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SOUTH OF ENGLAND CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS, Stanmer Park, Brighton, Sat 28th Jan
The hilly course at
The first event of the day was the under 15 boys 4500m race.
Led home by India Weir in 57th place the under 13 girls did well to finish 14th team out of 29. Next home was Rosie Vallance who finished only six places behind the
Our lone competitor in the under 15 girls race was Natalia Munro who finished 142nd in a field of 198. Hugo Cayssials was hoping to do well in the under 17 mens’ race but things didn’t go right on the day. He made his effort to move up through the field on the second lap of his 6000m race but it wasn’t there on the day and he finished 65th. Ayuub Abdullahi, Robert Vallance and Sam Cooper were near the back of the field in 140th, 142nd and 155th places but at least we had a team place of 16th which was better than a lot of clubs.
U13 Girls. 57 I. Weir 12:17; 79 R. Vallance 12:31; 118 K. Weir 12:48; 164 C. Kafero-Roberts 13:29; 167
U13 Boys. 23 K. Mahaddine 10:58; 41 A. Mendes Da Costa 11:08; 85 N. Cowley-Andrea 11:44; 87 L. Burrell 11:45; 89 C. Rathbone 11:46; 172 T. Horrex 13:10; 180
U15 Boys. 64 A. St Aubyn 16:32; 143 J. Cooper 17:48; 153 J. Keen 18:06; 154 J. Horrex 18:07; 161 L. Marriott 18:16; 166 J. Gilbert 18:20. Team 21st
U15 Girls. 142 N. Munro 17:44.
U17 Men. 65 H. Cayssials 22:37; 140 Ayuub Abdullahi 25:27; 142 R. Vallance 25:35; 155 S. Cooper 29:53. Team 16th
With the National Cross Country Champs coming to Parliament Hill in February, this year's Southern Cross Country Champs took a break from their usual London home in Parliament Hill and moved further south to Stanmer Park in Falmer, near Brighton.
The Southern is the longest race on the cross country calendar, coming in at a sizeable 15k, and Parliament Hill is always a very demanding course, and Stanmer Park proved to be no different. Stanmer Park has already played host to the Southern Champs over the years and had produced a silver medal for the Valley when Ken Norris finished a magnificent 2nd in 1955. However the last time the Southern Champs was held there was back in the '80s and so it presented itself as a new challenge to the current Valley men's team.
It was good to see that the distance (both race and travelling distance) didn't diminish the Valley men's enthusiasm for the race, as a team of 13 senior men travelled to Stanmer Park on the day. Given that parking was very limited due to a clash with the Brighton v Newcastle FA Cup match on the same day, nearly all the team travelled there by train which helped to lift team spirits before the race.
It was only upon arrival at Stanmer Park that we could appreciate the size of our challenge, as the first thing we saw on entering the park was a large hill! However this proved to be the least of our worries, as further exploration of the course revealed that this was just a small hill or "warm-up" hill for bigger things to come! A look at the course map showed that this first hill was only part of a small lap of approx 1k, which would then be followed by 3 large laps through the woods further up the hill to make up the 15k race distance.
A warm-up lap was definitely a good idea to see where the large lap would go, although in this case some may say that ignorance is bliss, as it turned out that the large lap snaked up and down the hill with a total of 3 ascents and 3 descents. The steepest of these was the first long climb as you entered the woods, followed by a short descent, another climb and descent lead to a brief respite on some even ground after coming out of the woods, before going back into the woods for a final steep climb and then a welcome long descent down towards the finish.
Just 1 of these large laps was formidable, but could we finish 3 or would they finish us?!!!
The good news (if you can call it that) was that race conditions were favourable on the day, with only a light breeze and the sun breaking through now and then to keep the temperature up and firm ground with very little mud providing good and fast conditions under foot.
As the field of nearly 750 men assembled on the start line the thought going through many people's minds was not to go off too fast to avoid "blowing-up" on the hill climbs. This tactic would prove to be invaluable for the majority of the field, as there was an inevitable number of casualties with people forced to drop out due to the severity of the course that proved to be a test of both physical and mental strength to reach the finish. Thankfully the Valley men were up to the task and the whole team completed the course, with Rob Russell making the trip down from Scotland to lead the team home in a very creditable 46th place.
Next home was hill specialist Chris Smith in 62nd, followed by Sean Renfer with a fine run to finish inside the top 100 in 87th place. Making a welcome return to the team after injury was Gordon Irvine in 115th and another of our Scottish Valley men Myles Edwards battled his way to finish 173rd. 6th man home and final scorer for the A team was Frenchman Matthieu Ribault in 224th, which gave the Valley a top 10 finish as 10th placed team overall, a great result!
Another Scot, Cameron Strachan, had a baptism of fire as he made his Valley debut over this tough course, but he coped well to finish 261st, closely followed by a much improved Manuel Da Silva in 263rd. Matt Ponting enjoyed a return to his home town (despite the hills!) in 276th place and Irishman Henry Hughes did well to finish 306th in his first ever Southern Champs. Valley chairman John Husbands made light work of the course in 391st, using it as part of his marathon training, while Richard Bell came through the field to come home in 460th and finish the B team in 38th place out of 79 finishing teams.
