The club's young athletes once again showed their strength in the third North West London League fixture at Cockfosters. The tough course through Trent Park provided the first exposure to real mud this winter.
The under 17 men’s team were dominant. Luke Nicholas was second, Sam Ashcroft sixth, Chris Hepworth eighth and Anthony Shaw ninth as the team scored a convincing win. Basheer Zaheer finished in eleventh just outside the scoring team..
An extremely strong under 15 boys team also dominated. Outstanding runs from the Charles twins, Richard and Christopher, saw them take the first two places. They were closely followed by Mark Cameron in fourth and Archie Allen in eleventh.
Strong packing by the under 13 boys, Anthony Haynes (3rd), Dalton McGuigan (4th), Duncan Pinder (5th) and Fellan McGuigan (7th), brought them home for a comfortable win. Jordan Hannington and Tommy Cameron were close behind in 11th & 19th places.
The under 17 women’s team were slightly under strength. However committed runs from Helena French (4th), Joanne O’Connell (6th), and Elizabeth Matthews (7th) saw them finish second team.
The under 15 girls were also under strength, but also earned themselves second place. A strong run from Daniella Raffel saw her home in third. Nicola Shelley seventh and two newcomers Rosie Cordy and Madeline Horne ran finished 11th & 12th respectively.
A good turnout from the under 13 girls saw them finish third. Kerry Baily led the way in second, followed by Genevieve Crean in ninth, Hannah McDougal 16th and Grainne Gahan 18th. The Gould twins Ashley and Charlotte finished 21st and 22nd respectively.
The only disappointment of the day was in the under 11 categories. Poor turn outs saw only one runner from the club in each race. Bobby Baily ran fantastically for fifth, with Hollie Hannington finishing tenth for the girls.
The seniors also had a disappointing afternoon. They fielded weaker than usual teams in the Fraternity and Sorority Cups run later in the afternoon. The only bright spots were the veterans silver medal picked up by Lynn Wilson and Bill Gristwood.
For the women the Sorority Cup was their race over the full five mile championship distance before Christmas. Lynn Wilson used her stamina to good effect to move up from ninth to sixth on the second long lap. Nikki Baker was 15th with Julia Gristwood 23rd.
First of the men was Andy Kotsyubka in eighth. He was followed in by Bill Gristwood in 11th. Mark Delahunty was a minute further back in 22nd with Andy Dodd in 26th. The team was completed by John Falvey in 61st and Alan Keeler in 78th.