Strong Performances at Home Met League for TVH

The Scrubs put on its best for the 3rd Met League race on Saturday 3rd December. With clear sky, the bright sunshine melted away any residual frost early enough to make it a lovely run also for the parkrunners in the morning. A brisk easterly wind made it quite cool, particularly by the start of the later races in the afternoon, when it did start to cloud over. But with a clockwise loop there were only a couple of places where it was a possible impediment to the runners. The conditions underfoot were excellent and making for a fast race. The course also reverted to using the wooded avenue adjacent to the railway on the north side, following the excursion around the main copse, and this was firm too.

Simon Maddison reports:

With one short lap followed by a full lap, the ladies just made a full scoring team. Stephanie Ainley considerably improved her position from Stevenage, finishing in an excellent 25th, with Siana Jones managing her first Met league of the season in a creditable 85th, followed by Lauren Morris running again also in the first hundred at 96. Kirstie Tew came in at 156 with Barbara Maddison a bit off form with a cold at 161 not far behind and Shania Lorenz plugging away to make up the team at 169. Disappointingly the team came in at 6th overall in Division 2, dropping to 3rd on aggregate, a frustrating 26 points behind Ealing. Hopefully a fuller team at the next race will be able to claw this back and put the team back into promotion.

The home venue brought the best turnout for the men so far this season, with 25 runners out for the men’s team. Mo Aadan made his first and very welcome Met League appearance this season for the Valley, leading from the front he ran a controlled race to come home 1st and win by a comfortable margin of 6 seconds. James Ellis followed at 46, a significant improvement on his previous result at Stevenage, closely followed by Rob Russell down from Scotland at 50. Andrew Mitchell showed excellent form as second V45 and a great 59th, with Kieron Sexton 9 seconds later in his highest ever Met League position of 67th. Manuel Caeiro and Will Jones raced neck and neck to record the same time, with Manuel just making it across the line first at 84 and Will at 85. Close behind and running well on his TVH debut Daniel Garcia-Rasines was just 9 seconds further back at 92, and Matt Douthwaite made a welcome return to the team at 96 to round out the team’s first 9 scorers inside the top 100. Fergus Johnson was next home at 159, with Manuel da Silva flying the family flag at 265 whilst Lisa expecting junior da Silva Mk2 watched from the sidelines. Scott Brewer continued to make good improvements at 271 with James Malcolm likewise just 4 places back at 275 and immediately ahead of Louis William who was also improving in form at 276. Paul Woodgate returned for his first Met League of the season and was next in at 285, with Greg Bennett running better but still a bit under the weather at 299. Richard Bell was just 3 seconds behind at 301 in a very tight bunch which included Matt Ponting making a welcome return to the team 4 places and 1 second behind at 305 and Richard Hooley also making his first Met League appearance of the season a further 3 seconds and 3 places back at 308. Mervyn Walker combined the race with Dad duty again not far after at 363, while Hugo Dias struggled with injury but still managed to finish at 373. Bernie Robbins was inside the 400 at 397, while Nick Michael was persuaded to take part for the home match finishing at 433, having run closely with Simon Maddison at 434 most of the way round, sprinting away in the last few yards. Will Paynter was the final man home to make up the 25 man team at 439.

These excellent performances brought the team in 1st in Division 2, remaining in 3rd position overall in the league, but closing the gap to 2nd to just 53 points. Congratulations, it just shows what we can do with a good strong turnout. In the Veteran men, the team finished 4th, remaining 4th in the league.

That’s all the Met League action for 2016 until the Met League returns at Trent Park on January 14th, 2017.

Meanwhile keep on training and enjoy a very Happy Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Women’s Division Two Team Result

1 London City 279
2 Ealing, Southall & Middlesex 252
3 Ealing Eagles 236
3 London Heathside ‘C’ 236
5 Highgate Harriers ‘B’ 189
6 Thames Valley Harriers 176

Pos Women’s Division Two Positions

1 London City 839
2 Ealing, Southall & Middlesex 723
3 Thames Valley Harriers 697

Veteran Women’s Division Two Team Result

1 London Heathside ‘C’ 62
2 Ealing, Southall & Middlesex ‘B’ 52
3 Woodford Green & Essex Ladies 42
4 Serpentine RC ‘B’ 37
5 Thames Valley Harriers 27

Pos Vet Women Division Two Positions

1 Woodford Green & Essex Ladies 203
2 Serpentine RC ‘B’ 160
3 London Heathside ‘C’ 136
4 Thames Valley Harriers 116

25 Stephanie Ainley 24:36;
85 Siana Jones 27:27;
96 Lauren Morris 27:53;
156 Kirstie Tew 32:08;
161 Barbara Maddison 32:38;
169 Shania Lorenz 32:54;

199 finishers

Men’s Division Two Team Result

1 Thames Valley Harriers 1,256

Men’s Division Two Positions

1 Ealing, Southall & Middlesex 3,507
2 Highgate Harriers ‘B’ 3,350
3 Thames Valley Harriers 3,297

Veteran Men’s Division Two Team Results

1 Trent Park RC 294
2 London Heathside ‘C 263
3 Serpentine RC ‘B’ 229
4 Thames Valley Harriers 201

Veteran Men Division Two Positions Total

1 Trent Park RC 825
2 London Heathside ‘C’ 798
3 Serpentine RC ‘B’ 740
4 Thames Valley Harriers 534

1 Mo Aadan 25:18;
46 James Ellis 27:57;
50 Rob Russell* 28:14;
59 Andrew Mitchell 28:30;
67 Kieron Sexton 28:39;
84 Manuel Caeiro 29:05;
85 Will Jones* 29:05;
92 Daniel Garcia-Rasines 29:14;
96 Matt Douthwaite* 29:24;
159 Fergus Johnson* 30:56;
265 Manuel da Silva 33:37;
271 Scott Brewer 33:42;
275 James Malcolm 33:49;
276 Louis William 33:53;
285 Paul Woodgate 34:07;
299 Greg Bennett 34:44;
301 Richard Bell 34:47;
305 Matt Ponting 34:48;
308 Richard Hooley 34:51;
363 Mervyn Walker 37:17;
373 Hugo Dias 37:59;
397 Bernie Robbins 39:31;
433 Nick Michael 43:49;
434 Simon Maddison 43:52;
439 Will Paynter 46:12;

441 finishers

Women’s Met League Cup : Age-Graded Handicap Results : Race 3 : Wormwood Scrubs

Women’s Met League Cup : Positions after 3 races

Men’s Met League Cup : Age-Graded Handicap Results : Race 3 : Wormwood Scrubs

Men’s Met League Cup : Positions after 3 races