Medals and trophies for TVH’s Young Athletes at the County Championships
The County Championships run in the rain again seems to be the norm. The course at Alexandra Palace seemed to get wetter and colder throughout the day. This did not seem to deter the TVH athletes who came away with some fine results.
Roy Clarridge reports:
First off were the under 13 boys and with three to count in these races we had a scoring team. Although our runners came in close together they were too far down the field to win medals. Guy Kaye led them home in 21st place with Aidan Ferrand 23rd and Basil Rock 25th. Basil will still be eligible for this age group for the next two years. Last year’s winning under 13 girl, Charlotte Buckley, came to defend her title. But she shouldn’t have been running at all as she struggled round with the makings of a very heavy cold. Her fourth place showed her determination to get round and thanks to her the team finished in third place only four points behind the winners. Having a great run in only her second race, Helena Findlater moved up through the field for a magnificent 10th place and Zakia Mossi was encouraged by the Valley supporters to come home 23rd. Just behind her, Charlotte Cooney-Quinn just missed out on a medal with her 26th place.
Lucillo Burrell is also having a great season and ran a controlled race to finish second. After getting a good start, Max Buckley slipped back to 13th before getting second wind and holding off Louis Medd who did well to finish 15th. Nicholas Duer and Finlay Watson also ran to form but diminutive Oliver Weintraub struggled in the mud. Then came the Valley big guns! The under 15 girls race had nine Valley runners in the race and straight away India Weir went into the lead. She had been struggling with an ankle injury but that is now better. Kosana Weir and Verity Walker were in fifth and sixth places on the first of the two lap course but when India moved away in front they moved up to be second and third in the race. Close behind came Olivier Olsher, Alice Harray and Rosie Vallance having their own club battle. Then Margaux Couffon and Rose Barkle, both in the same year at Godolphin and Latymer School, were having their own tussle. Alice fell away from the leaders but still managed to hold off Matilda Ferrand who was running well for her 26th place. The team easily win the race with six points to the second team’s 43. If our second three girls could have scored as a ‘B’ team they would have been second with 36 points.
The Under 17 Women’s race had two Valley runners. Eve Goodhart who was spiked at the start ran a courageous race to finish fifth. Just in front of her, Maddy Turner was fourth having a very good run after missing training and many races last year. For the men it was good to have Karim Mahiddine trying to get away from three close rivals. Unfortunately it didn’t work and two of them got the better of him before he finished a very respectable fifth.
Results
Under 13 Boys. Team 7th.
21 G Kaye 14:46; 23 A Ferrand 14:58; 25 B Rock 15:11.
Under 13 Girls. Team 3rd.
4 C Buckley 14:08; 10 H Findlater 15:11; 23 Z Mossi 17:16; 26 C Cooney-Quinn 17:35.
Under 15 Boys.Team 3rd.
2 L Burrell 13:21; 13 M Buckley 14:42; 15 L Medd 14:48; 25 N Duer 15:37; 28 F Watson 15:45; 34 O Weintraub 16:22.
Under 15 Girls.Team 1st.
1 I Weir 15:03; 2 K Weir 15:14; 3 V Walker 15:16; 10 O Olsher 16:04; 11 R Vallance 16:07; 15 M Couffon 16:16; 16 R Barkle 16:24; 25 A Harray 17:31; 26 M Ferrand 17:36.
Under 17 Men.
5 K Mahiddine 21:47
Under 17 Women.
4 M Turner 20:34; 5 E Goodhart 21:09.