With a revised course layout and the sun shining all afternoon, the Clubs trip to Wormwood Scrubs for round 2 of the Met League turned out to be almost a ‘walk in the park’! Both our senior mens and womens A teams finished a strong 6th fielding large squads but the girls U11’s stole the day with their 3rd place team finish – bravo! Below is a joint collection of photos from Mark and myself.
Senior men:
Glorious Autumnal colours and sunshine greeted an impressive men’s turnout on Saturday at the Scrubs. 27 men represented the Club and a much improved performance from Claybury was the result.
Highlights included: Jonathan Collier – shifting from the roads to the mud for 20th place – our first scorer.
9 runners inside the first 100 with Dave Lawrence, Micheal O’Sullivan, Narayan Satheesh, Tejas Hirani and Juniors Liam Fenn and Julio Calvino-Palomares all making their first appearances this season.
Debut runs from Simon Sly and Mike Crisp. A strong middle order which saw the Club finish 6th on the day but, more significantly, move up from 9th to 6th overall after 2 matches.
The Vets Team maintained their 5th position after two matches. Jim Cooper and Chris Finill both finished second in their respective age groups.
Thanks as usual to Ian Farr for support on the day especially with respect to the gazebo.
Senior women:
The Harrow women had a fantastic race, with Federica and Claire B battling for the top spot. Federica finished 17th, and Claire came in just 2 seconds later at 19th. Emily, recovering from a calf injury, secured 46th place, while Issy, despite a recent half marathon, finished 53rd. Jessica R, despite battling illness, contributed crucial points in 85th place. Jennifer K completed the A team in 105th.
Charlotte, busy with a PhD, impressed in 127th place. Sarah, showing growth since last season, finished 141st. Katie KW edged out Lorna in a sprint finish for 9th club spot, with Katie achieving a 5km PB. Jo Fl returned in 163rd, closely followed by Renata in 164th. Laure, absent for a while, finished 187th. Katia, on a strong run of form, claimed 14th place. Trina, a busy runner, had a solid run in 212th.
Claire R, facing a tight schedule, secured 214th place. In her second XC race, Danielle improved to 217th. Claudine, gaining confidence, finished 221st.
Overall, the Harrow women’s strong performance resulted in a 6th place finish in division 1 and an impressive 1st place in the Vet’s division 2. Congratulations to everyone for their outstanding contributions!
Juniors:
Joseph Tarling was first scorer (9th) in the U17s but disappointed as he thought he overcooked the start? Arthur Harris was only half a minute adrift as he finished 18th. Only 5s separated Dominic and Sam as they came in 26th & 28th respectively with Charlie only 10s behind them.
A strong performance from Vivek Chopra saw him finish 18th, just 4 places ahead of Ethan with Edward and Luca not far behind. Benedict was our only U11 runner on the day and placed 17th.
Amae Van Zyl had a terrific run in the U17/U15 combined race as she finished 6th overall and second in the U15s! It was great to see Kayla Saunders trying her hand at cross country again as she placed 14th in the U17s.
Nilou Heath led the U13s home (Beth & Katie were racing at St Albans in a schools regional race) and her finishing drive to the line looked fantastic! Solid runs from Soufia and Ellen in support. For the U11s, Vivienne was first home (10th) with Ottilie just 3 places later in 13th and Amelie only 8 seconds later.