Team manager, Phil Wetton, found the course hard going and was the "unlucky" 13th and final Valley man home in 510th place.
Earlier in the day the U20 men's race saw 2 junior men start for the Valley over a much more manageable 8k - the fast improving Naz Dawit and promising 2nd claim athlete Phil McCorquodale. Unfortunately the steep slope of the hills proved to be Naz's downfall as he had to retire from the race after twisting his ankle, but a steady race from Phil saw him progress through the field to finish in 60th place out of a total field of 98.
In the senior women's race team members work and other commitments left Siana Jones as the only Valley representative in the 8k race and she gave it her all to finish well inside the top half of the field in 122nd place out of 335 finishers.
All in all it was a day to remember for the Valley over a course you will never forget!
Senior Ladies. 122 S. Jones 37:11.
Senior Men ‘A’. 46 R. Russell 54:06; 62 C. Smith 54:42; 87 S. Renfer 55:40; 115 G. Irvine 56:55; 173 M. Edwards 58:45; 224 M. Ribault 1:00:09; Team 10th
Senior Men ‘B’. 261 C. Strachan 1:01:50; 263 M. Da Silva 1:01:58; 276 M. Ponting 1:02:28; 306 H. Hughes 1:03:33; 391 J. Husbands1:06:20; 460 R Bell 1:09:06; Team 38th
510 P. Wetton 1:10:49. 745 finished and 79 teams.
London City Runner Metropolitan League, match 4, Trent Park, 14th Jan 2012.
Saturday was beautiful, clear and cold and with hardly any wind at Trent Park. Mr Frost had been busy again the night before and the ground was mostly firm or hard, with only the slopes exposed to the day’s sun with a slippery sticky thin layer of made to require caution at places.
After his 3rd place in the Middlesex championships last week, Hugo Cayssials continued his good form when he finished 5th in the Metropolitan League Under 15/17 race over 4000m at Trent Park.. Next home was Joe Gilbert in 26th place closely followed by Joe Cooper, 28th. Also improving was Louis Marriott in 37th place, bringing the team home in 6th position. TVH clubmate James Horrex chased him the whole race but Louis managed to beat him by two places this time. Sam Cooper also improved his performance when finishing 46th. The only Valley competitor in the U15/17 girls race was Natalia Munro having her first race in this league. She shook off her injury of last week to finish a very creditable 10th out of 36 runners.
Feeling much better after last week’s bad cold, Karim Mahaddine was almost back at his best when finishing 5th over the U13 Boys 3000m. Abraham Mendes da Costa also had a good run to finish just behind him in 6th place. Finishing 25th and 26th, Thomas Horrex just held off a greatly improved Edward Wootton and they brought the team home in 3rd place. It was unusual to have only one twin, India Weir, running in the U13 Girls race. She was in second place until the uphill finish when she was passed by the Middlesex County champion. This was a far better performance on a tougher course than last week. Also improving after her county race, Jaime Cubitt finished 16th.
U13 Boys. 5 K. Mahaddine 11:43; 6 A. Mendes Da Costa 11:55; 25 T. Horrex 13:45; 26 E. Wootton 13:57. Team 3rd.
U13 Girls. 3 I. Weir 12:53; 16 J. Cubitt 14:30. Team 5th.
U15/17 Boys. 5 H. Cayssials 13:24; 26 J. Gilbert 14:59; 28 J. Cooper 15:00; 37 L. Marriott 15:28; 30 J. Horrex 15:39; 46 S. Cooper 16:54. Team 6th.
U15/17 Girls. 10 N. Munro 16:59. Team 9th.
This was a critical race for the Men’s team. – are we going to make it back into Division 1? And will the men’s vets be relegated? With a number of key runners unavailable either through injury, fitness, or for (good) academic study reasons, we only mustered 12 runners in all. It was good to see Sean back on form and running well, finishing 16th overall in a very competitive field on this demanding and hilly course. For a change the men were sent anticlockwise around the top field, mostly firm but tussocky, and still layed in frost before doubling back alongside the avenue, and then a long steady descent towards the valley, before a short switch up then down again to the bottom. Now this is usually where it is really muddy, but the surface was lumpy and rock hard, making it quite hard going, before climbing up again through a sticky chicane and across a thankfully grassy top, before another slippery descent and climb and again back to the bottom of the valley. And then the slope to the finishing area – a long steep slog up to the top. It is a long lap, and just two in all for the 8k race.
Number 2 home was Steve Norris at 48 who continues to have a strong season, followed by second claimer Mark Palser making a welcome debut at 65 closely followed by Matthieu Ribault at 68. After a fast start Manuel da Silva finished in 100 followed by newcomer Henry Hughes loving the cross country at 109 and Phil Wetton in marathon training at 146. Sprinter Lee Mahon came into his own on the final climb, notching over 10 places in a couple of hundred yards at 176, with another marathoner John Husbands at 183, Richard Bell at 211, Mike Wilson at 242 and Simon Maddison at 311.
