ATW Met League - Young Athletes
The makers of Vanish Oxy-Action and Ariel will have done a roaring trade after the runners returned home from Saturday’s ATW Metropolitan League fixture at Horsenden Hill. Despite the fine weather on the day, weeks of persistent rain ensured that the course which is traditionally wet and muddy, more than lived up to its reputation – indeed, conditions in which U15G Edie Preece revels and it was her that turned in our best young athlete result on the day.
Twenty four hours of dry weather made no difference to the conditions and all finishers were liberally coated in the wet mud having splashed their way round the course. Edie Preece was our first runner to return in the U15/17W race but as the race completed the short lap, it was Rosie Poole who lay in 4th with Edie in 7th some 20 metres back as the field headed out for the long lap. These positions were held until the long drag up towards the high point some 400 metres from the finish. Although TVH’s Isabel Dye’s (TVH) lead was never in danger (she won by 49 seconds), Edie picked up places on the hill passing Rosie Poole at the crest of the hill before engaging in a long downhill sprint to the finish. Edie’s 4th place is her best Met league result so far; Rosie had hoped for better than her 6th place finish but in lighter conditions would have fared better.
In the first race of the day, U13B Joe Geller looked a little less sharp that normal – having spent his previous night under canvas at Scout camp probably accounts for that but he picked up an admirable 12th coming home in the middle of a closely spaced string of 7 runners. Hayden Maleary finished 25th in the field of 47 runners.
Millie Finch was our sole representative in the U13G event, crossing the finishing line with a broad smile for 22nd place and reasonably satisfied with her outing and further good experience. In the U15/17M’s race, Harry Cavell was our first finisher with a combative 37th place. Chris Hogg (52nd) got the better of Taylor Reece (58th) in the biggest junior race of the day.
The meagre size of our squad for this fixture can partly be accounted for by the forthcoming Essex Schools and South of England Championships fixtures in successive weeks. However there are plenty of other squad runners who won’t be eyeing places in these races who we need to bolster our teams in the final fixture at Wormwood Scrubs on 8th February.