Cross Country 08-09 Results

The first Met League race of the season took place in unseasonably hot conditions on a fast, tough course at Claybury. There were several good performances but special congratulations must go to Stephen Crosbie, 1st in the under 13 boys race and Emma Grant, 2nd in the senior women’s race.

Full results are available here.

The under 13 boys team of Stephen Crosbie 1st, Jamie Hailstone 11th, Callum Gibbons 13th and Dominic Speight 14th, managed an excellent 2nd place behind Herts Phoenix. Almost as good was the performance of the under 13 girls team of Katherine Newberry 9th, Rebecca Miles 13th, Charlotte Cowper 23rd, and Carys Tetlaw 28th, who finished 3rd in their race.

In the under 17 mens race there was a superb team performance with all of the scorers finishing in the top 10 in what was a very high quality field. In fact the team of Carl Yates 6th, James Laing 7th, Matt Fayers 9th and Tadgh Grant 10th, only missed out on top spot by 5 points, the winners being a very strong team from Woodford Green & Essex Ladies.

The under 17 womens team finished 6th in their race. Georgina Wilcox 18th, and Heather Gibbons 20th, both did well as they are both under 15 and competing against older athletes.

In the senior womens race Emma Grant continued her rich vein of form finshing in a superb p.b. 2nd place. There was also a solid run by the returning Jill Christie in this race finishing in 48th place.

In a huge field of well over 300 runners in the senior mens race there were several good performances from the 26 Hillingdon men who crossed the line. Martin Bateman had another storming run to finish in a p.b. of 26th and Robert Thompson (U20) debuted at this level in 45th position. Well done also to Jonathon Castro finishing 47th and Dan Thompson who despite recent problems with a knee injury is hopefully now on the comeback trail. In the circumstances he managed a very good 73rd position and if he maintains his fitness will surely move up the placings as the season progresses.

Special mention must be made of a certain Andy Miles. Although now in his 50’s he is still a regular competitor for the club and almost invariably scores for the senior team. His character was epitomised by the fact that not only did he finish as 10th scorer for the team, but he did this after collapsing near the finish and then heroically pushing himself to the end of the race to get the points. An excellent example to us all.

St Albans Relays 20th September 2008
The senior men enjoyed their most successful start to the cross-country season for many years, finishing in third place at the St Albans Cross-Country Relays; an improvement of seven places on last year’s finishing position.