Senior Men’s Report

The Met League came to a conclusion for the season at Trent Park on Saturday. The course and organisation was under the control of London Heathside and went ahead after some last minute challenges when the course had to be changed because the cows in Trent Park could not be restricted to an area which wouldn’t cause havoc with close to a thousand runners thundering past. The revised course ended up being on the fields either side of the Pineapple and the road being crossed 4 times by each runner in the Senior races.

The Senior Men had one of the strongest teams we have had all season with a number taking on their first Met League races of the season. The team were virtually certain to be relegated from Division 1 so the object was to get some pride back. I feel we did that with some strong running right through the team. The conditions were extremely challenging given some of the deepest mud many of the experienced runners had ever seen. We had 24 male finishers and everyone did well to finish the 7.5km course. Our scoring team were Charlie Bruce, Ben Allen, Andy Naylor, Jim Arrowsmith, Matt Hogsden, Robert Sikorski, Carl Redondo, Scott Aiken, Will Rowley, Francis Mannion, Paul Brennan and Andy Roper. Although this was a strong team and a great performance we still finished 13th out of the 15 Division 1 teams. This only demonstrates the ridiculous strength of this league. We finished the season bottom of Division 1 and hopefully will be challenging at the top of Division 2 next year.

The news of our Vets team is much better and we finished 3rd on the day and finish exactly in the middle of the table in 8th out of 15 teams. Our Vet team on Saturday was Charlie, Andy, Jim, Robert, Carl and Scott. A top performance and probably demonstrates we need more younger runners. While we are on the subject of Vets congratulations to the women on finishing 2nd in division 1 of the Vets competition. Outstanding performance.

I had been expecting to provide marshals for this race as it was in Trent Park so I put the call out and had a good response. Thank you to all those who offered to help but thankfully Heathside had it covered. We were asked to cover a couple of things in laying some astroturf for the Pineapple crossing and erect our marquee so it could be used for food and presentations at the end of the event. I had 8 people turn up at 9:00 am to take these jobs on. Thank you to them, especially as some gave up their morning session or were running in the afternoon. Scott returned again at the end with Paul Brennan after running to clear up. Grainne Jones took the camera again when I got ready to run and did well. Some of the photos were effected by the rain, not her fault. Photos are available on the Club’s Photo Gallery. Thanks are also due to the supporters that were around the course.

It has been a tough season badly affected by non-availability. We must have a close look at plans for next year with priorities, availability, recruitment and confidence being areas needing addressing. The Met League is certainly a tough gig but I think we certainly want to test ourselves against the best so we need to find the answers. Thanks and total gratitude go to everyone who turned out this season. Special thanks go to the captains Scott, Anna and Bev and particular thanks and admiration goes to Paul Hart as Team Manager for the Juniors who also did a great deal of work supporting the Seniors.

Chas

Senior Ladies Team Report

We turned up at Trent Park for the final race of the season in miserable weather and the ground looked as if it would deteriorate to a muddy bog and those fears were fully justified. Ladies numbers were down on where they have been in recent weeks which is sad when the team spirit has been so high recently. There were 9 starters reduced to 8 finishers when Jane Howard suffered a twisted ankle and had to pull out. The course was a new one caused by possible cow encroachment and made use of fields on either side of the Pineapple.

The scorers for our team were Anja Greenwood, Beata Falkowska, Anna Sikorska, Eva Jones, Claire Goldfinch and Bev Tipping. Our other 2 finishers were Sarah De Los Rios and Claudia Canova who contributed to a B team score. The A team finished 12th out of 15 on the day, a good performance, but still didn’t enable them to avoid finishing bottom of division 1. We need to regroup for next season.

The news of the Vets was different where our Vets finished 4th on the day and meant that they finished runners up in division 1 for the season. That is a truly sensational result with our limited resources and I think goes some way to arguing against the story that the Met League is only for elite runners. Our Vet team on Saturday was Anja, Beata, Anna and Sarah. Well done to all our Vets during the season, you have the admiration of the whole Club.

I can’t leave this report without giving a special mention to Anja Greenwood. On Saturday she finished 32nd overall, which maybe doesn’t sound so impressive but in this league is a top performance. She was the 7th Vet finisher and 1st FV45. She ended up 1st FV45 for the season which is outstanding and so well deserved. A top performer right through the season.

We are obviously a very strong Vet team and Club and we need to improve the younger element of the team. Next year we will be back in division 2 and hopefully we can challenge for higher places in that division. The real challenge and opportunity for next year will be to turn that runner up place to a win in the division 1 Vets competition. Well done to everyone who ran this year.

Chas

Junior Team Race Report

What a tough race to end the Met league season!  Respect must be given to all the seniors and juniors who battled through the Trent Park mud to fight for their finishes on the day and for overall season placings.  We had a decent turn out, particularly in the older age groups with some very strong running throughout the squad and 3 athletes racing for the club for the first time.  

The Under 11 boys and girls started us off at Noon and it was great to see the sprint finishes of our 2 boys Lucas and Lawrence.  Lawrence was 8^th on the day and this was enough to secure him an overall 5^th place for the season.  Both boys will be testing themselves in the Under 13’s next year.  Florence was her usual steady self and was 17^th on the day and 11^th for the season.  In the same race Rosie Weir made her debut for the club and looked in control throughout.

Morgan and Cameron represented the U13’s and fought hard for their places.  Beatrice, making her debut was calm and assured.

We had a good team out in the Junior men’s race with Robin and Adam finishing in the top 10 of the U15’s and completing the season in 9^th and 13^th places respectively.  Both were in this age group for the first time and will have another season in the Under 15’s. We could see these two really shine next year.  They were ably supported on the day by Dylan, Victor, Nikodema, Remy and Luke Rogers who made his first start for us only joining the club very recently.

In the Junior women’s race we saw an outstanding run from Jagna to take 3^rd on the day (2nd Under 15) – she had to fight from start to finish to hold on to it.  She was also 3^rd Under 15 girl for the season overall and will be in the same category next year.  She has the talent to win the league outright.  With Emily Weir, Caitlin Connolly and Clara Moss also competing yesterday we had most of the squad here that won the U13 girls title a couple of years ago.  Hopefully we can get a good turnout next season and try and recreate our winning ways.

Congratulations to everyone who raced in the league this year – pulling on the shirt and representing the club deserves huge respect and the club’s coaches and senior section are proud of you all.  Many thanks to the parents too for their continued support of the club.

Results for Race 5 at Trent park 8/2/2025

U11 Boys

Lawrence Greenwood 8th

Lucas Hill 18th

U11 Girls

Florence Graeme 17th

Rosie Weir 30th

U13 Boys

Morgan Nash 31st

Cameron Hayward 33rd

U13 Girls

Beatrice Godfrey 46th

Junior Men (U17)

Robin Greenwood 15^th  (6th under 15)

Adam Falkowski 17^th (7th under 15)

Dylan Hanks 32nd

Victor Redondo 43rd

Nikodem Kotwica 54^th

Luke Rogers 68th

Remy Parry – Garnaud 72nd 

Junior Women (U17)

Jagna Falkowska 3^rd (2nd under 15)

Clara Moss 46^th

Emily Weir 50^th

Caitlin Connolly 53rd 

Selected season Results

Lawrence Greenwood 5^th Under 11 Boys

Florence Graeme 11^th Under 11 Girls

Robin Greenwood 9^th Under 15 Boys

Adam Falkowski 13^th Under 15 Boys

Jagna Falkowska 3^rd Under 15 Girls

Paul