A sunny start to the Met League cross country season and Race 2 details

For your diary

Race 2 is at Wormwood Scrubs on 12 November - those who love a flat course will definitely want to join in for this one!

PLEASE NOTE AMENDED RACE START TIMES: The start times have been amended this season so that the women's race doesn't overlap so much with the Men's, which sometimes delayed things. The women's race is at 13.15 and the men's at 14.00

Race numbers - just a reminder to KEEP YOUR MET LEAGUE RACE NUMBER for the whole season (and don't muddle it up with your Chingford League race number!) If you didn't race at Claybury, it will help us to know if you're planning to race at Wormwood Scrubs so we can have your number ready to collect. Contact David byrne415@btinternet.com or Anna anna1murray1@gmail.com if you want to race and we'll allocate you a number.)

Claybury Race Report

We kicked off our Met League season on 15th October with 8 women and 13 men turning out for Race 1 at Claybury Park. Ever reliable Jo Kent and Kath March led the women home, with Jo just ahead of Kath with an under 36 minute time, followed by Steph Harrison posting a much improved Met League time by several minutes.

For the men, Raj Patel sneaked under 30 minutes, followed by Richard McCormick (great to see them racing cross country again!) and then Rufus Kent making his Senior Met League debut for the club.

Well done to all our runners, quite a few of them facing the hilly Claybury course for the first time and on a warm afternoon! Everyone did well and the team cheered on our runners with gusto. Individual times are below and full results including divisional positions are on the Met League website - Results | Metropolitan Cross Country League (metleague.run).

Our women hit the ground running and are in 3rd place in Division Two. With some more good runs we could make a real challenge for promotion into Division One next season. Cross country runners seem to mature like good wines and we're 2nd from top in the women's Veterans' Division One.

The men's team had a few absences and injuries and are sitting towards the bottom of their division and have a tougher challenge. 10 runners have to contribute to the team score which is a big ask for a small club (compare us to clubs like Highgate and London Heathside who had over 40 runners in the men's race, with 22 Highgate runners coming home in under 30 minutes). We punch above our weight as a club and with a few more good times we can definitely keep safe from relegation.

Anna Murray and Dave Byrne