First, second and two third place finishes at the NWL YA League
At the North West London YA league held at Trent Park, Cockfosters the small Valley contingent had an enjoyable, if muddy, afternoon.
Roy Clarridge reports:
The first race was for the under 11 girl where Lily Dafter was making her debut. She did very well to hang on to Eve Datnow and eventually finish just behind her. Eve improved on her 18th place at Alexandra Park the previous Saturday. They finished in 12th and 13th places. In the under 11 boys Basil Rock also had a better result than last week, finishing 9th. Otto Huber also competed well to improve on his last race. The under 13 girls also had a new member having her first race for the Valley. Starting quite quickly, Helena Findlater tried to move up to the leaders. Unfortunately she did this too early and struggled at the end of the race. Even so she still managed a good 8th place. Philippine Pourpart-Lafarge started slower and ended up a very good 10th which was an improvement on her her first race. Running more confidentially in this race Charlotte Cooney-Quinn performed better this time and was credited with 23rd place.
Our lone runner in the under 15 girls race was Alice Harray. She started well and was in second position throughout the race. In the boys race, Lucillo Burrell led from the start and gradually went away to win by 46 seconds. Nicholas Duer stuck to the task but Oliver Weintraub lost a shoe early on and ran the rest of the race without it. It would have been better to have stopped and put the shoe on again. Even unluckier, Chiara-Kafero-Roberts had chest pains and breathing problems in the under 17 women’s race and had to have first aid help. In front of her, Eve Goodhart was having a good race in second spot but was passed later in the race to finished third. Karim Mahiddine didn’t quite match his second place of the previous match but was a very good third.
Under 11 Girls. Team 5th
12 E Datnow 7:08; 13 L Dafter 7:09
Under 11 Boys. Team 10th
9 B Rock 11:30; 38 O Huber 12:45
Under 13 Girls. Team 4th
8 H Findlater 11:35; 10 P Pourpart-lafarge 12:00; 23 C Cooney-Quinn 13:18
Under 15 Girls. Team 8th
2 A Harray 12:55
Under 15 Boys. Team 4th
1 L Burrell 15:30; 12 N Duer 17:59; 20 O Weintraub N/T
Under 17 Women. Team 3rd
3 E Goodhart 18:52
Under 17 Men. Team 5th
3 K Mahiddine 22:34