Met League - Match 2 Welwyn Garden City 9th November 2019

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 (11^th) 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 6^th and 9^th 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 (22^nd), Edison Rhodes (26^th), Tom Scott-Gall (40^th), and Edward Buckley (42^nd), and Lewis Palmer (57^th), this gave them 6^th and 5^th 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 (7^th) and Sophie Whiteside (16^th) leading the team home.

 

The Junior men put up a good fight in a very competitive race with Ethan Gray finishing (10^th) in the Under 15 category, followed by Harry Glynn in (22^nd) and Laurence Bethell (61^st in under 17) and Joseph Lamb (31^st) 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 (8^th), Laure Kaye (9^th ), Katherine Gunderson (20^th and 2^nd Vet 40), Kelly Clark (31^st), Jo Hall (41^st), and Holly Weir (47^th , 4^th Vet) finished second to a strong Heathside squad.

Jo Hall looking strong

 

The B Team continue to hold their own in Division One, finishing 7^th on the day and 6^th overall proving the great depth of the women’s team. Sophie Allen (50^th) had a great run to lead them home followed by Charlie Maling (51^st), Ollie Capel (57^th), and Jess Lowe (65^th). 

 

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 (11^th) and Faye Jeacocke (12^th) 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 (3^rd), followed by Paul Martelletti (16^th & 2^nd Vet), Aaron Mcgrady (23^rd ), Ewan Cameron (26^th), Andrew Barrington (54^th), James Cordwell (56^th & 3^rd Vet), Joe Dale (58^th), Matthew Stevens (59^th), Peter Dyson (64^th), William Kirk (70^th), Carl Selya-Hammer (81^st).

 

Our B Team are also battling Highgate for the top spot in the Division 2, 1^st home for the B Team and safely inside the top 100 was David Jones in (95^th), Samuel Priestly (101), Fergus Johnson (104^th), Andy Summers 106^th) and Zak Knill (108^th). 

 

The Vets Team could only muster second on the day with solid runs from Neil Cook (10^th), Ben Wickham (13^th) and Vesa Lindberg (28^th) yet they still remain top in the overall 'Old Git' league.
 

Hunting in packs

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 7^th December and lets have some fun overthrowing our North London rivals!

Ps Cake and post pub debrief TBC.