Second MWRRL Race at Watford
Last Wednesday saw the second MWRRL race in the series at Cassiobury Park, Watford. Results will be out shortly (possibly before you read this).
Our men secured fourth place with the ladies in third place in a very tough, competitive race. Finish times were generally down by around one to two minutes from the less demanding Stevenage race.
The ladies team had three scorers from the previous race: Karen Murphy, Steph Harrison and Sarah Moffatt. However, Jenny Johns (PB), Kath Henderson, Charlotte Michael, Kate Philips and newcomer Sian Stanton s stepped up and completed the scoring eight which saw us finish one place higher than Stevenage even though the overall team score was about the same. Jana Julkova unfortunately suffered a turned ankle late in the race and we wish her a speedy recovery. Kath Ellis and Sarah Ralphs had just completed their massive 100k event a few days previously but still turned out for the club. Hats off to Kate Philips who continues her comeback with a distinguished 46th position up from 60th two weeks ago. A big thank you to all 28 ladies who competed for the club. The ladies race is now beginning to thin out with 106 women competing at Watford compared to the 130 turning out at the Stevenage race. It is important that we maintain our high level of participation in the next two events.
The men’s team came fourth, dropping one position from the previous race with the field size also dropping down to 145 from 186 at Stevenage. The team has been depleted by injury with 22 running and scored 588 against 322 at Stevenage. Our twelve scorers were Niall Fleming, Ed Fraser, James Marschalek, Calvin Wu, Kelvin Koloko, Andy Cunningham, Steve Lake, Alex Horton, Paul Bassa, Gary Randle, Stelios Michael and Costa Michael. Great individual performance from Niall Fleming who led the team home and good to see Ed Fraser back from his sabbatical in Canada.
Noteworthy is that there were no U20 men or U20 women running in Division Two at Watford and only our own Callum Sydenham at Stevenage. There are medals going begging in this category should anyone 15 or over and under 20 be interested in running a 10k at either Royston on 15th June or Trent Park on 29th June.
The rest of the races will be held on Thursdays with the next being held at Royston and those running last year will remember what a glorious evening it was. More details to follow.
Barnet will be awarding its prestigious 10k trophies based on the Royston race. Trophies will be awarded for fastest senior lady, fastest senior man, fastest lady vet and fastest male vet. Don’t forget, to stand any chance of a MWRRL medal all four races should be completed.