The Valley finished 3rd in Division 2, but narrowly hold on to second place in the league position, whilst the veteran men finished 7th in division 1, but are overall in position 9 in the league – relegation zone. We thus really do need a top notch turn out in the final match to come in February!
Senior Men 8k: TVH only: 16 Sean Renfer 25m53s; 48 Steve Norris 27:24; 65 Mark Palser 27:57; 68 Matthieu Ribault 28:03; 100 Manuel da Silva 29:10; 109 Henry Hughes 29:24; 146 Phil Wetton 30:14; 176 Lee Mahon 31:09; 183 John Husbands 31:24; 211 Richard Bell 32:28; 242 Mike Wilson 33:28; 311 Simon Maddison 39:10; 335 finishers
In the Ladies race Katie Mellor started well, but feeling the effects of the illnees passing round the team had to srop out while in the top 10. This allowed Tracy Barlow to claim the honour of first scorer in 20th place. A very good run from Tracy, who is getting stronger each week, as she prepares for the London Marathon. Joanna Mobed 40th and Siana Jones 45th battled it , with Jessica Bass 55th completing the team. With all the scoring Ladies in the top half of the 117 field the team moved into 2nd place and are optimistic for promotion to diviaion 1 next year.
Senior Ladies 5k: TVH only: 20 Tracy Barlow 25:34; 40 Joanna Mobed 26:46; 45 Siana Jones 27:04; 55 Jessica Bass 28:03; 117 finishers
Middlesex County Cross Country Championships. Wormwood Scrubs, 7th Jan, 2012
The first race of the championships was the under 13 Boys 3000m race. With 10 minutes to go before the 11.0 am start the team manager, Roy Clarridge, was missing two of Thames Valley’s star runners. On arrival, Karim Mahaddine said he was not well but would try to get round the course. Lucillo Burrell’s parents car had broken down, hence his late arrival. At least he had the presence of mind to put his spikes on before arrival. Just making it to the start line in time they then ran superbly. Abraham Mendes Da Costa had a good start and was up with the leaders to eventually finish 5th. Lucillo had his best race of the season even though he had no time to inspect the course or warm up. His 8th place was a superb result. Close behind in 10th place Karim gave it his best effort on the day. These superb runs won the team title, the first time the Valley have won gold since before 1980. Not wishing to belittle the race winner his title, Karim had beaten him in their last two races. Such is the strength of the team, the next boy home, Cassius Rathborne’s 12th place would still have been good enough to win the team title. Having his first race as an Under 13, George Goodhart showed great promise in 18th place. He has just moved up from the U11 age group and beat over half the field, most of who were older than him. Maximilian Buckley was also in the top half with his 21st place. In 29th place, Richard Vallance was having his first race for the club but Nicholas Cowley-Andrea had a below par performance to finish 32nd. With Thomas Horrex, 42nd and Edward Wootton 50th, it was good to see 10 Valley boys doing well.
Not wanting to be outdone by the boys, the Under 13 Girls were in contention for their team race. India Weir again ran well to take 3rd place just behind two girls who have been running well all season. The best Valley performance came from Rosie Vallance who ran with great determination to finish 6th. Although Kosana Weir tried her best to catch the Ealing girl in front of her she just failed and Ealing won the team race by one point. But to get silver medals was still a great performance. Isabel Barnes has also started to believe in herself and her 27th place showed it. Running together, Chiara Kafero-Roberts and Jaime Cubitt did not perform to the standard they are capable of and Sarah Goodhart, just 11 found the extra distance very hard.
The Under 15 Boys 4000m race was a very high standard. To finish 11th in this race, Toby Clyde ran extremely well. Chasing him for most of the race, Archie St Aubyn also ran well to finish 15th. In 25th position, Joe Cooper had his usual battle with a boy from Highgate Harriers and this time just lost out to him. James Horrex who had won the Hyde Park New Year’s Day 3000m found the opposition a lot tougher this time and finished 30th. Just behind him, Louis Marriott just held off Jack Keen as they finished 33rd and 34th. John Gray was next home in 43rd place. Teamwise, they just missed 3rd place medals. Each scoring 51 points they were beaten by London Heathside who’s last scorer was 23rd to the Valley’s 25th.
In the Under 15 Girls 4000m race the Valley were also unlucky. Natalia Munro who had finished just behind Eve Goodhart in their two previous races was suffering from a foot injury. Although she gamely ran to help the team, she was in considerable pain and only finished 27th. With Madeline Turner 7th and Eve Goodhart 8th the team missed bronze medals by 5 points. Newcomer Charlotte Bacon ran steadily to finish 30th. In the Women’s 5000m, Thames Valley’s two runners, Aneta Juskuleska, 19th, Brynne Ndoca, 20th were near the back of the field.
