Lepretre wins first MWRRL race.

We kicked off this summer’s Mid-Week League last Wednesday, with some impressive performances and notable PBs.  26 men and 27 women ran for the club this time.

Kath March led the women’s team home in 7th closely supported by Karen Murphy, 8th and Stephanie  Harrison 15th (out of a Division 2 field of 130 women). Our scoring 8 included Sarah Moffatt, Helen Hoyle Stephanie De’Ath, Pauline Michael and Davinia Gutteridge.  Steph Harrison showed the result of some hard work over the past year knocking over three minutes off her time last year so this is a well earned PB. Kate Phillips impressed with another 52 minute result almost making the points – could this be the long awaited comeback? 
 
Overall, Barnet women were pipped into fourth place but our eighth scorer was faster than all but Royston ladies 8th scorer. Barnet women came 4th overall but with some key runners missing and we look forward to a challenging season of races. It is noticeable that although the women’s scoring eight’s were good for the first four clubs, there is little strength in depth, unlike at Barnet.  This showed with the Barnet ladies B team who were top of the B team results.

Alex Lepretre led the men’s team home and secured first place by over three minutes, a great performance. Worthy of mention is that he was over two minutes faster than the race on the same course last year. Jonney Yeates followed him home in 7th place with Callum Sydenham impressing with a speedy 36mins for his first League 10k race and PB, coming in 17th out of a Division 2 field of 186. Our scoring twelve also included Ed Fraser, Niall Fleming, James Marshalek, Calvin Wu, Kelvin Koloko, Charlie White, Paul Bassa, Tim Butler and Andy Cunningham.

Although Barnet were just pipped into third place, unusually, our twelfth scorer was faster than all other clubs twelfth scorer.  The race results for men show just a handful of points between the first three clubs meaning the results are going to be very close this season. Barnet men are currently lying 3rd.

Next race - Cassiobury Park on 31 May

The next League race will be hosted by Watford and held at Cassiobury Park, Watford on 31st May with a start at 7.45pm again.  Further details will be on Facebook and next week’s newsletter.  For the next few races the League gets interesting as other clubs tend to fade after the first event but, historically, Barnet doesn’t so lets see if we can improve on the Stevenage event.  Parking around the Cassiobury Park area can be free in the evenings on nearby residential roads (e.g. Parkside Drive: WD17 3AX;  Cassiobury Avenue: WD18 7LB or Gade Car Park: WD18 7LQ).  Warming up is advised to be in the park from 6.45pm onwards.
 
Please don’t forget your Barnet vest and race number if you have been issued with one for the obligatory Team Photo. The league will be using discs to record positions at this and future races as there were some issues at Stevenage.
 
Barnet do need a strong turnout at Watford, particularly for the ladies as we have some ground to make up.
 
Please note that Watford have access to the nearby West Herts Sports club for the post race refreshments.  Team managers Andy Welsh and Amanda Higgens will be there to provide encouragement and numbers for those competing for the first time this season.