The sun shone – “warmest October day since.……….”. We welcomed to the team two new members, Paul MacCarthy and Stuart Atkins. We fielded big teams and there was great team spirit, great atmosphere, great camaraderie. Our athletes ran their socks off, none could have given more. Jo Kent and Alex Lepretre led the teams home. Mary Brown and David Scott closed the accounts for us.
But, as can happen in sport, sometimes you pull out all the stops and still you don’t get the result you want. Division 1 league tables, after the first of our five Met League races, look like this:
Women Men
| 1 | Serpentine RC | 236 | 1 | Highgate Harriers | 1118 |
| 2 | Highgate Harriers | 226 | 2 | Serpentine RC | 921 |
| 3 | Thames Valley Harriers | 225 | 3 | Victoria Park & TH | 861 |
| 4 | Victoria Park & TH | 211 | 4 | SBH | 838 |
| 5 | London Heathside | 203 | 5 | Woodford Green | 819 |
| 6 | Woodford Green | 152 | 6 | Hillingdon AC | 766 |
| 7 | Hillingdon AC | 134 | 7 | London Heathside | 671 |
| 8 | Barnet | 97 | 8 | ESM | 565 |
| 9 | NEB | 89 | 9 | Barnet | 488 |
| 10 | SBH | 80 | 10 | Highgate ‘B’ | 213 |
Our women’s team is in eighth place, some way behind Hillingdon in seventh and only just ahead of NEB and SBH below. Our men’s team is ninth and in the relegation frame. We have work to do.
The next Met League race is on Saturday 11 November at Welwyn. Please mark this date in your diary, calendar, smart phone, computer or wherever you record your vital data. If you ran at Claybury please make every effort to run again at Welwyn. We were a little unlucky at Claybury in that a number of key people were injured or had work or family commitments, as can always happen. Team managers will be in touch with people all round the club and will make every effort to get out the strongest possible team for Welwyn. It’s a venue which suits Barnet better than it suits most other clubs, so we start with advantages. With a mighty effort together we will move up the league tables.
Click here for the full results, an ANJ’s delight, every finisher, every position, every time, every divisional league table. Our results below. (ANJ: Athletics Numbers Junkie, there’s a few in our club).
| 24 | Jo Kent | 24:26 | 121 | Sarah Boxer | 27:51 |
| 48 | Zoe Levin | 26:07 | 144 | Annabelle Lee | 28:14 |
| 54 | Kath March | 26:44 | 145 | Pauline Michael | 28:15 |
| 64 | Karen Murphy | 26:54 | 162 | Danielle Savvas | 28:32 |
| 77 | Nicola Froud | 27:07 | 176 | Erica Ikibiroglu | 28:46 |
| 84 | Charlotte Michael | 27:14 | 191 | Julie Hawes | 29:01 |
| 100 | Helen Hoyle | 27:30 | 196 | Margaret Butler | 29:06 |
| 119 | Kirsty Johnstone | 27:49 | 197 | Mary Brown | 29:07 |
Senior women
Divn 1. 1 Serps 236, …… 7 Hillingdon 134, 8 Barnet 97, 9 London City 89, 10 SBH 80.
Divn 2. 1 Serps ‘B’ 340, …. 7 H/gate ‘B’ 195, 8 Barnet 152, 9 NEB 122, 10 Morn Ch 120.
Divn 3. 1 Vict Pk. 304, …….. 12 Barnet ‘C’ 101 (23 teams in Divn 3).
Veteran women
Divn 1. 1 London H/s 126, 2 Serps 120, 3 Barnet 112, 4 Victoria Pk 96.
Divn 2. 1 Serps ‘B’ 114, 2 Hillingdon 112, 3 Barnet ‘B’ 95. 4 Serps ‘C’ 72.
