Metropolitan League 8k (men): 8 October 2011

 Men and women:  Separate Other races:   

All runners

Pos arrow Name arrow Time arrow Cat arrow Club arrow Pace arrow
1 1 Nicholas Torry 25:05 SM Serpentine 5:03
2 2 Huw Lobb 25:24 V35 Serpentine 5:07
3 3 Andy Greenleaf 25:43 SM Serpentine 5:10
4 4 Richard Phillips 25:54 V35 Serpentine 5:13
5 5 Hendrik Zietsman 26:11 V40 Serpentine 5:16
6 6 Hugh Torry 26:18 SM Serpentine 5:17
7 7 Tiago Branco 27:03 SM Serpentine 5:26
8 8 Andrew Orr 27:48 SM Serpentine 5:35
9 9 Andrew Reeves 27:53 V40 Serpentine 5:36
10 10 Eric Phillips 28:04 SM Serpentine 5:39
11 11 Rory Maguire 28:15 SM Serpentine 5:41
12 12 Dave Morgan 28:21 SM Serpentine 5:42
13 13 Martin Gaunt 28:36 SM Serpentine 5:45
14 14 Callum Martin 28:48 V45 Serpentine 5:48
15 15 Ebrima Noble 28:52 V40 Serpentine 5:48
16 16 Stefan Storm 29:12 SM Serpentine 5:52
17 17 Miguel Branco 29:16 SM Serpentine 5:53
18 18 Trent Stallard 29:24 SM Serpentine 5:55
19 19 Gavin Edmonds 29:58 V35 Serpentine 6:02
20 20 Pau Herrero 30:17 SM Serpentine 6:05
21 21 James Edgar 30:21 SM Serpentine 6:06
22 22 John Nugus 30:47 V35 Serpentine 6:11
23 23 Benn Thomas 30:49 SM Serpentine 6:12
24 24 Brent Plump 31:21 V35 Serpentine 6:18
25 25 Craig Martin 31:24 SM Serpentine 6:19
26 26 Charles Lescott 31:25 V35 Serpentine 6:19
27 27 Andrew Davies 31:37 V35 Serpentine 6:22
28 28 Jaran Finn 31:40 V35 Serpentine 6:22
29 29 Andrew Taylor 32:00 SM Serpentine 6:26
30 30 Richard Taylor 32:02 V35 Serpentine 6:27
31 31 Raoul Mansukhani 32:10 V40 Serpentine 6:28
32 32 Alastair Maher 32:45 SM Serpentine 6:35
33 33 Alex Andel 32:48 V40 Serpentine 6:36
34 34 Samuel Palin 32:50 SM Serpentine 6:36
35 35 Nicola Barberis Negra 33:08 SM Serpentine 6:40
36 36 Peter Gibbons 33:36 V40 Serpentine 6:45
37 37 Justin Lock 33:37 V35 Serpentine 6:46
38 38 Dan Lewington 33:40 SM Serpentine 6:46
39 39 Darren Over 33:47 V35 Serpentine 6:48
40 40 Bradley Cobb 33:55 V50 Serpentine 6:49
41 41 Giles Balleny 34:19 SM Serpentine 6:54
42 42 Michael Eyre 34:20 SM Serpentine 6:54
43 43 Phillip McCubbins 34:36 V50 Serpentine 6:58
44 44 Paul Fromme 35:08 V35 Serpentine 7:04
45 45 Martin Carolan 35:18 SM Serpentine 7:06
46 46 Shawn Duffy 35:20 V40 Serpentine 7:06
47 47 Alex Malzer 35:33 V40 Serpentine 7:09
48 48 Alex Pearson 35:46 V35 Serpentine 7:12
49 49 Kieran Dignan 35:57 SM Serpentine 7:14
50 50 Lars Menken 36:09 V35 Serpentine 7:16
51 51 Peter Pesl 36:18 SM Serpentine 7:18
52 52 Ian Johnson 36:40 V40 Serpentine 7:22
53 53 Ian Hodge 36:55 V50 Serpentine 7:25
54 54 Lars Olsen 37:26 V50 Serpentine 7:32
55 55 Chris Notton 37:46 V35 Serpentine 7:36
56 56 David Hinds 38:37 V60 Serpentine 7:46
57 57 Chris Priestley 39:02 V55 Serpentine 7:51
58 58 Ian Hall 40:54 V55 Serpentine 8:14
59 59 Richard Smith 44:18 V55 Serpentine 8:55

Race conditions

Drizzly but very dry underfoot

Report

Men's Division One Team Result

1 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 1203
2 Serpentine RC 1146
3 Highgate Harriers 878
4 Hillingdon 675
5 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 'B' 666
6 London Heathside 645
6 Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 645
8 Serpentine RC 'B' 524
9 Mornington Chasers 405
10 Metropolitan Police 353


Men's Division Two Team Result

1 Ealing, Southall & Middlesex 730
2 Thames Valley Harriers 592
3 London Frontrunners 573
4 London Heathside 'B' 493
5 Garden City Runners 407
6 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 371
7 Herts Phoenix 323
8 Newham & Essex Beagles 245
9 Enfield & Haringey 162
10 Metropolitan Police 'B' 0


Men's Division Three Team Result

1 St Albans Striders 1039
2 Serpentine RC 'C' 957
3 Woodford Green with Essex Ladies 'C' 940
4 London Frontrunners 'B' 719
5 Ealing, Southall & Middlesex 'B' 653
6 Hillingdon 'B' 629
7 Mornington Chasers 'B' 539
8 Harlow RC 433
9 Highgate Harriers 'B' 260
10 Thames Valley Harriers 'B' 202
11 Barnet & District 134
12 St Albans Striders 'B' 91
13 Garden City Runners 'B' 60
14 St Mary's Richmond 35
15 Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers 'B' 30
16 Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 'B' 25
17 Herts Phoenix 'B' 21


Race Report:

On Saturday 8 October, Serpentine cross country team travelled to Claybury in Essex for the opening Metropolitan League (www.metleague.co.uk) fixture of the 2011-2012 season. We’d looked forward to this race and renewing interclub and intraclub rivalries for months, we’d almost forgotten how painful cross country could be. At our last big race, the English Nationals in February at Alton Towers, there were acres and acres of mud; differently this time weather had been so mild that there was no mud to be seen.

