After winning the Liddiard Trophy for three years in a row Ealing Southall & Middlesex finally relinquished the title at Kingsbury on Saturday. The club did pick up three individual medals. Jethro Lennox won the men’s race with Andy Skorubskas and Fiona Kennedy both getting bronze medals.
Making a rare visit back from Scotland Jethro was content to run with the leading group through the first lap but eased away on the second lap to win by a minute. Andy S finished strongly gaining several places to end up third.
Richard Tomlinson moved up a gear from last year’s performance to finish 19th, turning the tables on Rob Brown in 23rd who beat him two week’s ago. John Blanchard was a further half a minute back in 24th.
Chris McIver, Steve Plested and Andy Dodd completed the team.
In the women's race Fiona Kennedy was always third though team mate Patricia Thomas was close behind early on. Patricia hung on for fourth with sixth placed Mary Walsh the final scorer in the winning women’s team.
The half-term holiday, and several athletes missing due to illness, meant that a depleted young athletes team represented the club at the second North West London League fixture at Alexandra Palace on Saturday. Despite this there were some notable successes on the undulating course on a windy, damp afternoon.
In the under 11 age group the club had only one runner each in the boys and girls races. Competing against runners from a larger than usual number of clubs Christina Perricos finished 12th in the girls race and Bobby Bailey 13th in the boys race.
The under 13 boys put in a strong performance with Anthony Haynes finishing third, Dalton McGuigan fifth and brother Fellan McGuigan eighth, bringing the team home second overall.
A good turnout in the Girls under 13 race meant the club fielded two full teams. Newcomer Shannon Powell led the A team home in sixth place, with Genevieve Crean close behind in seventh. Grainne Gahan was 11th, putting the team in third place. Ellis Redmond led the B team home in 12th place.
For the under 15 boys Richard Charles ran a storming race to win, finishing 150 metres in front of the next runner. Mark Cameron in fifth and Chris Charles in eighth completed the team who comfortably won in this age group. Archie Allen was not far behind Chris in 11th.
Newcomers Rosie Cordy and Madeleine Horne were the club’s only under 15 girls runners. They did the club proud with Rosie finishing ninth and Madeleine tenth, 30 metres behind her.
The Under 17 mens race produced another win. Luke Nicholas ran strongly from the start to win the race 50 metres clear of the second placed runner. Chris Hepworth in fifth and Bashir Zaheer in fifth and seventh completed the winning team. Martin Shelley came in ninth.
The Under 17 women, for whom a full team can normally be guaranteed, also saw only two of the club’s runners competing. Despite a strong run from Helena French finishing fourth and Joanne O’Connell in fifth, the lack of a third team member meant they could only claim third place although, as with some of the other age groups, their league position is still higher due to the excellent result at the first fixture.
A new look Metropolitan League cross-country series started at a new Ruislip course on Saturday. The revamped league has split the men’s competition into two divisions and created a separate race for the increasing number of under 15 and under 17 girls.
The first ever under 15 and under 17 girls’ race was dominated by the club. Martha Reynolds was briefly headed at the start of the race but ultimately ran out a 50 metre winner from Georgia Bell. Georgia was the first under 15. The race for fifth place went down to the line. Hannah Pollak led with half a mile to go but lost out in the run in to a Thames Valley girl and Emma Davies. Also prominent in the race was Dani Raffell who finished twelfth.
Ashlee McGuigan and Fiona Kennedy were the best of the club’s senior women. Fiona getting ahead in the latter stages as the pair finished 16th and 18th. Lynn Wilson had another strong run a minute further back in 33rd with Gill Morgan a further minute back in 45th. The scoring team finished sixth and was completed by newcomer Fiona Cotterill in 64th and Carol Jones in 72nd.
An inexperienced under 13 girls team did well to finish fifth. Kerry Baily was the first home in seventh place. She was backed up by Veronica Colyer in 15th and Mari Johnson in 21st.
