Where do we start! With such great results, I’ll run out of superlatives. Firstly, it was good to have Maddie Turner returning after breaking her arm, also Aidan Ferrand out injured since April and Oliver Weintraub recovered from an Achilles injury. They all came back with something to prove and did better than expected. Especially Maddie who finished third in the Under 17 Women’s race.

NW London YA League, 22^nd Nov, Alexandra Park

Roy Clarridge reports:

The Alexandra Park course was surprisingly firm and along with the mild weather was very good to run on. Unlike last year when it poured with rain the whole day. Let’s hope that the County Championships to be held here in January will be just as good! First race was the under 11 girls where we only had one runner. Eve Datnow was much happier than her previous race and finished a respectful 18th out of 30. The boy’s race was much more competitive than the Met League and Basil Rock found himself back in 10th place. Aidan looked more comfortable in his second outing of the season and finished 11th. Aaron Harewood also had a good run in borrowed spikes and finished 13^th out of 54 runners. It was a shame that we didn’t have a fourth scorer for this and the under 15 boy’s race later. Running at the same time, the under 13 girls had Ave White was having her best run so far when she finished second. Charlotte Cooney-Quinn didn’t get involved in the race and was near the back with her 29th place. Unfortunately two other under 13’s arrived too late to run.

With no under 13 boys running it was only the under 15 girls in the next race. Immediately the Valley were in the lead with Kosana Weir and Verity Walker leading. Further back, Rosie Vallance and Rose Barkle were battling it out to be the third scorer. This time Rose had a great run and came home sixth to Rosie’s eighth. It was good to see her finding her form before taking part in the English Schools Cup Final in Newquay next Saturday. On the second lap Kosana pulled away to be the first Valley winner of the day. Ashleigh Harewood kept trying for the whole race and finished 28th with 10 girls behind her.

After winning the first fixture at Perivale with a dipped finish, Lucillo Burrell decided to run away from the rest of the under 15 boys. He did this superbly and won by 32 seconds. Nicholas Duer found the flatish course more to his liking than Parliament Hill and was rewarded with 16th place. Oliver Weintraub is learning not to go off too fast and benefitted from an even-paced run finishing just behind him in 19^th place. The under 17 women’s race had the third Valley win with Isabel Dye also running away from the rest of the field to win by 30 seconds. Maddie Turner stayed with her for a little while but went back to third. This time she didn’t fade and finished well clear of fourth place. The men’s race had to climb a steep hill to Alexandra Palace and Karim Mahiddine had led until then but T. McArdle from Trent Park made his effort there and broke away to win. Karim was than a very good second some 29 seconds in front of third place.

Under 11 Girls.

18 E Datnow 9:41

Under 11 Boys. Team 6th

10 B Rock 12:15; 11 A Ferrand 12:24; 13 A Harewood 12:28

Under 13 Girls. Team 7th

2 A White 11:53; 29 C Cooney-Quinn 14:15

Under 15 Boys. Team 5th

1 L Burrell 16:35; 16 N Duer 19:22; 19 O Weintraub 19:32

Under 15 Girls. Team 1st

1 K Weir 14:46; 2 V Walker 14’59; 6 R Barkle 15:59; 8 R Vallance 16:19; 28 A Harewood 18:28

Under 17 Men

2 K Mahiddine 16:08

Under 17 Women. Team 2nd

1 I Dye 18:16; 3 M Turner 19:37