VPH&THAC keep up the pursuit as title race
hots up at wet Welwyn!
Despite a sunny start the sky was looking
increasingly ominous as the under 11s kicked us off in the second hotly
anticipated met league fixture. A last
minute change to the course meant that an already testing course, finished on a
gurn inducing hill.
Juniors
Zac Fellows was the only representative for the
under 11 boys finishing an impressive (11th) in his age category.
Tess Noblet and Stella Gessaroli were equally impressive in the Under 11 girls
race finishing strongly and fending off some Woodford rivals in the finishing
straight to finish 6th and 9th respectively.
The under 13 boys saw the performance of the
day from footballer Louis Reynolds who raced strongly to finish second overall,
followed by Paris Androudlidakis (22nd), Edison Rhodes (26th),
Tom Scott-Gall (40th), and Edward Buckley (42nd), and
Lewis Palmer (57th), this gave them 6th and 5th
in the overall team league standings. The Under 13 Girls who are second in
their overall standings also put in a solid effort with Monika Panoutsou (7th)
and Sophie Whiteside (16th) leading the team home.
The Junior men put up a good fight in a very
competitive race with Ethan Gray finishing (10th) in the Under 15
category, followed by Harry Glynn in (22nd) and Laurence Bethell (61st
in under 17) and Joseph Lamb (31st) in the under 15s.
The Junior women bettered this with the first
4, Imogen Scott-Gall, Myla Stirling, Nancy Scott-Gall and Hannah Long all
impressively inside the top 15 – a feat claimed by no other club. This put them
second overall and second in the overall standings, asserting themselves as
title contenders, this is testament to all the hard work they are putting in in
training. Fingers crossed they can maintain their good form for the upcoming
Uxbridge fixture.
Seniors
The senior women looked to make up some of the
ground lost to Heathside at Claybury. Unfortunately numbers had dwindled and
again the Women’s A Team, Rachel Thomas (8th), Laure Kaye (9th ),
Katherine Gunderson (20th and 2nd Vet 40), Kelly Clark
(31st), Jo Hall (41st), and Holly Weir (47th ,
4th Vet) finished second to a strong Heathside squad.
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| Jo Hall looking strong |
The B Team continue to hold their own in
Division One, finishing 7th on the day and 6th overall
proving the great depth of the women’s team. Sophie Allen (50th) had
a great run to lead them home followed by Charlie Maling (51st),
Ollie Capel (57th), and Jess Lowe (65th).
The Vets were triumphant with the team performance
of the day to finish equal first and maintain the top spot in the overall
standings, with Helen Croydon (11th) and Faye Jeacocke (12th)
completing the team.
Men
Rumours were circulating that Highgate are
becoming increasingly worried about their new East London title challengers and
our A Team continued to apply the pressure finishing just behind them in second
. With a stellar run from new recruit Austin Roth to finish a spectacular (3rd),
followed by Paul Martelletti (16th & 2nd Vet), Aaron
Mcgrady (23rd ), Ewan Cameron (26th), Andrew Barrington
(54th), James Cordwell (56th & 3rd Vet),
Joe Dale (58th), Matthew Stevens (59th), Peter Dyson (64th),
William Kirk (70th), Carl Selya-Hammer (81st).
Our B Team are also battling Highgate for the
top spot in the Division 2, 1st home for the B Team and safely
inside the top 100 was David Jones in (95th), Samuel Priestly (101),
Fergus Johnson (104th), Andy Summers 106th) and Zak Knill
(108th).
The Vets Team could only muster second on the
day with solid runs from Neil Cook (10th), Ben Wickham (13th)
and Vesa Lindberg (28th) yet they still remain top in the overall 'Old Git' league.
There is clearly still all
to play for at the next Uxbridge fixture and to paraphrase Coach Hobbs,
‘everyone counts..you might feel like you don’t matter in the scheme of things,
but in reality we ALL do…even if you aren’t in the A Team you can take points
off other teams.’ It would be great if we could get over a 100 of us out to
brave the famous water crossing, so pack your towel and goggles, get practicing
running (wading) through water and see you on the 7th December and lets have some fun overthrowing our
North London rivals!
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| Hunting in packs |
Ps Cake and post pub debrief TBC.
