Met League - Welwyn Garden City
Posted by Trevor Cummings on 13 November 2018
Met League - Welwyn Garden City - 10th November 2018
SMRAC had a good turnout and some great performances at the 2nd Metropolitan League XC fixture of the season on Saturday 10th November 2018. The course was squeezed onto the hillside of a small area of parkland, providing some testing conditions after the overnight rain, with lots of hills and a lot of cambers to run across. There were some ominous clouds around, but the rain mostly held off for the early races.
First up on the day was Ellena in the u11 Girls, finishing really well to pass a couple of people down the last hill to end up 9th.
In the U13 Boys, debutant Zach (19th) and Freddie (18th) were nip and tuck all the way around the second lap, with Freddie sprinting ahead in the last few metres. Charlie was chasing hard a few seconds behind in 25th.
Grace ran well, despite struggling with a neck injury, to come home in 22nd, with Harriet in 36th in the u13 Girls.
Sonny led the U15 Boys & U17 Men home, finishing 7th and 1st U15 in a competitive field. Jonny was next (22nd / 7th U15), followed by 2 good battles between Gabriel (35th / 14th U15) & Yann (47th / 28th U17) and Dom (73rd / 39th U15) & Ali (75th / 41st U15).
Imi had her usual positive start, with Carla working well through the field in the U15 Girls & U17 Ladies race. They finished 3 seconds apart in 13th and 16th in the race respectively (7th and 9th U17s). They were ably backed up by Niamh (32nd / 17th U15) and Phoebe (54th / 24th U17).
With perfect timing, most of the Juniors managed to pack up the gazebo and get on the minibus to head home, just before the heavens opened. This left our two Senior representatives to run round in the rain with some family support. Bryony and Kate overcame the conditions to come home 4th and 14th in their age categories.
Many thanks to all of the parents who came to spectate, help supervise children and brave a very wet M25 on the way home.
It is a very busy period for XC running, with a number of SMRAC athletes representing Richmond in the London Youth Games on 17th November, followed shortly after by the Borough Schools Champs in Richmond Park on 23rd November. For SMRAC, we have the next Met League on 1st December. Entries also need to be in for the Middlesex County Championships which take place on 5th January.