Leaving the best till last, the Men’s Under 17 6000m was very exciting. Hugo Cayssials was in the leading group of four who broke away from the rest of the field. Over the last 400m they split up and two other runners closed up on 4th place. Hugo had a great finish and ended up with 3rd place medal. At the back of the field, Abukar Yahye was almost caught by Ayuub Abdullahi for 24th and 25th places. Bringing up the rear was Sam Cooper in 27th place. The team finished 5th.
U13B. 5 A. Mendes Da Costa 10:54; 8 L. Burrell 11:05; 10 K. Mahaddine 11:19; 12 C. Rathbone 11:23; 18 G. Goodhart 11:33; 21 M. Buckley 11:45; 29 R. Vallance 12:08; 32 N. Cowley-Andrea 12:21; 42 T. Horrex 12:56; 50 E. Wootton 13:33. Team: 1st, 23pts.
U13G. 3 I. Weir 11:53; 6 R. Vallance 12:13; 12 K. Weir 12:34; 27 I. Barnes 13:25; 29 C. Kafero-Roberts 13:37; 31 J. Cubitt 13:39; 40 S. Goodhart 15:17. Team: 2nd 21pts.
U15B. 11 T. Clyde 15:56; 15 A. St Aubyn 16:06; 25 J. Cooper 16:49; 30 J. Horrex 17:10; 33 L. Marriott 17:30; 34 J. Keen 17:32; 43 J. Keen 18:50. Team: 4th 51pts.
U15G. 7 m. Turner 18:20; 8 E. Goodhart 18:28; 27 N. Munro 21:09; 30 C. Bacon 21:37. Team: 4th 42pts.
U17W. 19 A. Jaskuleska 28:00; 20 B. Ndoca 28:38.
U17M. 3 H. Cayssials 19:10; 24 A. Yahye 23:15; 25 A. Abdullahi 23:30; 27 S. Cooper 29:36. Team: 5th 52pts.
Senior Men’s Championship. It was a welcome return to the Scrubs for the Middlesex Cross Country Championships on Saturday. Despite the deluges of the previous week, the ground was firm and fast for most of the way around, with only some slippery stuff along the back of the course parallel to the railway. It was a glorious clear day with bright blue sky, and very mild for the time of the year, with the only disadvantage being a cold blustery wind blowing from the west, that made it harder work on the long straight outward stretches. This is one of the season’s longer races at 12k, made up of a first shorter lap around the perimeter of the course, followed by 2 longer laps that also take in a long dog leg around the copse in the middle.
Mohammud Aadan stayed with Chris Smith, back from injury in the latter part of 2011, in the leading bunch. The first three with Mo had opened up by the final lap, only for him to break away definitively at the final dog leg, establishing a commanding 20 second lead, looking strong and relaxed as he strode down the last two legs of the course and home to an excellent victory. Chris was unable to keep with the leading three nonetheless finished strongly in 4th. Unfortunately Sean Renfer who was well in the first 10 had to drop out in the second lap. In fact most of the team looked very strong with Steve Norris coming in at 35th, Matthieu Ribault at 43rd and Matt Pointing at 54th with Manuel and Phil close on his heels at 84 and 86 and Richard Bell at 102, Mike Wilson 118, Richard Hooley at 127 and Tony Smith making a welcome appearance at 143 and Simon Maddison struggling at the rear of the field in 150.
Despite the strong leaders, we only finished as 5th team, but this was more than offset by Mo’s Gold and gold also for Naz Darwit who led the field home in the U20 Men.
Middlesex County Championships, Wormwood Scrubs. Naz dominated the field from start to finish, looking comfortable as he eased away from the chasing pack in the last mile. He was supported by Ali Yahye (13th), starting to get back into form after a long lay off for injury.
In the Senior Ladies race the increasing strength of the TVH ladies team was evident as we managed 3rd team place equal on points with 2nd. Katie Mellor lead the team , running strongly in the second group behind the leaders to finish 5th and gain selection for the County Team. Lisa Da Silva, still not fully recovered from illness run well in 11th place, with a fast improving Tracey Barlow two places behind in 13th. Tracy’s marathon training is starting to produce a significant improvement over last year. Another prospective London marathoner, from Brentford, Jessica Bass (25th) completed the team, finishing well in the top half of the 67 strong field.
Nielsen Hall, from Acton, who trains with TVH at the Linford Christie Stadium was an easy winner of the Hertfordshire Senior Championships.
