Saturday afternoon saw the final fixture of this season’s North West London cross country league, and it was a successful afternoon for our young athletes. The U15 boys’ team won the league title and the club came away with six individual medals, the latter being awarded for points scored over the season (best four scores out of five).
It was a great club turnout for the final match, with 28 Ealing athletes toeing the line. The course at Wormwood Scrubs is fairly flat, and it was relatively mud-free on this occasion, so the going favoured speed over strength.
In the U13 girls’ race over 2000m, Lucy O’Brien (pictured below) continued her consistent season with a fine third place, and was rewarded with a first place medal for her efforts in the league. Anisa Ibrahim (16th) also put in a good performance, and received a sixth place league medal. Fiona Coutts (23rd) and Sarah Freegard (29th) completed the team, which placed a satisfying third on the day.
The U15 girls had finished the previous fixture second to Shaftesbury Barnet, but they also faced a formidable team from hosts Thames Valley Harriers on Saturday, so there was all to play for. The team of six gave it their all over the 2800m, but TVH took the first three places. Nicola Ravenhill finished fourth and Laura Stewart (5th) put in a good run to follow close behind. Another ESM twosome followed in the shape of Cameron Thomas (15th) and Maryam Hussain (16th), separated by just 10 seconds. Leah Kelly and Roisin Lynch finished 19th and 22nd. Laura took an individual league medal for finishing third overall in the U15 category.
No-one from the club competed in the final U17 women’s race, but the team had already done enough and they finished third in the overall league result.
The four U11 boys finished ninth overall on the day. Dylan Rice was first home with a fine eighth place, while Najiib Hersi (30th) turned the tables on Masaki Kanai this time (36th). Kyriese Willis-Thomas completed the squad in 40th.
The squad of five U13 boys finished fourth in the match. Kane Foster had an especially good race to finish fourth, closely followed by Ilyes Iman in seventh. Mahiis Hersi (22nd) followed around a minute behind, while stalwarts Mikey Kouwiloyan (31st) and Kirk Lebdiri completed the team.
Despite winning the league overall, the U15 boys could only manage fourth in the final match. George Kerry led them home in fifth, with Luke Adar in 11th. Naoki Kanai (17th) followed half a minute later, with Alex Suntong (22nd) completing the team. George took a medal for his runners-up place in the league. The photo above shows Alex, Naoki and Luke.
The U17 men won on the day but finished third in the league. Mukhtar Farah won the race easily, followed by Charlie Sillett in fifth. Raunak Mainali (8th) had Conor McCarthy (9th) hot on his heels, with Aydarus Ibrahim (14th) completing the line-up.
Full results here