The men’s team battled well to finish seventh in the first division match. Andy Skorubskas held off Rob Wilson to be the first team member home, They finished 21st and 25th. Under 20 Ben McCallum was next in 56th ahead of a tight battle between the club’s leading veteran Rob Brown and Richard Tomlinson in 75th and 78th.
The team packed well after this. An excellent run from Phil York saw him finish 108th with just four seconds separating him, Mark Delahunty (112th) and Steve Plested (114th). Only one second separated Rob Howells and Doug Buckeridge in 129th and 130th. Cross country novice Eamon Bradley (181st) and John Falvey (193rd) completed the twelve to score team.
Anthony Haynes scored a narrow victory in the under 13 boys race but the team were edged out by Hillingdon. Dalton McGuigan was close behind in fourth. There was a gap to Jordan Hannington in 14th with Fellan McGuigan taking the last scoring place in 20th, not far ahead of Tommy Fogarty in 22nd.
The club had limited turn out for the under 15 and under 17 boys’ race and could only finish sixth despite a fine run from Jamie Taylor-Caldwell in fifth. Chris Hepworth was 25th. Mark Cameron was the best of the club’s under 15s in 33rd with Anthony Shaw completing the team in 38th.
There were good conditions underfoot this year’s Horsenden Hill Cross-Country Relays. In the women’s race perennial winners Highgate retained the title. In the men’s race Harrow won the trophy for the first time since 2003.
James Trapmore of Shaftesbury Barnet was a clear leader on the opening leg with the host club’s Andy Skorubskas second. Matt Carey of Harrow took the lead on the second leg and they were never headed.
We dropped to third after John Banchard’s leg but Richard Tomlinson managed to keep us in a medal position on the next leg. Mark Delahunty handed over to Steve Plested in fifth and we stayed in that position to the end though Rob Brown only just held off the Met Police.
The women’s race saw the fastest time on the first leg. Kate Jenrick gave Highgate a clear lead over Nicky De La Salle of Hillingdon. Behind them there was a close battle between our A and B teams. In the end the A team’s Lynn Wilson finished a stride ahead of Patricia Thomas in fourth, both runners recording their best ever times over this course.
Ashlee McGuigan and Fiona Kennedy recorded the fastest times on the next two legs. Ashlee made up two places into second but Highgate remained well clear and Fiona couldn’t quite close the gap.
Patricia Thomas, Nikki Baker and Carol Jones finished fifth and won the prize for first B team.
Young athletes from the club got the cross country season off to a flying start in the North West London League run earlier in the afternoon. In the eight races the club had five team wins and five individual wins.
The afternoon kicked off with a win from Rosie Bell in the under 11 girls’ race. She waited until the last 200 metres before sprinting clear. Christina Perricos and Hollie Hannington completed the team in ninth and tenth. Bobby Baily was the best of the boys in fourth. He was backed up by Daniel Brown and Bradley Pinder in seventh and tenth.
The under 13 boys produced the performance of the day filling the first four places. Anthony Haynes and Dalton McGuigan pulled well clear of the field before Anthony just out-sprinted Dalton for the line. Younger brother Fellan McGuigan was next just ahead of Duncan Pinder.
For the girls Kerry Baily led the team home in third place. Next to score was Evie King in seventh, with Mari Johnson 11th and Ellis Redmond 13th.
Richard Charles started where he left off last year with an impressive win in the under 15 boys race. Mark Cameron was sixth ahead of Richard’s twin Christopher in seventh. Archie Allen completed the team in tenth.
Emma Davies and Nicky Shelley were the only two girls to run. Emma finished second and Nicky was tenth.
Hannah Pollak and Luke Nicholas were comfortable winners of the under 17 races with the club also winning the team events. Hannah was backed up by Helena French, Joanne O’Connell and Elizabeth Matthews in fourth, fifth and seventh. The men’s team was Sam Ashcroft, Chris Hepworth and Anthnoy Shaw in fourth, seventh and eighth.