Senior Men 12k: TVH only: 1 Mohamud Aadan 39m04s; 4 Chris Smith 40:10; 35 Steve Norris 44:12; 43 Matthieu Ribault 45:28; 54 Matt Ponting 46:29; 84 Manuel da Silva 49:09; 86 Phil Wetton 49:15;102 Richard Bell 50:41; 118 Mike Wilson 52:55; 127 Richard Hooley 54:52;143 Tony Smith 59:25; 150 Simon Maddison 62:16; 155 finishers
Under 20 Men 8K: 1 Naz Dawit 29:23, 13 Ali Yahye 33:46
Senior Ladies : 5, Katie Mellor 33:19, 11 Lisa Da Silva 34:06, 13 Tracy Barlow 38:32, 25 Jessica Bass 38:32. Team 3rd 54 pts
Saturday was another perfect winter’s day for Cross Country. With clear blue skies, only a light cool wind, and the ground in wonderful condition for the time of year. The effects of the early morning frost were quickly dissipated by a rainstorm first thing in the morning, which quickly cleared the sky.
With a first loop around the rough meadow above the car park, a fast start was vital to a good place, with the paths and turns slowing and spreading the field very quickly prior to the turn over the ditch and bank into the woods. Once into the woods the normally hard paths were firm but soft with a good layer of composting leaves, exposed in a few places to soft gravel where the recent rain had washed the dirt away. And just a few muddy sumps. This is a demanding course, with its paths through the woods, long steady climbs and descents, and very sharp turns and switch backs, which make it disorientating. And just when you think you are on the home run, another turn reveals another climb, before a fast and twisty descent over tree roots weaving through the trees to the finish in the meadow.
The Thames Valley Harriers Under 13 Boys team got off to a flying start when winning their team race. With Karim Mahaddine continuing his fine form, finishing 3rd in 10:44, over the 3000m course. Abraham Mendes Da Costa also ran well to finish 8th in 11:24. Then Nicholas Cowley-Andrea, Lucillo Burrell and Cassius Rathbone came in together in 12th 11:49, 13th and 14th both with 11:50. Unhappy with his run was Edward Wootton down in 30th place with 13:57.
The Valley Under 13 Girls just missed out on winning their race. India Weir also had her best run of the winter to finish 2nd in 12:04. Having just arrived in time to race, Rosie Vallance started steadily then moved up to 8th at the finish in 12:50. Kosana Weir had missed training in the week due to a bad cold but it didn’t seem to affect her on the day when finishing 12th in 13:02. In 14th place, Jaime Cubitt, 13:35, was closely followed home by Isabel Barnes who produced a smile when she said that she had enjoyed running through Ruislip Woods. She was 16th in 13:40 from a field of 29 girls.
After running for Middlesex County last week, all his hard work paid off for Hugo Cayssials when he finished 4th (13:20) in the Under 15/17 Boys 4000m. This was a great run and enabled the team to finish in 3rd place. Also having a good run, Joe Cooper finished 17th in 14:46 and he was the 5th placed under 15 in the race. Abukar Yahye was 24th in 15:10 and again three Valley boys, Louis Marriott, Robert Vallance and James Horrex, came in together in 30th, 31st and 32nd places with 15:18, 15.25 and 15:29.
With only a week before Christmas there was none the less a very good turnout for us, well done to all for coming! With some welcome returns to the field and many new faces in the men’s team this was a good representation for the club, and put us second in the men’s division 2, and first in the women’s division 2.
It was great to see Chris Smith back again, recovered from injury and running with a very strong field finishing 9th ahead of Mohamud Aadan at 14th who was a little off colour at the start. Sean was also well up at 31st , and Andy Lawrence putting in a welcome appearance at 71st, Philip McCorquodale at 89th and Calum Nicol just out of the first 100 at 105 closely followed by V40 Steve Norris at 108. Two new members Henry Hughes in 159th and Tony Truepenny-Phillipson in 163rd battled it out throughthe race to be the final scorer. Christophe Cayssials caught his foot and twisted his ankle on a root on the final difficult descent, but managed to limp into the finish losing a few places on the way. All the way down from Scotland, Rob Russell had unfortunately to drop out as not feeling well.
In the women’s race Lisa da Silva, unable to run in the inter-counties last week having been violently sick on the way to the race, was back and running again, although a little off form at 13th, following Katie Mellor running a brilliant race to finish 5th, with Joanna Mobed at 29th, Siana Jones at 34th and Jessica Bass at 64th – great to see a strong team of ladies running again.
London City Runner Metropolitan League, race 3, Ruislip.
Senior Men 8k: TVH only: 9 Chris Smith 26m:59s; 14 Mohamud Aadan 27:17; 31 Sean Renfer 28:36; 71 Andrew Lawrence 30:06; 89 Philip McCorquodale 30:51; 105 Calum Nicol 31:26; 108 Steve Norris 31:28; 132 Matt Ponting 32:21; 140 Manuel da Silva 32:33; 159 Henry Hughes 33:03; 163 Tony Truepenny-Phillipson 33:08; 185 Phil Wetton 34:00; 197 Christophe Cayssials 34:28; 216 Richard Bell 35:01; 237 Mike Wilson 35:48; 261 Richard Hooley 37:04; 289 Peter Hill 38:32; 312 Simon Maddison 39:52; 365 finishers
Women 6k: TVH Only: 5 Katie Mellor 22:32; 13 Lisa da Silva 23:39; 29 Joanna Mobed 24:56; 34 Siana Jones 25:23; 64 Jessica Bass 27:32; 133 finishers.
