Met League 2025-26, race 1 at Claybury: U15/U17
The sun was shining, there was little or no wind, and the going very firm. This all led to some fast running and course records being broken in both the Junior Women and Junior Men's races.
Overall in the Howard Williams Junior Trophy WGEL are level with old rivals Shaftesbury Barnet but WGEL have their noses in front, just, with three team wins to SBH's one.
59 junior race photos by Alex Wardle
The quality of the U15/17 boys race was evident as Pflug from Highgate, an 8.38 3000m runner, 6th on the UK U17 ranking, was on the start line. Sam Turner, a 4.27 1500m steeplechaser and also 6th in the UK, was there too, alongside U15 Jake Summers from Herts Phoenix, who topped the national 3000m ranking with 8.44. So with our lads a great race was in prospect.
At the end of the first small lap (1500 metres) the three mentioned above were in the leading pack together with our three lads: Oscar Eaton, Luka Norden and Harry Stockill. It was a real scrap on the much tougher bigger circuit of 2700 metres with Pflug getting ahead late on to win the race in 13.04, a course record. Sam Turner was second, three seconds behind, with Oscar coming in third in 13.12. Harry hung onto this bunch of four to run 13.16. Worth noting that our two boys ran quicker around this circuit than our former internationals Solomon and Cornwell some years back.
Luka lost contact after the hill but still ran 13.35 for 7th, which was 16 seconds quicker than last year. To complete the scoring Josh Stephenson ran well (although he was disappointed with his run) for 19th in 14.16, nearly 45 seconds quicker than last year. That gave the club 348 points for a close second behind SBH who won with 352 points.
It should be noted that all our four boys contested a race the day before whilst racing for their school. The coach and team manager believes this probably cost Oscar a victory and a sub13 minutes clocking.
Samuel Singh made his Met League debut placing 27th in 14.46 with a fine run. He had also raced the day before. Lucas Freedman, now able to train more frequently after dropping the football, was 34th in 15.07. He was about 50 seconds quicker than last year. Lucas will be focusing on indoor racing this winter.
In the Under 15 race, contested within this overall race, the team was led home by Eric Frith. He is taking a big step-up to competing in a higher age group but appears to be handling the challenge with great confidence. He placed 16th in 15.39. Next in was Tayo Adetona who had a really good run for 20th in 15.48. Another one stepping up into a new age group, Oskar Prince, applied himself really well for 26th 16.00, just ahead of Adam Amin who was 29th in16.16. Daniel Heydon deserved lots of praise for his 38th in 17.49.
In the Girls race over the same course we saw the course record shattered by Highgate’s Sonny Allen in 14.17. Sonny has run a 5k parkrun in 16 mins 35 and she was a long way ahead of the rest of the field here at Claybury. For us it was a disappointing day as only four girls showed up. The team manager was aware of having no Jasmine Hall (swim contest), Isla Fulling (D of E) and Jemimah Ramchurn (Essex hockey trials). Due to a foot injury we were also unfortunate to not have Eva Prince. As an U13 last season Eva really showed her class in this league and in major championships. We hope to have these athletes back for fixture two.
Leading the team home was Sophia Parker, so reliable and tenacious, who placed a fine 13th in the U15 girls race in 17.50, nearly a minute quicker than last year. Chloe Summers, who is making big strides forward, was not far behind in 17th in 17.59. These two girls set 5k PBs in the Chingford League four days earlier. Alice Padian placed 14th Under 17 in 19.50 and it was good to see Alice on the start line. Well done to her. Aoife Pearce completed the scoring, finishing 44th in the U15 race in 21.44. What I like about Aoife is she is always willing to support the club, no matter what event it might be.
The girls placed 11th on the day. We hope that, with a better turnout for the second fixture, we can move up the table.
I want to thank the following who gave numbers out in the day: John Whelan U11 Girls; James Geller U11 Boys; Patricia Heydon U13 Boys; Amanda Herbert U13 Girls; Ben Stockill U15/17 Boys; Paul Cheal U15/17 Girls
They did a great job, and I must also thank my wife, who spent hours the day before setting out the cards and sorting numbers ready for race day. A great team effort from everyone!