There was a buzz of excitement in the air for the first ever Met League held in Hillingdon Farm Fields in Uxbridge on Saturday as a whole troop of Hillingdon runners warmed up in the winter sunshine keen to try out the course and reward the work of many dedicated HAC members who had worked it out so carefully.
Jenny Harvey in her first cross country race for Hillingdon emerged the new star of the Met League 6K women’s race. Showing her agility, strength and speed she became lead club runner at an early stage overtaking Eva Mack to finish 22nd in 24:07 – a great result considering the course was new and also pretty tough with a sudden sharp hill in the middle that used to be the artificial ski slope, and deep mud at the far end of the fields.
Our top three women were in the top half of the race with Eva (protesting “I don’t like the mud”) at 41st and another new star, Morgane Lesenne (“I love the hill!”) at 68th who also scored veteran points. The cross country season so far has seen new strong runners with every race, which should maintain the club in our third position or higher among the senior women’s teams in Division Two. Can we go for promotion to Division One ? – Yes, if our new fast ladies all run together in the next two races and if we are represented by as many women as possible!
Those finishing in the slower half of the race gained valuable points by running strongly as ever for senior and/or veteran’s teams: Zoe Dobbs 100th, Lesley Conway 109th, Pauline Fischer 115th, Melanie Spencer 116th, Susan Deanus (another welcome new runner) 118th, Donna Nash 126th (although recover from that cold please next time!), Jackie O’Dowd 150th and Sharon Talbot in 153rd place.
Full results and pictures can be found on the ATW Met League web site; www.metleague.co.uk
