Bumper Met League turn out
A record turnout of 44 Hillingdon athletes in the men’s race saw the A team finish fifth on the day behind Woodford Green, Serpentine, Highgate and London Heathside. As a result, the A team have now slipped to fifth in Division 1 overall, just 50 points behind London Heathside in fourth.
The ladies had 10 finishers, also a record for this home fixture. The strong finish saw them finish 4th team and creep up to 6th in the division 2 standings. The vets were well represented and finished 2nd in the second division.
HAC top junior in the 3km under 13 boys race was Sebastian Mills who came 19th in 12:06mins. In the equivalent girls race Hannah Nordstrum took 21st position with 14:29mins. In the joint under 15 and 17 women’s race Christina Hall ran 16:47 for 4km and meanwhile in the corresponding junior men’s race U15 Sam Lloyd impressed with 14:05mins and 13th position in among boys in the U17 category. All the Hillingdon AC teams competed well against high class competition in one the highest mass participation sporting fixtures in Hillingdon Borough.
Click here for full results
For the men the Thompson brothers, Rob and Dan were first and second scorers for the club in 34th and 53rd place respectively and whilst we had the normal backbone of the team in place thanks to Martin Bateman, Sam Blanshard, Scott Farley, Richard Jenkin, Chris Ingram and Steve Hirons, the team was boosted by introduction of Carl Yates, James Manley, Ed Campbell and Daniel Rowe to the scoring twelve.
As a result of the large turnout, the B team was the strongest we have fielded so far this season, finishing third placed team in Division 3 behind St Albans Striders and Serpentine’s C team. Simon Connell and Luke Pierre Inkson who were each making their senior cross country debuts for the club both made the scoring eight.
With the battle between ourselves and London Heathside so tight in Division 1 for fourth place overall, I’ll be a bit miffed if they end up finishing above us in the League come the end of the season. If you have already featured in the scoring 12 for the A team this year, or if you feel you have the potential to score for the A team and have yet to compete, please make yourself available for the remaining two Met League fixtures. The next race is on the 14th of January at Trent Park.
Thank you to everyone who has made the effort to compete in the three Met League races so far this season.
