On a Roll in the NW London XC League
Report by Dominic Stubbins
The end of February saw the 5th and final Northwest London League XC race take place on our great new home course at Pear Tree Park, Perivale. As the final league meeting, it would decide the league team winners across all the age groups and was the final chance for individuals to improve their scores and aim for a top 6 individual league medal. Going into the race, ESM were in contention for a number of titles, but would need a great turnout and performances from all of our athletes, and they certainly delivered! Ultimately taking home the overall team winners’ trophies in the U13 Boys, U15 Girls and U15 Boys categories.
Starting with a record turnout of U11s. Great performances from the boys, with Daniel Ross 7th, Mack Thomas 11th, Maieul Girard-Reydet 14th, Tommy Sibbering, in his first race, in 16th, and Arlo Butler in 34th. This meant a great 2nd place finish in the race. In the girls’ race, we had fantastic performances by Eleanor Morrison in 5th, Alison Duarte 27th and Lily Milanov 34th, with a 6th place team finish in the race.
Our U13 Girls were represented by Maya Richardson, who finished an amazing 5th place.
In the U13 Boys’ race, we had our work cut out to try and beat Windsor, who came into the race leading in the league by a single point. With a big turnout of 7 athletes and great running by all, the team managed to secure top spot in the race just ahead of Windsor, meaning a 1st place tie for the overall U13 Boys league championships. The placings were Ben Muralidhar 3rd, Sidney Rochester 4th, Arlo Thomson 18th, Euan Mortimer 19th, Max Lacey 34th, Oscar Hepner 36th and Edan Grovners 47th. This also netted Sidney 3rd spot in the league and Ben 2nd place overall.
In the U15 Girls’ competition, our team began the day with just a 2 point lead over Barnet. Again, a really strong turnout and some great performances meant the team were second in the race, securing the win in the championship. We had Maria Szyszko-Walls in 2nd, also earning 2nd place overall in the league, Emilie Walsh in 9th, earning her 6th spot in the league, Eve Johnson 15th, Isabella Matsunaga-Michalakis 18th, Cleo Kumar 19th, Megan Price 21st, Sophia Sargeant 22nd, Alice Wilson-Brown 26th and Christina Ivanova 28th.
The U15 Boys’ team had a sizeable lead in the league and a good turnout, with Owen Stubbins 6th (3rd in the league), Harry Martin 19th, Josh Phillips 21st, Clem Poulson 22nd and Harley Hursey-Williams 28th, meant 2nd place on the day and a resounding overall team win in the league.
For the first time in the U17 Men’s group, we had a full scoring team of 4, with Noah Levy 4th – finishing 3rd overall in the league, Mika Stripp 7th, remote member Max Callender-Galbraith 9th and sprinter Connor Chung-Tak Man in 16th, giving the team the win on the day and tied for second place overall in the league.
Bringing home 3 team trophies and a number of individual medals was a fantastic way to finish off the XC season and to inaugurate our new XC course.
