We made a solid start to this season’s Met League cross country at Claybury on Saturday. Nearly fifty ESM athletes tackled the testing hilly course, though conditions underfoot were firm and the weather conditions benign.
The club’s senior men won the Division 2 match, which was some consolation after last season’s relegation. First home for the club was newcomer George Corcoran, placing an impressive 25th in the record field of 472. Mo Hashi led out the next three finishers, with Mukhtar Farah and Ben Waterman not far behind (see photo), but in the end it was Ben who came through to grab 40thplace, 10 seconds ahead of Mo in 47th, with Mukhtar half a minute adrift in 64th. Nick Landeau is often based in Tobago, so his appearance gave a welcome boost to the team’s chances, as he finished just outside the top 100. There was good packing thereafter, with Manish Kunwar at the head of a group of five, allowing ESM to close its 10 scoring men in the top third of the field. Nick Steel showed great promise in his first cross country, while veteran Steve Elson showed good fitness despite a six month absence from competition following the birth of his first child. Luke Nicholas and Santosh Rai both also looked strong. It was a good turnout from the men, with another 10 tackling the 5 mile race, including cross country novice Sean Hill.
The U17/U15 men also made a much better start than last year, fielding nine athletes and finishing fifth team. In-form George Kerry was first home with an impressive sixth place in the field of 88, with John Fielding also placing well in 11th. Under 15s Kane Foster and Arun Manget completed the scoring team.
For the U13 boys, Finn Combe, Dylan Rice and Marco Lamagna lacked a fourth scorer and they did well to finish tenth. Otto Lawrence was the only representative in the mixed U11 race, finishing 14th out of 78.
The senior women were well represented with 10 runners, but lacked some of their quicker athletes and finished a slightly disappointing third in Division 2. Nikki Shelley set out purposefully, heading Shona Cowper and new member Lucy Ellis for the first half of the race. However, they finished in the reverse order, with Nikki losing ground towards the end, while Lucy (see photo) got away from Shona to lead the team home. All three finished inside the top 50 in the field of 180. Veterans Fiona Kennedy and Carol Jones completed the scoring team, while Pat Thomas continued to show a return to form.
Nicola Ravenhill clinched a top-three position for the U17/U15 women, who finished tenth in their race. Under 15 Lucy O’Brien was next to show in 20th. The other two scorers were Maryam Hussain and Cameron Thomas, with only one second splitting the two at the finish.
Thanks to Josie Hartfiel for the photos.
ESM results summary (provisional)
Men (8km): 25 George Corcoran 26:42; 40 Ben Waterman 27:32; 47 Mohamed Hashi 27:42; 64 Mukhtar Farah (U20) 28:13; 102 Nick Landeau 29:29; 129 Manish Kunwar (U20) 30:13; 132 Nick Steel 30:17; 137 Steve Elson (V40) 30:24; 158 Luke Nicholas 30:58; 165 Santosh Rai 31:07; 203 Mark Kencroft (V45) 32:10; 229 Angelo John (V40) 33:02; 273 Nar Garbuja 34:05; 296 Ian Leslie (V55) 34:44; 297 Martin Shelley 34:47; 319 Sean Hill 35:30; 374 Steve Plested (V65) 37:47; 385 Kirill Kondrasin (U20) 38:13; 423 Keith Freegard (V55) 40:53; 431 Simon Turrell (V45) 41:28
U15/17 Boys (4km): 6 George Kerry 14:12; 11 John Fielding 14:56; 31 Kane Foster (U15) 15:44; 46 Arun Manget (U15) 16:34; 53 Ilyes Iman (U15) 17:01; 56 Matteo Lamagna (U15) 17:10; 67 Chauncey Edwards (U15) 17:35; 80 Davide Lamagna 18:38; 82 Mikey Kouwiloyan (U15) 18:58
U13 Boys (3km): 23 Finn Combe 12:15; 39 Dylan Rice 12:49; 49 Marco Lamagna 13:55
Women (6km): 42 Lucy Ellis 25:40; 44 Shona Cowper 25:58; 49 Nikki Shelley 26:10; 73 Fiona Kennedy (V55) 27:43; 91 Carol Jones (V55) 28:51; 101 Patricia Thomas (V50) 29:24; 108 Jane Ruhland (V40) 29:54; 155 Alison Turrell (V50) 34:10; 165 Estelle McLaughlin 35:09; 179 Valentina Rozzi (V40) 40:08
U15/17 Girls (4km): 3 Nicola Ravenhill 16:16; 20 Lucy O’Brien (U15) 17:54; 42 Maryam Hussain 19:26; 44 Cameron Thomas 19:27; 51 Roisin Lynch 20:36
U11 Mixed (1500m): 14 Otto Lawrence 5:58
Full confirmed results will follow on the Met League website