on the winner, Herts Phoenix’s Jamie Philpott who had twice had to settle for second behind Canaan this season. James Wakefield (21st), Harry Cavell (23rd) and Taylor Reece (29th) completed our team.