ESM’s young athletes consolidated & improved their league positions in all the older age groups in the 3rd North West London League fixture of the season at Trent Park, Cockfosters, last Saturday. The weather was cold, but dry, with the course a mixture of hills, fields, mud and a little ice – a traditional cross country course!
The under 17 men had a team and individual win, with Sam Shindler Glass, continuing his excellent run of form, dominating the race and striding home 15 seconds clear.
Duncan Pinder also had a great race, coming in 4th, putting the team in pole position in the league, 1 point ahead of Shaftesbury Barnet.
The under 17 women also won and are 2nd in the league, a point behind London Heathside. Olivia Will put in another impressive performance, leading the team home strongly in 4th place, with Katrina Will and Josie Elliott completing the team in 5th & 6th.
The under 15 boys recorded their first win of the season. Mukhtar Farah came in 2nd with a powerful finish, ahead of Bradley Pinder in 12th and Rashid Riyad in 18th.
A full “B” team of Reece Farren (20th), Conor McCarthy (25th) and Eliot Stewart (31st) completed one of the 2 strongest ESM teams on the day. They move up from joint 7th to 5th in the table.
The under 15 girls finished 5th, but hold onto 3rd in the league. Courtney Marshall was first home in 6th, with Anna Maude (16th) and Jennie Connolly (25th) completing the scoring team, chased down by Millie Atherton, just behind in 27th.
The under 13 girls fielded a strong team, finishing 2nd and moving up to 2nd in the league.
Roisin Lynch led the team home in 7th place and in a tightly packed group Laura Stewart finished 8th and Nicola Ravenhill, running her first race for the club, was 9th. Cameron Thomas ran strongly to finish 14th and Nell Moran was also in a good position when a recurrence of an injury meant she could not finish.
The under 13 boys put in a storming team performance but still had to take 2nd place to a strong Shaftesbury Barnet team (at this stage this age group is a close 3 way contest between ESM, Shaftesbury and TVH). John Fielding led home with another fine run in 2nd place, with George Kerry and Marcus Browne finishing well in 7th & 8th. Freddie Scarborough (19), Matteo Vao (25) and Luke Adar (33) earned valuable team points, the B team finishing in 6th place.
Our sole under 11 was Lucy O’Brien who ran well enough for an entire team and finished a superb 3rd, in only her 2nd cross country race for the club.
Report by Graham French. Pictures by Jean King here. Pictures by Steve Treanor here.
Full results.