The day was winter at its lovely best, with a clear blue sky and a bright low sun, and a light but very chilly breeze from the west. The Senior Men – 50+ and 60+ with a 100 strong field set off at 11.00 for 10k starting with a short lap, followed by two long laps that took us to the end of the Park in a series of loops and climbs to the far point of the course. It was then pretty much straight all the way back with gentle undulations dropping down to the start. We only fielded three runners in the 50+ category with Simon registering as 50+ to qualify as a team. None of us at our best, Lee Benjamin was however well up finishing at 32, followed by Mike Wilson at 61 and Simon down at 88.
In the 40+ race, also on the same 10k course, Phil Wetton led right out at the start, part of a cunning strategy to establish the strength of the field, but settled back to finish in 38th, with Steve Norris running well to finish 26th in a small but strong field. After a slow start, Richard Bell pulled through the back of the field to make up 3rd man a minute behind Phil at 42, overtaking Christophe ‘Allez le Vallee’ Cayssials at 44 and Richard Hooley coming at 50th.
Results, Men 50 & 60+, 10k: TVH only: 32 Lee Benjamin 41m:09s; 61 Mike Wilson 44:14; 88 Simon Maddison 49:42; Team 12 of 14; 108 finishers
Men 40+, 10k: TVH only: 26 Steve Norris 37:53; 38 Phil Wetton 40:35; 42 Richard Bell 41:33; 44 Christophe Cayssials 41:47; 50 Richard Hooley 44:07; Team 7 of 8; 53 finishers
Saturday 3rd December, NW ml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />
The Under 13 Girls team were missing the Weir twins and Jaime Cubitt didn’t have such a good run as last week and finished 11th.in the 2200m race. Scarlette Dulude found the hilly course demanding and finished 18th. After last weeks almost dead heat with Abraham, Karim Mahaddine threw caution to the wind and was leading the 2600m Under 13 Boys race until outkicked at the finish. Even so, his 2nd place was his best result so far. Abraham Mendes Da Costa finished 4th and is determined to beat Karim next Saturday when they both run for Middlesex. Having run most of his races in training shoes it was good to see Cassius Rathbone wear spikes and improve to 7th place. Max Buckley also improved to 16th which gave the team another win. Running against each other just behind Max were Samuel Barnard, Edward Wootton and Thomas Horrex in 21st, 22nd and 23rd places. Eve Goodhart, running the same distance was again a very good 4th in the under 15 Girls race.
After having so many Under 15 boys running previously it was disappointing to only have two in the 4400m race. Joe Cooper went with the leaders, as usual, but dropped back to 7th and couldn’t recover any places. Also having an off day, James Horrex had no clubmates near him to chase and finished 12th. In the Under 17 Mens race, Sam Cooper was our lone runner and finished 16th.
Thames Valley Harriers got off to a great start in the Under 11 Boys and Girls races. Although they ran together the boys and girls results were scored separately. The race over 1500m was very testing for these young runners as they had to run the second half into a strong wind. George Goodhart led the team home in second place and Nicholas Cowley-Andrea was 4th. Right behind him in 5th place was his brother Oscar having a brilliant first cross country race. George Barnes also ran well to finish 7th and bring the team home easy winners. In the girls race the Valley had two newcomers having great runs. One of them asked if they could do the race over again. In third place, Charlotte Buckley was well clear of the next girl and is only 10 years old. Maddy Lloyd was next home in 13th place but 9 year old Clementine Gray can’t wait for the next race on Saturday after finishing 17th. The team finished 3rd, missing 2nd place by one point. Zara Hooley and Sarah Goodhart finished 22nd and 24th out of a field of 39.
Abraham Mendes Da Costa and Karim Mahaddine had their own private battle in the Under 13 Boys 3000m race. They ran neck and neck all the way with Abraham just getting the edge at the finish. Lucillo Burrell and Cassius Rathbone also ran well in 7th and 8th positions to bring the team home 1st. max Buckley also showed promise in finishing 12 in his first club race and Tom Horrex ran steadily for 22nd spot. In the girls race once again India Weir led the team home in 3rd place. Improving immensely after her initial first race, Jaime Cubbit was our next home in 6th place. Kosana Weir and Chiara Kafero-Roberts were our next in 8th and 9th places. Although Isabel Barnes had a good run she was overshadowed by the quality of our other girls. The team won an exciting team race by 5 points.
As normal, for him, Joe Cooper tried to go with the leading runners in the U15 4000m and once again he dropped back. But to give him credit, he fought back and regained four places to finish 8th. Our other Joe (Gilbert) was on the receiving end of this surge but managed to stay in 12th place. Just behind him James Horrex chased and caught clubmate Louis Marriott by the finish in 13th and 14th places. Also having a good run was John Gray in 18th place. Unfortunately Archie St Aubyn twisted his ankle before the start and was unable to run. If he had, the team might have won their race instead of losing by one point. Another close run occurred in the U15 Girls race. Eve Goodhart and Natalia Monro were never more than 10 yards apart throughout the race and finished in 3rd and 4th positions. After dropping out of the U17 Men’s 4500m race at Harrow, Sam Cooper redeemed himself and finished 10th, well ahead of Ayuub Abdullahi who was 11th
With three team wins, two seconds and a third out of eight races, the Valley had a great day!.
