Met League 2: Young Athletes, Horsenden Hill

A healthy turnout of 48 young athletes made their way to the first of our away fixtures at Horsenden Hill. Heavy rain the day before did not seem to leave the course that muddy, and in fact the going was good on most parts of the course. The weather was kind, mild with no rain and wind.

Overall we still lead the Howard Williams Junior Trophy, but only just, this time from Victoria Park Harriers with Shaftesbury close at hand in third spot. I (John Stow) want to personally thank all parents bringing the athletes who put in overall a great set of results. All the athletes competing are equally important whether you are up front or towards the rear of the field. You are all scoring points for the cause of the club and I as team manager am very grateful for your support. 

Under 11 Boys

The course was two circuits around fairly flat grassland. WGEL had no fewer than 13 on the start line out of 50 runners, including two lads running second claim for us.

The start was a fast one. Jesse Geller was out to add a second Met League win, with Janmohamed of SBH sticking close by. Around 30 metres down was our Raphael Thomas running alone in 3rd place. On the second lap Jesse got away from the SBH runner with Raphael closing up. At the finish Jesse held on brilliantly to record his second win with Raphael passing Janmohammed on the run in to make it a WGEL one-two. Only five seconds covered three excellent U11 runners.

Jesse Geller on his way to victory

Two more Woodies made the top 6, making it a convincing win for WGEL in the team race. Great runs from George Davies 5th and Dominic Daza 6th helped the club cause. The next four lads helped the B team to 4th place on the day and to 2nd in the league overall. Noah Gavin was 15th, Dylan Williams 23rd, Charlie Tonge 25th and our 2nd claim member William Lowers 29th. William had travelled from Bishops Stortford for the race. These lads packed well for the club.

We were not done yet, believe it or not. Four more Woodies followed, placing the C team 10th on the day: 31st Samuel Etheridge, 33rd Leonardi Chemi, 40th Rex Quorn and 41st Ben Trow, another second claim member making his WGEL debut. Our final runner Alfred Phillpotts closed in 45th.

This was a tremendous turnout for the club. Comgratulations to all our lads who flew the flag for WGEL.

Under 11 Girls 

The girls did the same course that the boys did. Without the same numbers that the boys had, but those that did run helped WGEL secure a second win over rivals Shaftesbury. Leading the Woodettes home was Kaya Affleck placing a fine 9th place. Kaya loves her running and is only a year 5. She was 40 seconds quicker than last year. She has a great future.

Not far behind was Esme Cherry, another Year 5, in 14th spot. Our third runner, Nola Hammond-Glover, was alongside Esme towards the end when the dreaded stitch slowed her, causing Nola to literally lose three places at the finish. However, Nola was 30 seconds quicker than last year and only 12 seconds covered the three girls at the end. They all ran with great enthusiasm.

Closing our squad in was Hannah Hussain in 30th. Sofia Lalani, making her debut, placed 43rd. Well done to the five girls who raced!

Under 13 Boys

We had nine boys starting for us in a large field of 65 runners. Henry Richards had an excellent race, mixing it with two of the best runners in the South Of England - Maiden from Herts Phoenix and Pascal from SBH. At the end Henry was only 15 seconds down on the winner. He will be back on this course in two weeks time running for Essex. Let’s hope he makes his first English Schools in March next year. 

Behind Henry, and good to see him in action as football was cancelled, was Ashton Jokhiya in 11th spot, with Jack Tonge, a bottom year runner, finishing fast in 12th. Great runs from both. Luca Cook ran well for 29th which closed our a team in 3rd place, much improved from Claybury. Well done to the four lads.

The next four lads, all running well, gave the B team 14th spot. Dillian Chauhan 39th, Arlo Barron-Smith 51, Lucas Sender 52, Noah Parker 57. Also not to be forgotten we had Edward Owens-Hill 61. These lads are a great credit to WGEL.

Under 13 Girls

Also running over 3k, the winner was Laura Graham from St Mary’s Richmond who also won at Claybury. Our girls were much closer to the winner than they were at Claybury, which was good to see. Grace Cherry led the Woodettes home in a very useful 5th spot. Not too far behind was Poppy Barker in 8th. These two girls will be back on this course in two weeks time representing Essex. In 10th and 11th places were Chloe Ward and Lottie Oates, both having great races, and it was good to see Lottie back in good shape following her illness.

There was only 20 seconds covering the four girls and they won easily from VPH and SBH.

We certainly did not to have wait long for four more Woodettes coming through with only 13 seconds between them. Well done to Phoebe Quorn 18th, Rosie Barron 19th, Sophia Stephenson 20th and Maia Lalani 21st. The girls grabbed an excellent 4th spot. Such is the strength of this squad our C team placed 11th: Sarah Ramdane was 25th, Ava Pugh 39th, Emilia Herbert 41st and Kaina Uddin 45th. Well done to these four as well. We must also give great credit to Karima Hussain 46th. If these girls can stick together they will medal at the Essex Champs and could make top 6 in the Southern in January.

Under 15/17 Girls

A very disappointing turnout with just two Under 15 girls on the start line. Sophia Parker and Chloe Summers really rose to the occasion with excellent runs. Sophia placed 16th and Chloe 19th. These two are excellent club girls and they deserve support from their team mates.

Sophia Parker and Chloe Summers

One can only hope they will get the support they deserve at the next league match at Wormwood Scrubs next month. WGEL currently lie 11th in the table. To conclude, nothing would please me more than to see these two earn Essex Schools selection next January. 

Under 15/17 Boys

A field of 45 U17s set off on the two laps making up 4K. At the end of the first lap Harry Stockill was lying 2nd, Oscar Eaton 4th and Luka Norden 5th, with Josh Stephenson and Daniel Arnold not too far behind. The boys, to be fair, did not ease down on their training the week before and they felt this probably affected their performances. Nevertheless they still performed admirably by placing 3rd Harry, 4th Oscar and 5th Luke. These three will be back in two weeks time racing for Essex. Josh had an improved run for 14th, 5 places higher than Claybury. Steeplechaser Daniel Arnold, a bottom year runner, placed 20th. The boys won on the day and now lead on the overall U17 team standings. On the individual front, Harry and Oscar are joint leaders.

Under 15 Boys

A big field of 56 runners ran alongside the U17s. Eric Frith led the boys home in 19th spot. Eric is another great club athlete and again nothing would please me more than to see him make the English Schools next year. He is a bottom year U15. Two other Under 15s ran well with Tayo Adetona 34th and Thomas Nicholls 35th. So a good day's racing. Worth noting to those further down the field today that Senior Athlete Videsh Weerakkody placed 52nd and 69th in the Under 17 race way back in 2017. Last Saturday Videsh ran a stormer for 4th place in the Senior Men's race, right amongst some International runners. What Videsh has done, others can do too.