Race Report - Met League Cross Country Race 2 - Wormwood Scrubs

Last time we were at Wormwood Scrubs in January, my toes nearly froze in the crunchy frosty grass. Whereas this time we had hard rutted ground and some very tired athletes battling it out on the fairly flat course that was made unusually gruelling by the unseasonal heat.

It was heartening to see a larger squad than at Claybury with 20 men and 12 women running the just-under 8k course. Our club Chairman, Andrew Cunningham, was running and it was good to see Sarah Ralphs back in the team. It was the first Met League race for several of the team including Tom Thain, Jana Jikvic and Brian Lallaway and second senior race for our youngest runner, 22 year old Rufus Kent.

First home for the women was Jo Kent, followed by Charlotte Michael with an excellent time, closely followed by Sarah Moffat. Raj Patel, Tom Thain and Alex Horton led the men home, all under 30 minute finishers.

It's hard to compare cross country times as courses and conditions vary so much and we'd expect faster times at Wormwood Scrubs (although this year the heat partly offset the absence of hills!) However credit is due to our men who were almost all home in under 40 minutes, and particularly to Chris Violet who was nearly 5 minutes faster than his last outing; Mary Brown and Stephen Lake over 3½ minutes quicker; Kelvin Koloko, Sarah Moffatt, Dave Byrne and Kathryn Ellis all around 3 minutes.

Harrow have a good lead in Women's Division Two, but we're top of the chasing pack. Our men are in a scrap to clamber up the table. There is a group of about five clubs with similar scores: with only about 300 points separating us from the mid-table comfort zone. We scored 680 this time compared with 457 at the last race, so we're improving fast. A few more strong performances on 3 December at Uxbridge will boost us up the table.

Team Managers Anna Murray and Dave Byrne