A Valley Member of Parliament at 21
The Valley men were at Parliament Hill on Saturday for the London Cross Country Championships, where 12 months earlier Chris Smith had struck gold to win the race. Unfortunately injury prevented Chris from defending his title, but Mohamud Aadan accepted the challenge and in a fine run for 3rd place elected himself as a senior member of the Parliament Hill medallists club at just the age of 21!
The men were facing 2 short laps and 2 long laps in their 10k race, which meant they would have to tackle the first big hill 4 times, while the women took on 2 long laps in their 6k race. As the race began Mohamud went off with the leading group and never looked back and he was closely followed by Naz Dawit for 3 laps until a bad stitch forced Naz out of the race. This was very unlucky as he was placed 7th in the race with just 1 lap to go and had he gone on to finish he would have surely won the Under 20 race.
Another good run from Sean Renfer saw him come home as 2nd man for the Valley in 15th place for an impressive London Champs debut. Ali Yahye made a welcome return from injury in 96th place and also gained the bonus of finishing 3rd in the Under 20 race. Manuel Da Silva's determined run in 104th place completed the 4 man team to bring the Valley scoring team home in 9th place out of 21 scoring teams.
A little further down the field saw Phil Wetton in 126, Matt Ponting in 133, Richard Bell in 144, Mike Wilson in 181 and Simon Maddison in 232 out of a total field of 249 finishers.
All in all it was a day of highs and lows, with thanks to all those who took part and came along for support and many congratulations to Mohamud on winning his bronze medal!
Men's Race Results
3. Mohamud Aadan 32m 58s.
15. Sean Renfer 34m 43s.
96. Ali Yahye 39m 59s.
104. Manuel Da Silva 40m 36s.
126. Phil Wetton 41m 23s.
133. Matt Ponting 42m 07s.
144. Richard Bell 42m 42s.
181. Mike Wilson 44m 40s.
232. Simon Maddison 51m 31s.
249 Finishers.
9. TVH 218 pts.
Women's Race Results
20. Tracy Barlow. 24m 31s.
34. Jo Mobed. 25m 15s.
61. Jess Bass. 27m 09s.
139 Finishers.
In these championships, athletes represent their London Boroughs and not their clubs. Thames Valley Harriers had 19 athletes representing six different Boroughs. The best performance, position wise, came from Karim Mahaddine in the Under 13 Boys race. Running with a strapped up ankle he finished 14th out of 186 over the 2000m course. Also in this race were Cassius Rathbone in 30th position, Lucillo Burrell 79th and Rory Jack 120th. In the under 13 girls 2000m
Coming back into form, Eve Goodhart finished 21st in the U15 2000m. She was chased all the way home by new Valley girl Natalia Munro who finished 24th. Having a rare outing over the country, Charlotte Bacon ran well to finish 69th out of 162. Moving up in distance to 3000m the U15 Boys race was still run at breakneck speed on the dry course. Archie St Aubyn was again the first Valley boy home in 28th place. Also using his track speed, Joe Gilbert had a good run to finish 41st. Louis Marriot 56th and James Horrex 70th also did well in a field of 159 runners. Running with an injury, Hugo Cayssials wanted to represent his Borough and tried to have a steady run in the 4000m U17 race. Unfortunately he didn’t quite make it and had to walk the last 400m. Even so, he still finished 26th out of 89. Robert Vallance was our other runner in this race and finished a respectful 50th.
For the 2nd league race of this season the Met League returned to Stevenage after an absence of 3 years, with the previous 2 seasons fixtures there having been called off due to extreme winter weather. Saturday's race definitely broke that wintry cycle with surprisingly warm and sunny weather for November providing firm and dry conditions underfoot.
The Valley men arrived with a team of just 13 men and this did unfortunately prove to be an unlucky number on the day as Fairlands Valley Park failed to live up to it's name! The men's 8k race was made up of a short lap and 2 long laps around the park, whereas the women's 6k race was raced over 2 long laps. The outbound section of each lap followed the outskirts of the Park over flat grassland, while the return section came back through some flat leafy woodland, with a couple of moderately short hill climbs thrown in at the start of each lap for good measure.
This made for a fast and furious start in the men's race over the first 1km as runners fought for position before going into the woods. However the gap in the hedge going in to the woods was only wide enough to accommodate 2 runners at a time and by the time the bulk of the field reached the woods chaos ensued, as runners started queueing-up and pushing to try and get into the woods!
This led to the first misfortune of the day as Andy Fooks was a faller in the ensuing melee, though despite having to stop and walk for a couple of minutes Andy did really well to finish the race in 103rd place.