Divn 3. 1 Victoria Pk ‘B’ 90, 2 NEB 80, 3 Trent Pk 76, 4 Barnet ‘C’ 55.
| 32 | Alex Lepretre | 27:03 | 259 | Tim Butler | 33:28 |
| 53 | Niall Fleming | 27:52 | 266 | Paul Carter | 33:43 |
| 88 | Grant Ramsey | 29:01 | 269 | David Crout | 33:53 |
| 101 | Alex Horton | 29:24 | 302 | Peter Ellis | 34:53 |
| 109 | Raj Patel | 29:39 | 320 | James Smythe | 35:21 |
| 110 | Steve Norris | 29:47 | 366 | Mel Davies | 36:37 |
| 115 | Will Morris | 29:53 | 377 | Aarif Jeevanjee | 37:00 |
| 144 | Gary Pelosi | 30:48 | 407 | Stuart Atkins | 38:13 |
| 145 | Daniel Nichols | 30:49 | 408 | Paul MacCarthy | 38:13 |
| 177 | Costa Michael | 31:32 | 420 | Chris Violet | 38:51 |
| 215 | Andy Cunningham | 32:35 | 443 | Jerry Bryan | 40:03 |
| 216 | Giovanni Muretto | 32:37 | 469 | David Byrne | 41:43 |
| 246 | Danny Digweed | 33:08 | 481 | David Scott | 43:09 |
| 257 | James Sarner | 33:26 |
Senior men.
Divn 1. 1 Highgate 1118, ……. 8 ESM 565, 9 Barnet 488, 10 Highgate ‘B’ 213
Divn 3. 1 Vict Pk ‘B’ … 5 Barnet ‘B’ 1266, …. 17 Barnet ‘C’ 453 (27 teams in the league).
Veteran men
Divn 1. 1 Lond. H/s 479, ….. 6 London H/side ‘B’ 261, 7 Barnet 251, 8 Trent Pk 175.
Divn 2. 1 ESM 172, …. 6 Ealing Eagles 110, 7 Barnet ‘B’ 104, 8 Herts Ph 69.
Divn 3. 1 Victoria Pk ‘B’ 890, ….. 6 TVH ‘B’ 206, 7 Barnet ‘C’ 197. 23 teams in the league.
This week the team managers’ pennant goes to Karen Murphy who, unasked, took a risk running with her injured hand heavily bandaged. Karen held back in the mad melee at the bottleneck soon after the start, then ran carefully through to the finish to score valuable points for the team, thank goodness safe and sound. Thank you Karen and well done!
Young Athletes Shine
Is there any better cross country fixture than the first Met League at Claybury? There were world champions (did you spot Ronnie O’Sullivan marshalling on the course?), and international athletes. There were banners, tents and roars from the spectating hordes.
Twenty three Young Stags made the trip out to Essex on a glorious warm Autumn day. Two were disappointed not to run because they are still too young. The best turn-out for a long time on a day of record numbers for the Met League with well over 1000 finishers.
Once again there was a herd of U11’s. Zico had another great run, finishing fourth. He was strongly supported by Luke, Oliver, William and Harrison – the team also finishing fourth. In the girls race, a trio of sisters made light work of the course, together with Grace, now a veteran.
Our U15 Boys were out in force. Finn, in his first race for the Stags, led them home, with Jude, Alex, Kieron and Joe in strong support. Once again the awesome threesome of Joanne, Emma and Pearl put in great performances in the U15 Girls race.
Arthur and Noah were the only U13 Boys, and in the U13 Girls there were also only two. Georgia had a great first cross country race for the club, and special mention must go to Emma. Before the race, she was not feeling well but still started. As she began her second lap it was clear to those watching that she was suffering, but Emma was determined to complete the race. It was only later, having been to hospital, that she was diagnosed with a kidney infection. Get well soon, Emma.
Barnet positions:-
U11 Boys – Zico 4; Luke 20, Oliver 25; William 28; Harrison 29.
U11 Girls – Holly 33; Amy 41; Grace 47; Megan 56.
U13 Boys – Arthur 68; Noah 71.
U13 Girls – Georgia 34; Emma Mc 40.
U15 Boys – Finn 22; Jude 31; Alex Findlay 34; Kieron 53; Joe 56.
U15 Girls – Joanne 18 ; Emma I 37; Pearl 40.
Well done to everyone who raced and supported. Full results here.