Nick Torry came 4th, behind Mohamud Aadan (Thames Valley Harriers), Nial Fleming (Shaftesbury Barnet) and Harun Abdi (Woodford Green) all of whom he might be expected to beat in coming races. Huw Lobb, was 6th, showing that being an ultra/mountain runner on the side actually helps cross country, while Andy Greenleaf, running this race the day before a half-marathon, was 11th and likely to be back in the top ten next time round. Richard Phillips, wearing trendy different coloured spikes (!!!) was perhaps over-zealous leading the race for the first few hundred metres before finishing in 14th, ahead of Hendrik Zietsman in 19th and Hugh Torry in 21st, both having recently returned from injury.

An in-form and fresh from various summer track PBs Tiago Branco came 30th, Andy Orr was 47th, just ahead of Andy Reeves in 49th and Eric Phillips in 51st. Converted from triathlons and in an impressive debut cross country race for us, Rory Maguire was 55th not far ahead of Dave Morgan in 60th, in his best ever race for us by some margin, showing that good road race results over the summer weren’t just a series of flukes. Our A-team therefore closed in 60, putting them a close second on the day behind Woodford Green and comfortably ahead of Highgate Harriers with all to play for in the remaining four races.

An out-of-shape Martin Gaunt lead home the B team in 65th, ahead of Callum Martin in his first cross country race for us for a while in 73rd and Ebrima Noble in 75th. Stefan Storm, who had only just got off the boat and joined the club from Sweden a matter of days ago and who remarkably had never run a race before let alone cross country was 82nd, just ahead of Miguel Branco in 85th (who got off the boat from Portugal years back) and New Zealander Trent Stallard in 91st who was also running his first cross country race for us. Gavin “100 mile weeks” Edmonds who is likely to smash his marathon PB at Amsterdam came 109th, ahead of Pau Herrero who is recovering from an achilles injury and jogged round in 121st and James Edgar in126th. John Nugus was 140th, Ben Thomas was 141st and Brent Blump, in 152nd, closed out B –team, who are, as things stand, 8th in the league and likely to improve as the season goes on.

Craig Martin, who drove all the way from Southampton and was also in his debut race for us, lead home our official C-team in 160th, ahead of “el presidente” Charles Lescott in 161st and Andy Davies in 166th. Jaran Finn (back in the Serpie colours rather than the Croydon colours) was 167th, Andy Taylor (who I’m told assaulted not only the opposition but also a fellow-Serpie in the opening sprint) was 175th while Richard Taylor (whose idea it was for there to be official C-teams in the league) was 178th. Raoul Mansukhani came 183rd and Alastair Maher in 201st closed out our C team of 8 runners who are second from the top of the third division and should aim for promotion this season.

Our theoretical D-team was lead home by Alex Andel in 203rd, followed by Sam Palin (I’m guessing a relative of Angie rather than Sarah) in 204th and Nic Barberis-Negra in 211th. Pete Gibbons was 224th, new dad, Justin Lock, was 225th, new cross country recruit Dan Lewington was 226th, Darren Over came 230th, Brad Cobb was 238th and Giles Ballany was 246th. Mike Eyre (another New Zealander who’s going to be unbearable about the rugby) was 246th, Phil McCubbins was 251st and Paul Fromme, the club’s second fattest German, was 262nd. In rapid successeion came Martin Carolam in 265th, Shaun Duffy in 266th, Alex Malzo in 269th, Alex Pearson in 275th and Kieran Dignan in 279th. Lars Menken (who is losing weight so fast that he might soon not be a member of Serpentine-fat-Germans) was 282nd, his best Metropolitan League finish in years, Peter Pesl was 287th, Ian Johnson came 291st ahead of Ian Hodge in 294th. Lars Olsen came 303rd, Chris Norton was 309th, David Hinds was 317th, Chris Priestly came 320th, Ian Hall was 333rd while Richard Smith in 349th was our last man standing but minutes ahead of the very back of the field.

Unless I have miscounted, 57 Serpie men finished the race, which is a very decentturn-out. While we were a little disappointed not to have beaten Woodford, the margin is very close and with luck and hard work we will catch them by the next race and overhaul them by Christmas. There was a tiny bit of rain, but the ground was firm underfoot. However many times I’ve ran up that hill there still doesn’t seem an optimum way to get up it, also, I must be imagining things but the tree at the bottom of the hill at the sharp corner seemed to be in a different (and more lethal) place compared to previous years. Many thanks to Malcolm French, our team manager, the Serpentine Ladies who supported us, all the cake-makers and other bakers, Woodford Green who hosted us, the race marshalls and officials and the Crown and Crooked Billet who were a bit less grumpy than last year, but could still consider a new approach to customer service.

The next Metropolitan League race is on 12 November at Stevenage. Put the date in your diaries and be on the look out for further details about this and other races to follow.


Chart 65f9449c1c61c

Result queries

If you have any queries about these results please email results@serpentine.org.uk