Unfortunately Andy wasn't the only Valley casualty, as a blanket of leaves had hidden a number of tree roots and stones going through the woods and as a result Sean Renfer was unable to finish after twisting his ankle, while Manuel da Silva was able to finish but only after walking off an injury.
Unaware of this at the front of the field Mohamud Aadan once again had a strong race to finish 8th, with an impressive run from Naz Dawit close behind to record his best ever Met League finish in 13th.
James Tomlinson and Calum Nicol both made their Met League season debuts with good runs in 42nd and 117th respectively, while Henry Hughes made a very promising Valley debut in 127th.
However at this point the misfortunes of the day weren't quite over, as an error at the 2 finishing funnels saw the wrong finishing disc numbers being given out to the wrong funnel!
This led to all the subsequent finishers in the men's race receiving the wrong positions and as a consequence the final results for the men's race are still being worked out and the results below are just provisional placings.
Thankfully the women's race went much more smoothly, with Lisa da Silva showing good improvement to finish 7th supported by a good run from Siana Jones in 46th.
However circumstances beyond their control left the women's team without any more runners on the day, yet despite this they are still well placed in 2nd in division 2 and on course for promotion.
The Met League moves to Ruislip for it's 3rd race of the season, so keep Saturday December 17th free in the diary!
Thames Valley Harriers young athletes came out in force in the Under 13 Boys and Girls races and also in the Under 15/17 Boys race. At the first match the Valley had no under 13 girls competing. This time, not only were they competing but they also won the team race. Outstanding runs came from India Weir who was third followed by her sister India, forth. Newcomer Jaime Cubitt finished 10th and Isabel Barnes also having her first race, 14th. Backing up this winning team was Scarlette Dulude also having her first outing over 3000m, 18th.
After a disappointing run last time out, Abraham Mendes Da Costa once again led the under 13 boys 3000m team home in ninth place. He was 7th Middlesex athlete and should be in the team for Middlesex at the Southern Inter-Counties Championships in December. Nicholas Cowley-Andrea, Lucillo Burrell and Cassius Rowland scored for the team in 18th, 19th and 20th places to bring the team home in second position. Rory Jack, 27th, Thomas Horrex 30th, Edward Wootton 32nd and Callum Lambert, 33rd brought the ‘B’ team home in 7th position. Another outstanding run came from Madeline Turner in the 4000m U15/17 girls race. One of the youngest competitors and definitely the smallest she finished in 11th place out of the 33 finishers.
With selection for the County team at stake, Abukar Yahye made a tremendous effort to be selected for the Middlesex team. He finished in 21st place and was ninth under 17 in the race. Unfortunately this only makes him a reserve for the Middlesex team. Close behind him, Archie St Aubyn finished 23rd and will be a reserve for the County under 15 team. Michael Imo had his best result so far this season to finish 25th .After his usual flying start, Joe Cooper dropped back through the field to 27th but still managed to hold off clubmates Joe Gilbert and Louis Marriott who finished 32nd and 33rd. Next home was James Horrex in 36th place and Ayuub Abdullahi, 39th. Sam Cooper, 42nd and Danat Haile, 53rd were the other Valley finishers. It was good to have 10 finishers in this race and the ‘B’ team were the leading second team from nine clubs.
U13B. 3000m. 9 A. Mendes da Costa, 11:51; 18 N. Cowley-Andrea, 12:25; 19 L. Burrell, 12:30; 20 C. Rowlands, 12:31. 2nd Team
27 R. Jack, 13:16; 30 T. Horrex, 13:36; 32 E. Wootton, 13:50; 33 C. Lambert, 13:58. 7th Team (1st ‘B’)
U13G. 3000m. 3 I. Weir, 12:35; 4 K. Weir, 12:42; 10 J. Cullip, 13:26; 14 I. Barnes, 14:16; 18 S. Dulude, 16:07. 1st Team.
U15/17G. 4000m.11 M. Turner, 16:33.
U15/17B. 4000m. 21 A. Yahye, 14:41; 23 A. St Aubyn, 14:45; 25 M. Imo, 14:48; 27 J. Cooper, 14:58. 5th Team.
32 J. Gilbert, 15:11; 33 L. Marriott, 15:11; 36 J. Horrex, 15:13; 39 A. Abdullahi, 15:46; 42 S. Cooper, 16:11; 53 D. Haile, 20:06. 10th Team (1st ‘B’).
Men's Provisional Result (final results to be confirmed)
8 Mohamud Aadan, 13 Naz Dawit, 42 James Tomlinson, 103 Andy Fooks, 117 Calum Nicol, 127 Henry Hughes, 171 Lee Mahon, 192 Phil Wetton, 199 John Husbands, 214 Christophe Cayssials, 229 Manuel Da Silva, 257 Richard Bell.
371 Finishers.
Women's Result
7. Lisa Da Silva, 46. Siana Jones,
122 Finishers.