Cross country series ends with muddy meet
THE five-match Essex Cross Country League series concluded at a very muddy Hainault Forest course on Saturday, February 10 with two team and one individual victories for Havering Athletics Club.
The veteran men won the league shield and three club athletes won individual titles.
The senior men’s hopes of regaining the league title slipped away in the mud of Hainault as a secondplace finish meant that they fell just short of the win that they needed to beat Southend, ending up in the runners up spot.
James Connor led them home in fourth place to confirm his individual victory in the league M40 standings, with Ben Davis close behind in fifth to place him third in the individual senior placings for the season.
James Stewart in seventh and Sam Atkins in ninth meant that Havering had four in the top 10 – Kieran O’Hara in 23rd and Alfie Waithaka in 35th completed the scoring six.
Rob Warner, returning from injury, lost his shoe 11 times in the muddy terrain to finish 43rd and place third in the individual M40 league stakes.
Rob Trevor was next home in 65th and Matt Bland (74th) and Martin Chester (90th) made the top 100. Graham Hogan (109th), Michael O’Callaghan (113th), Tony Pecoraro (125th), Steve Walker (134th) and Roy James (176th) completed the Havering contingent. The veteran men’s scoring quartet of James Connor, Alfie Waithaka, Rob Warner and Rob Trevor ensured a fourth consecutive win to easily lift the Veterans team title.
The senior women were second for the third successive race but had to settle for third in the team stakes.
Ginte Bailey was first home in fourth, with Robyn Matson and Morgan Campbell close behind in fifth and sixth as Rebecca O’Rourke (39th) completed the scorers and Haleema Asmal was 107th. Morgan Campbell was the overall league winner, with Ginte Bailey placing third, and Rebecca O’Rourke was U20 runner up.
The U15 girls’ first win of the season moved the team into the top three in the table. Orla Friel’s fine form continued as she placed fifth with Emmie Lole, Jasmine Asmal and Poppy Vines in seventh, eighth and ninth confirming that all four scorers made the top 10, with Ruby Beasley 17th and Grace Tilson 23rd.
Freddie Rowe’s fourth win in his four finishes for the Under-15 Boys saw him defend his league title. Findlay McLaren (sixth), Shea Sweeney (12th) and Liam Battrum (19th) were the other scorers as the team maintained their run of second places, to finish league runners up.
Ethan Carroll and Sean Mugagga were 24th and 29th.
The U13 boys team recorded their third runners up spot of the season to earn joint second in the league standings. Joe Sewell led the squad home in fifth with George Burgess (13th), Callum Millard Jennings (17th) and 21st placed George Bangs making up the scoring four with Logan Hunt, debutant Cruz Carvell and Max Sillett finishing between 32nd and 37th.
Both U17 squads were short of a scoring team. Hannah Evans and Rosie Warner were seventh and eighth for the women and Ryan Carroll and Toby Johnson 15th and 17th for the men.
Meanwhile, at the England Athletics Age Group Indoor Championships in Sheffield, Southern champion Joel Ajayi won U17 men’s 60m silver, improving his recent U17, U20 and senior club records in the bargain.
A comfortable heat win in 6.95s by the Havering sprinter was followed by his semi-final two hours later where his blistering start saw cross the line in 6.82 seconds, shaving two-100ths of his previous best to confirm his medal potential and clock the sixth fastest time ever by a UK U17.
UK number one Joel Masters dominated the rounds and went on to win gold in 6.73s – second on the U17 all time lists – and Ajayi held on for silver in 6.88s getting the narrow verdict in a photo finish ahead of Blackheath’s Max Clark for his first national medal.
Late on Sunday, just a day after winning the Essex League title, Freddie Rowe toed the line in the U17 men’s 1500m final.
Still only 14 and in his first year of the age group, the Upminster athlete followed the pace of his older rivals in a break-away group of four.
With 100m to go Rowe looked out of medal contention, but his powerful sprint finish saw him claim bronze in the final strides.
His time of 4m 01.13s saw him break Ross Clarke’s club U17 record, which had stood since 2005, and he will now look to improve outdoors this summer.