We arrived at the Orion Harriers clubhouse in Chingford for the annual challenge of the 10k course around Epping Forest. This certainly is a tough course and everyone did really well in getting round in some outstanding times. As has been obvious from the first two races in this league the women are finding it very hard against really strong opposition but the way they have stuck to their task has been outstanding. The guys faired better and were 2nd in the A race and were top of the tree in the Vets competition.

There were 38 men out on the night which meant we were able to field full A, B and C teams with a couple in reserve. The A team which is the main scoring team were Charlie Bruce, Luke Barker, Ben Allen, Adam Bowman, Andy Naylor, Ed De Los Rios, Jim Arrowsmith, Raul Simmons-Perez, Dave Weir, Paul Brennan, Pete Williams and Carl Redondo. Interestingly this was very similar to the A team at St Albans where Matt Hogsden, who was unavailable through work, was replaced by Carl. There were a few changes of order but limited. Our Vet team who were winners were Charlie, Andy, Ed, Jim, Dave and Paul, an outstanding performance and leaves them at the top of the table after the first two races.

The women had 23 runners and were helped by the return of Anja Greenwood relieved of her cheerleader duties for the coach in Cockfosters on our way to St Albans. Sadly she suffered with heart palpitation problems at the start on Wednesday and although she did brilliantly to get going and make up oodles of time it still wasn’t like her normal performance. The ladies A team finished 6th but worked so hard and made us all very proud. The team was Kat Alpe, Anja Greenwood, Poppy Allwright. Beata Falkowska, Siobhan Weir, Anna Sikorska, Clio Heslop and Bo Yu. As a Vet team we did much better finishing 4th and making Trent Park overall winners on the night. An outstanding performance. The ladies scoring Vet team was Kat, Anja, Beata and Siobhan.

Outside of the scoring teams there were great performances right through the team and lots of reasons to be very proud. The next race in Stevenage is very different to Chingford with very little elevation and plenty of nice running surface. Hopefully that will bring out a few more runners who might have been put off by the stories of challenging hills at Chingford. Overall after 2 races we sit in 4th place just above the two relegation places. We do have a bit of a gap above the bottom two at the moment but we need to make sure we stay focussed on maximising our potential to steer clear of any end of season drama. I am looking forward to the upcoming races and us showing our full potential and coming up with some great performances right through the team.

The results haven’t been posted on Runherts as they normally are because the Results Secretary has been away and they have been struggling to get them out. I’ve received 5 or 6 iterations and I’m confused about which are current. They will be finalised shortly. Photos from the night are up on the Club website Photo Gallery and special thanks go to Angelica for taking the camera and doing a great job as she has in the past.

Chas