National CC Relays, Mansfield
A fairly overcast but dry day greeted our twelve Woodies for this famous event held over the undulating course at Berry Hill Park. The recent dry weather meant reasonable conditions underfoot, apart from one area around 300m from the finish for the U17s.
It was also worth noting that it was great to see Olympian Phoebe Gill in action in the Junior Women’s event - and what a scintillating last lap she ran for St Albans!
Our U15 Boys and U17 Men both had two teams. Most of the top athletes were on show representing their clubs.
The U17 men ran an undulating circuit of 3000m. Starting the ball rolling for us were Harry Stockill and Aidan O'Driscoll. Both had fine runs indeed, breaking the 10 minute mark. Harry was just over half a minute down on the leading club, Norwich, in 18th spot in 9mins 38secs with Aidan coming in 38th in 9mins 58secs. Both seemed happy with their results from around 100 starters. Both were selected for Essex after fine efforts last week in the Essex League.
On leg two Oscar Eaton and Josh Stephenson set out for us. In fact both lads both come from the same village in Essex, Theydon Bois. Oscar went after runners ahead and moved us up to 16th with a fine clocking of 9mins 47secs. The only athlete to pass him was schools international Jacob Hurrell, who is a year older. Josh, who trains locally with Harry and Oscar, again showed he is cutting the gap on his teammates and he was rewarded with 10mins 31secs. Both had great runs.
Luka Norden and Joseph Arnold ran the final legs for us. For Joseph this was hugely respected as he came off a flight after being on holiday to ensure we had a full team. Luka made further progress to bring us home in 15th in 9mins 50secs, with Joseph 51st in 11mins 11secs. Both lads again showed full commitment.
Harry, Oscar and Luka know that, if they stick together, in a year's time they could be challenging for medals. Their 15th is the highest WGEL have ever placed in this age group and gender. Great effort indeed as all bottom year runners.
Salford Harriers were first, Blackheath 2nd and Preston 3rd. The fastest lap of the day, surprisingly, was 8mins 56secs by Luke Dunham of Herts Phoenix, winner of the Met League recently at Claybury. Last year Luke ran 9mins 44secs.
So to the U15 boys who raced over just 2k, also on an undulating course. The team manager and coach, after consultation with the runners, put George Watkins 2nd. Lucas Freedman 3rd with Daniel Arnold again taking charge of the 1st leg. We also had Stephen Ng and new lads Kaden Nelson-Gursoy and Adam Amin racing.
Daniel Arnold and Stephen Ng set out on leg one alongside about 100 other runners. Although Cambridge, Dacorum and Herne Hill broke away Daniel found himself not too far down on the main group, with Stephen going well too. At the end Daniel came in 20th in 7mins 06secs, a fine effort that gave George Watkins something to work on .Stephen, who shattered his 5k parkrun best the previous weekend, did really well for 54th - exactly 30 seconds behind Daniel.
On leg two George and Kaden set out. George was asked to "go for it" and he certainly did that. Going into the wooded section of the course he was up to 10th. When he came out of the woods he was 6th. At the top of the hill he was 5th, then he overhauled Lord Coe’s old club Hallamshire Harriers to move into 4th! A tremendous effort and one suspects that, had that been 3k, he probably would have got us the lead. Kaden did well too, moving up to 51st with 7mins 58secs. George returned 6mins 51secs, the 3rd fastest on that leg, with the fastest being Alem from Leeds with 6 mins 40. I'm sure that over a longer course George will be much closer to his Leeds rival.
On the final leg Lucas Freedman took over with Adam Amin running for the other team. Lucas held on brilliantly. In fact, coming out the woods he had only slipped a few places even though he is a 800m specialist. He had both Daniel and George giving him great support from the sidelines and, as he reached the top of the hill, he moved back into 6th spot. After having given everything he was just unable to hold on but still brought us in in 8th - a fantastic placing. Only our gold medal trio from 2017 have been higher. Adam really did well by overtaking six runners to bring the other team home in 45th. Lucas produced a great 7mins 4secs, much quicker than the Southerns course which was much flatter.
Cambridge were the race winners from Herne Hill and Dacorum.
So 15th for the U17s and 8th for the U15s was a huge improvement on last year's performances.
Finally I must thank the parents for taking a day out to transport the athletes to Mansfield, some staying overnight This was very much appreciated.