In a race dominated by Highgate Harriers (4th in league) and Woodford Green with Essex Ladies (3rd in league) women at the front of the pack, I was pleased to see Liz Wynn leading our women over the line in what is becoming their traditional place in the ‘teens’ and ‘twenties’, and with 32 Serpettes racing, they just kept arriving at the finish after that! Shaftsbury Barnet Harriers, who dominated the last race, were very thin on the ground this time so I was fairly confident that we’d regain the lead in the league while Highgate and Woodford battled it out for 3rd and 4th, and that proved to be the case. Excellent work by Vic Crawford’s team.

Our B team came 6th and are 6th in division one of the league, and our C team came 2nd in division two which they continue to lead. Meanwhile, in the vets race, our women’s A team won division one, which they lead, the B team came 5th and are 5th in division one, and the C team came 2nd in division two and are 3rd in that division.

In the men’s race it was much more difficult to predict what the result might be. Highgate and Woodford vests seemed to dominate the top 40 positions but there were plenty of other clubs in the mix as well. It was clear those two clubs would come 1st and 2nd but it was anyone’s guess who’d be 3rd and where our men’s team would place. As it turned out, the men had done enough to take 3rd place, and they have held on to 3rd in division one of the league. Jonathan Poole had a great run leading the Serpie team for most of the race until the end of the final lap when Huw Lobb passed him.

The B team came 8th but remain bottom of the division and will be relegated to division two next season. the C team came 6th in division two and are 6th in league division two. Our vets A team came 5th and are 4th in their division one, and the B team 6th in division two where they are in 4th place.

Horsenden Hill lived up to its reputation of being a muddy course and any spectators standing in one place for too long soon found themselves sinking into the mud. Everyone racing definitely knew they done a cross-country race by the end! You can see just how muddy in my photos.

Serpie women’s results

Serpie men’s results

Thanks to Malcolm French, Sally Hodge and Bev Thomas for helping.

The final Metropolitan League race of the season will be held in Ruislip on 9th February.