Hillingdon Ladies at Welwyn Garden City – 13th January 2024 Metropolitan League Race 4

A disappointingly small number of just 12 Hillingdon Senior and Veteran ladies travelled to Stanborough Park on a cool but pleasant Saturday on an amended course which was definitely longer than the normal 8 kilometres.

The saving grace for us was the fact this was a VERY strong team and everyone started and finished this hilly and challenging 3 and a half lap course although Nastaran was kind enough to give the other 178 ladies a two minute start!!! We gladly welcomed back Carole Coulon and Beverley Whitfield who finished in 10th and 19th positions. They were followed by Catriona Paterson in 45th, Katie Newman and Nikki Penty-Alvarez in 64th and 65 positions and Heather Paterson completed the A team in 72nd position. That gave us 207 points and a good 6th position on the day out of 12 teams in the top division. We stay in 8th position overall.

The second team was made up of Captain Melanie Spencer in 90th, Karen O’Rourke in 121st, Zoe Dobbs in 128th, Nastaran Sepanj in 164th and Coach Vicky Brownlee in 171st. These performances gave us 84 points and 10th position out of twelve teams in division 2 on the day and we are 11th overall but just a few points behind London Frontrunners in 10th.

Sadly we had so few runners today that Lucy Duncan in 176th was our only scorer for our third team and her 3 points in division 3 meant we finished 17th on the day and are 14th overall.

In Veterans division one, our two superfast Vets Carole and Beverley supported by Melanie and Karen meant our A team finished 3rd equal on the day and move up to 7th position in 12 team division 1. Our points total was so high today that with another strong performance in the last fixture we could possibly move up to 4th position. Zoe, Vicky and Lucy scored for our incomplete B team who are now 5th in the same division following their 8th position today. Sadly with not enough runners to fill the B team we obviously had no score at all for our C team who now sit equal bottom of 12 team division two. We are the ONLY club to have all three Vets teams in the top two divisions and we are in real danger of losing that claim to fame

WE NEED GOOD TURNOUTS IN THE LAST FIXTURE AT TRENT PARK IN A MONTHS TIME TO AVOID RELEGATIONS OF OUR SENIOR B TEAM AND OUR VETERANS C TEAM!!!

Please make EVERY EFFORT to make it to the last fixture as the METROPOLITAN CROSS COUNTRY LEAGUE is a PRIORITY for the club and we have made great strides in the last few years and we do not want waste those previous efforts!!!!!

So WELL DONE everyone who ran at Welwyn – a poor turnout and but some GREAT performances but PLEASE PLEASE make EVERY EFFORT to make it to the last fixture.

Keep running and stay healthy!!