Yes we have finally reached February but the Beagles haven’t stopped competing and producing some remarkable results. With a handful representing Essex Schools this weekend we were thrilled to see strong finishes against tough competition. We’re also really pleased to see the Sports hall training paying off for a number of our athletes who have been selected to compete for Essex in the regional finals! Well done.
South East Schools Intercounties
Another Saturday cross country and this time we had the privilege of watching five of our Beagles represent Essex Schools at the South East Schools Intercounties Cross Country at Ardingly Showground. With competition from runners across Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire and Kent the standard was very high across the day with lots of close finishes.
First up were the junior events with Missy Tiller and Jude Hearn both running in separate races over 3km. Missy had a strong start racing hard off the line and then followed the really interesting course including hills, twists and turns to eventually finish 57th in 12:55. Jude also had a great start to his race and ran strongly throughout staying amongst the front runners to finish 8th overall in 10:30. A fantastic result!
Our intermediate age runners were Olivia Forrest and Max Sanderson. Olivia ran over 3.75km with a really dominant performance leading from gun to tape despite some spectators standing in her way on the course! Her finish time was 13:26 – 32 seconds ahead of second place! Max also had a good run – this time over 4.75km – with confident performances on the hills to 20th overall in 16:59 and second for Essex. Well done both!
Finally Louis King ran in the senior boys race over 6km and once again demonstrated his consistency and continued strength at these higher level events. Louis finished 69th in 24:09 and was 8th in Essex.
Well done all! A great day of running and strong individual performances.
Watford Half Marathon
Congratulations to Elliot Worth who tackled the Watford Half marathon this weekend. A far from flat half marathon but a nice course overall saw Elliot finish under his 1:30 target in 1:29.10 and as 10th in his age group. A great effort.
King Henry VIII Relays
Olivia Forrest travelled to Coventry on Wednesday with her school team to compete at the very prestigious King Henry VIII Relays. An event that has been held since 1972 (and for girls since 2000) the race is unique in that the relay teams can consist of athletes of any secondary school age making for exciting races as different race strategies really come into play. With illustrious alumuni including Seb Coe and the Brownlee Brothers it really is an exciting event to be part of especially as it’s a multi terrain surface meaning shoe choice can also be key. Olivia ran a 2.3 mile leg and was the fourth runner in her team. Taking over the baton 100m behind first place Olivia set off at speed and didn’t stop – hunting down her competition and passing them halfway through the lap before creating a 30 second gap at the finish and ensuring her school the win. Olivia also took the third fastest female leg time ever at the event (12:24).
Essex Sportshall
Huge congratulations to Ronnie Marchant, Katie Lowe, Evie Abbott, Nicole Hawkins, Tobi Oluborode Oluseye and Timi Oluborode Oluseye who have all qualified to represent Essex at the Regional Sportshall final on the 17th February. The team have been doing some specific sportshall training over the last few weeks alongside other athletes chosen for the competition. We can’t wait to see how they get on later this month! Thanks to Angela Hawkins for the Photos – Remember to send yours in of you take some at an event.
Parkrun and Junior parkun round up
Another weekend of impressive performances and lots of PB’s across both days from our Beagles. Starting off at Raphael’s where Dean Savery (16:47 PB) improved on his effort the previous week to claim another distance best and this time take 1st place overall. Louis Geater (19:35) ran well to finish in the top 10th while also running strongly was Ollie Johnson (19:51), finishing just 4 places further back. There were more great efforts from Callum Goodey (20:20 PB) 20th, and Matthew Jones (20:57 PB) 30th while Emily Brewington (22:50) finished 53rd and 6th female overall to cap a fine effort from everyone.
More great runs at Billericay where Sophie Bickerstaff (21:07 PB) did superbly well to finish 6th overall and 1st female. Her time was 3 seconds inside her best over the course & distance, well done! Lianne Esterhuysen (21:43) and Laura Durn (21:44) were not far behind to ensure a 1-2-3 of Beagles female finishers! Just one runner at Chelmsford where Elliot Worth (20:22) finished 29th overall and at Harrow Lodge where Preston Taylor (19:46) came 3rd.
Finally, plenty of Beagles went to Brentwood, led in by Scott Brooks (20:27) who finished 3rd, Daniel Jaycock* (20:43) 4th, Matthew Delea (21:24) 6th and Stuart Crowther 9th (22:05). Erin Delea (29:20) finished just inside the top 50 and 7th female overall. Well done all.
On Sunday, there was the usual strong contingent of junior runners at Hutton Rec. No new PB’s but lots of very close efforts led by Daniel Smith (08:06) who finished 1st & matched his best time! Similarly, Colm Forrest (08:18) was just 1 second outside his best & finished 2nd with Nadia Price (09:12) 4th. Ethan Wilson (09:34) was 5th and Noa Heidemans (09:54) 8th. Chloe Thomson* (10:45) came 12th, Max Morris* (11:06) 13th, Max Wilson (11:14) finished 14th and finally Joshua Thomson* (11:54) 17th.
At Harrow Lodge, the top 4 places were taken by our female Beagles, led by Isabel Forrest (07:26) who continues to close in on her course PB and has now just 5 runs to go to reach her 200th junior event! Missy Tiller (07:40) finished 2nd, Emily Brewington (08:21) 3rd and, not far behind her in 4th, Blossom Smith (08:26), just 3 seconds outside her PB. We had 3 more JW10 runners as Ezra-Zion Gooch (09:49) finished 10th, Willow Smith was 12th (10:09) and Freya Brewington (10:55) 19th, all running close to their best times.
More great performances and PB’s at Lake Meadows, as Madison Kindler (06:55 PB) finished 2nd and dipped under 7 minutes for the second time at the event. She also improved on her age grade record again, scoring 89.3%. Great work! Also running strongly was Ollie Johnson (07:30), finishing 3rd and just 2 seconds outside his best time, while finishing 6th was Sophie Bickerstaff (08:06 PB), enjoying a very productive weekend of running. There was another great performance as Isla Johnson (10:36 PB) picked up her best time at the event, finishing 37th overall.
Well done to all our runners this weekend. Note, if you or your child has an * by their name, please help our editors by adding Brentwood Beagles as your/their club under their parkrun profile (groups). Feel free to contact us if you need help setting this up.
Coming up
It’s an exciting evening on Wednesday night for our middle distance runners who will be attending the Ayo Falola dream mile event and running 800 / 1500 or the mile itself in some very competitive races. This weekend sees the final round of the Essex cross country league taking place at Hainault. For all our runners in year 7 upwards we hope to see a great turnout for the last race of the year. Remember to register on Roster before attending (link in Spond). We also have a handful of Beagles travelling to Sheffield for the National U15/17 Indoor Championships. Good luck to Stephanie Smith (300m), Missy Tiller (800m), Ava Carter (200m), Max Sanderson (1500m), Evie Warn (1500m) and Olivia Forrest (1500m). We know you will be doing the Beagles proud!
