Skip to main content

U17 Men, U15 Boys SEAA XC Relays: Wormwood Scrubs, 19/10/24

After rain in the morning the skies cleared for some excellent racing for our U15 and U17 boys. Parts of the course were muddy and in particular the back part of the course and the wooded section around 800-900 metres from the finish. Our Under 15 team were boosted with the arrival of George Watkins making his debut for the Woodies.

Under 17 men

The team manager was looking at a top 6/8 finish from the 30 teams on the starting line bearing in mind all three of our lads were bottom year runners. How wrong he was! Harry Stockill took care of stage one and had a fine run, placing 4th in 9 mins 30 seconds - a PB for Harry over 3k on any terrain. TVH led the way with Louis Moore being around 150 metres ahead of our athlete. Harry's time was the 7th fastest overall from around 80 runners.

On stage two Oscar Eaton took over from Harry. Oscar was disappointed with his run in the Met League the week before and more than delivered on this occasion by running a stormer. He closed right down on the teams ahead to bring us in 2nd, with TVH still ahead but their lead whittled down. Oscar ran 9 mins 33 secs for his leg and only two athletes on his leg were quicker. Oscar's time was the 9th fastest overall.

Luka Norden looked set to continue the fine running of his team mates. His first kilometre was 3mins 8 secs into the wind and he was fast catching TVH. Going into the wooded part of the course Luka took the lead only then to take a heavy fall which disrupted his momentum. Luka's middle kilometre was 3 mins 30 secs, which proved the tumble seriously disrupted his running. Going into the final Km, Hercules Wimbledon took over through Panchev, with our runner having a real battle for the minor medals. So Hercules Wimbledon won the event and only a second covered 2nd, 3rd and 4th place.We were the unlucky ones to miss out depite a gallant 3 mins 4 secs closing kilometre from Luka.

The boys ran above themselves and must take the confidence from this performance into the National event next month.

From L to R: Harry Stockill, Oscar Eaton, Luka Norden

Under 15 boys

This course of 2k was around 150 metres over distance. Daniel Arnold took care of stage one and had a great run of 6 mins 52 secs to place 6th - only a few seconds short of 2nd place as Dacorum took a big lead with Teddy Murphy running 6 mins 26secs. That run proved to be the fastest of the day. On leg two Lucas Freedman had another fine run over the country in 7 mins 15 secs to come in 8th. Lucas is using this part of the season to gain strength, as part of his preparation for next season on the track. So a very excited George Watkins made his debut on the final leg. The previous weekend George had run a 10k at the velodrome in 33mins so no lack of endurance for him. George tore after the opposition, passing three runners, only to be passed by the outstanding Theo Creed, the U13 boys National XC Champion. Dacorum won easily but in 6th were the Woodies, only 20 seconds short of medals. George ran 6 mins 43 secs, the 3rd fastest overall on the day.

Again it was a fine performance from our Under 15 boys.

From L to R: Daniel, George, Lucas

This was a great day for our club, rising to the occasion against some of the strongest teams across the South Of England. Both squads are now lookimg forward to the National event at Mansfield in two weeks time.