Thirty-three of our junior athletes competed at the London Youth Games at Parliament Hill on Saturday. Rather than running for the club in the usual way, they were representing Ealing in a contest between all 32 London Boroughs.
It was a creditable performance by the club. We fielded both boys and girls in three age groups: Under 13, Under 15 and Under 17. Of those six teams, four finished in the top half of the ranking, and three were in the top third.
Our flourishing Under 15 girls’ squad provided our best team result of the day, finishing eighth overall in a competitive field, and the three scorers all came from ESM. Nicola Ravenhill claimed a fine 13th spot, with Laura Stewart and Roisin Lynch also running well to cross the line less than a minute later in 35th and 51st respectively. They were backed up by Jasmine Loh, who was fourth Ealing finisher in 70th, and Jennie Connolly who was fifth for Ealing in 163rd. Courtney Marsh (78th) was also in this race, representing Hillingdon.
Next highest-ranked among the Ealing teams were the Under 17 boys, who were tenth against the other Boroughs. Here, ESM supplied the first two of the scoring runners, in the shape of Mukhtar Farah in 39th, and Abdi Jama in 40th. Only two seconds separated the two at the line. Charlie Sillett continued his promising first cross-country season with a 48th place, just half a minute later.
The Under 13 Boys finished eleventh out of the 32 Boroughs. William Coutts was Ealing’s second scorer in 51st place, though again there was just a two-second gap to the next ESM runner, Freddie Scarborough taking the third scoring slot in 54th.
The Under 17 girls were the thirteenth ranked team. Here again, ESM supplied the three scoring runners. Olivia Will took 25th place, followed by Tara Kelly (59th) and Joanna Vale (68th). They were backed up by Emilia Newton Jones in 79th.
We had six runners in the Under 13 girls’ squad, which was ranked 17th of the 32 Boroughs. Lucy O’Brien finished well up the field in 22nd, with a large time advantage over her other Ealing team-mates. Feia Starkey was next to show in 84th, while Emily Nicholson-Stanwix was the third scorer, just a second behind in 86th. Thereafter, the Ealing runners crossed the line in rapid succession, only 13 seconds separating them: Maryam Hussain (88th), Cameron Thomas (101st) and Leah Kelly (103rd).
For the Under 15 boys, Stan Perrin made his cross country debut for the season, being first to finish for Ealing, in 51st place. George Kerry was less than a minute behind in 87th, with Eliot Stewart the third and final scorer in 186th. The team finished 25th in the inter-Borough competition.
More information about the London Youth Games can be found here