WGEL athletes lead the way in cross country

Monday, 09 November 2009

GOOD SHOWING: Matt Barnes-Smith ran well. Picture by Ken Bray

WOODFORD Green Athletics Club with Essex Ladies hosted the second Metropolitan League Cross-Country races at Claybury on Sunday, providing two high quality races.

The women’s race saw a great battle between Woodford and Highgate while the men’s field of 354 finishers smashed the previous record number of 331 in a thriving 43-year-old league.

The outcome on a great day for Woodford was that the men and women teams ended the day as league leaders, while the men’s B team hoisted themselves further clear of the relegation zone.

Despite being pipped by four points on the day, the Woodford women retain a 25 point lead. Jess Sparke, who was second fastest of the day last weekend at the National Cross Country Relays, showed great form to win by 71 seconds.

Linda Jackson showed great determination, but was just pipped in the sprint for third place, while 18-year-old Georgie Sales came in eighth.

She was 12 seconds ahead of Kat Gundersen in tenth, but with Highgate closing their scoring six in 20, Woodford waited for Rachel Lund (22nd) and Bernie Pritchett (24th) to close the team, thus allowing Highgate to make a tiny inroad into Woodford’s league lead.

In a fantastic turnout for the men’s race, Woodford matched Serpentine’s challenge with both club’s fielding 42 men.

At the front end of the men’s field, Matt Barnes-Smith had his best run yet for Woodford, coming in fourth behind winner, Herts Phoenix’s international Neilson Hall.

Former Algeria U20 international Lotfi Chebli was the next Woodford runner in followed by Bertie Powell in tenth place.

Dan Agustus made a late decision to race and delivered an invaluable contribution in finishing 12th, just four seconds ahead of another very good Craig Berg run in 14th.

Woodford’s sixth man home was Ed Messer in 22nd. with the closing six scorers being Alex Cornwell (30th), Angus Holford (36th), Andrew Mariani (42nd), Gavin Lewis (46th), Kevin Murphy (54th) and Darren Southcott (77th).

The team result leaves Woodford 101 points ahead of Serpentine and 144 ahead of Shaftesbury.

Manager Terry McCarthy played down the league leadership. He said: “More importantly it was a great day for the Met League and a tribute to Howard Williams whose brainchild the league was back in 1966 and who is still at the heart of everything 43 years on.

“It’s great to see that our men and women are playing a major role in driving the league’s current success.”

Woodford also managed to field a total of 21 runners in the Young Athlete races.

Amelia Barrett’s third place in the U13G race was the best individual placing of the day.

Liam Blaikie (U17M) and Sidnie Sales (U17W) both managed fifth places in their races while Joe Smith had another fine run for eighth place in the U13B race with new recruit Daniel Rowden not far behind and closing fast in ninth.

Behind Sidnie Sales, the rest of the U15/U17Ws finished full A and B teams with Georgina Ferrari second home in 13th, Claudia Conway in 19th and Holly Bedeau in 21st for an A team score of 58; this was good enough for third place on the day and maintain the girl’s second place league spot.

In the U15/U17M race, James Stockings again followed Blaikie home in a good run to 11th, with Paul Scanlan in 15th with U15 Ryan Dunne closing the team in 26th for a fourth place team score.

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