The first half of February has seen a busy mix of cross country racing and indoor events both of which have seen more success, qualification, wins and personal bests for our athletes. Well done to all!

Leeds Cross Challenge

Several Beagles made a very successful trip to Leeds for the latest round of the Cross Challenge series.

Lianne Esterhuysen and Madison Kindler took on the first race of the day – a joint U11 / U13 run of 2.2km. And it was a super effort from both girls on the extremely hilly course – Madison took an early lead and stayed in front to take gold in the U13 race (7:43). Whilst Lianne also did us very proud by picking up silver in the U11 race (8:22).

Heidi Woodley continued her recent run of strong form with a committed run in the 4.4km U15 girls race. Going with the lead runners, her early push on pace paid off and saw her rewarded with a bronze medal (13:37)!

Olivia Forrest faced tough competition from the other home nations whilst making her team England debut in the U17 race. Finishing strongly she was third in her team and 8th overall (13:41).

And finally, Daniel Esterhuysen finished second in the Open Race over 6.6k, with his time of 25:10.

Well done to everybody! Another brilliant set of results at a prestigious event.

Havering Mini Marathon Trials

Well done to all the Beagles who turned up for the Havering mini marathon trials earlier this month – a competitive event as the desire to go and compete in the London mini marathon becomes every more exciting each year! We’re pleased to confirm that Max Sanderson, Evie Warn, Summer Smith, Isabel Forrest, Aria Sabado, Mattie Delea, Jess Page, Jake Mitchell and Orly Morton have all made the Havering team. They will join Olivia Forrest, Heidi Woodley and Madison Kindler who are competing for the East Region on the 26th April.

Essex Cross Country League

The final Essex Cross Country League race of the season was VERY muddy in Hawkwell but that didn’t deter from another set of brilliant Beagles performances.

Kicking things off were the U11’s over 1.5k. Colm Forrest had another strong race and finished as first Beagle – 8th boy overall (5:36) – a great achievement as the younger year. Also doing brilliantly were Jude Deal 14th (5:52) and Freddie Bangs 20th (6:10). On the girls side we had great runs from Blossom Smith who came 4th (5:55), Emily Brewington who was 8th (6:10), Isabelle Holme 10th (6.17), Thea Clark 13th (6:28), Evie Foley 15th (6:53) and Nora Heidemans 21st (7:23).

The U13s ran over 3.3k and the race saw Beagles wins for the both the boys and the girls! On the boys side it was George Bangs who took victory with a strong, mature performance (11:38). Also running well were Adam Armour in 27th (13:11), Cameron Young 31st (13:17), Jamie Murphy 34th (13:31), Henry Pinato 42nd (14:24) and Ollie Trevor 45th (15:59). On the girls side it was Sophie Bickerstaff who took the win by almost 30 seconds (12:01). Well done too to Grace Lander who finished 18th (15:07). We also send best wishes to Amalie Twydell who fell and spiked herself during the race and has a very definite battle scar now!

The U15 races over 4k saw yet more Beagles wins. Jude Hearn was the victor in the boys race thanks to a great final sprint (14:58). Orly Morton was 28th (17:44), Ollie Johnson 32nd (17:57) and Joshua Lever 42nd (19:47). In the girls race it was a dominant display from Summer Smith who took the win by 70 seconds (16:09). Great running too from the rest of the team – Isabel Forrest 4th (17:59), Izzy Young 7th (18:26) and Esme Thomas 9th (18:48).

Congratulations to both of our U17 women who finished their 6k on the podium. Evie Warn was 2nd (20:14) and Mara Thomas 3rd (20:26).

Lorraine Massarella was our sole senior female runner and she did brilliantly in her 7k race by coming 36th in 32:26.

Finally two senior men over 8km – a close battle between them throughout but the honours went to Alex Young who finished 27th in 33:03, whilst Robin Smith was 30th in 33:15.

Well done to all who ran in this race and through the season – we were thrilled to see so many of you take part. Congratulations too to Lianne Esterhuysen who was the top ranked u11 female of the season, Evie Warn who finished the league first U17, Lorraine Massarella who was 3rd in her age group and to the U15 girls who won the team trophy.

Thanks to Mike for the photos.

SEAA U20 Indoors

Huge congratulations to Max Sanderson who made his U20 championship debut in the SEAA championships at Lee Valley. Running over 800m, Max was in a very competitive heat running 1:57.87 to finish 4th. He qualified for the final as a fastest runner up and set out determined to give his all. Running tactically, Max put in a superb performance to finish in silver medal position with a time of 1:56.49. Well done Max.

School South-East Inter Counties

A trip to Newbury today saw four of our Beagles who were representing Essex Schools in the South East intercounties match.

The junior girls race saw brilliant running from Sophie Bickerstaff and Amalie Twydell who ran 3.2k. Sophie finished second in Essex and 20th overall in 12:10 and earned her place at the English schools final. Amalie also ran well to finish 33rd in 12:10.

The inter girls race over 3.8k saw a win for Olivia Forrest who finished in 12:45.

And the senior boys race over 6.15k saw another confident cross country performance from Max Sanderson and who earned his English schools final place by finishing first for Essex and 12th overall in 19:24.

England Athletics National Indoor Championships

Simply reaching the qualifying standard for a national event is a massive achievement and the opportunity to go and compete provides brilliant experience of this level of event. So it’s a massive well done to Evie Abbott who travelled to Sheffield to compete for the first time at this level as a U15 in the 60m hurdles. A slightly hesitant start was countered by a strong finish and a good heat time of 10.21. Well done!

Back for his second appearance, this time as an U20, Max Sanderson had a strong first half of the race sticking well to his plan and running with the front runners. Ultimately finishing 8th with a time of 4:04.31.

Essex Sports Hall Regional Round

Huge congratulations to our Beagles who travelled to Norfolk to represent Essex in the Regional Round of the Sports Hall competition.

In the U13 boys event Max Cheetham had two great runs in the 4 lap race on 55.0 and 53.3 (the quickest time of the day) and a strong standing long jump of 6.44m.

In the U15 girls event Evie Abbott had a 2 lap race best of 29.9, a best shot throw of 6.50m and a best vertical jump of 38.

In the U11 boys event Zac Niyazi did well in his events – the standing long jump saw a best effort of 1.90m and the vertical jump 35. Also competing was Daniel Ayandare who had a best standing triple jump of 6.05m and a turbo throw of 6m.

Finally our U11 girls, Elsie Martin-Boucherb managed 47 in the speed bounce and 1.81m in the standing long jump. With Isla Foley achieving10 in the Balance Test and 4.50m in the Chest Push.

Well done everyone!

Ayo Falola Dream Mile

An action packed night of racing at Lee Valley Athletics Centre for this year’s Ayo Falola dream mile event. With a mix of invitational 800m races and mile events we saw some brilliant Beagles PBs.

First up were the 800m races, Missy Tiller was in the U17 women’s event and had a strong start finishing up with a time of 2:27.3. Daniel East finished second in his race with a great new PB of 2:04.58 and definite signs of more to come. Lianne Esterhuysen was in the U13 race and stayed strong throughout to be rewarded with a new PB – 2:39.47. Also picking up a PB, was Aria Sabado who worked well throughout the race to record 2:35.60.

In the mile, the women’s B race saw a very competitive run with Madison Kindler leading the pack for the early laps whilst Heidi Woodley sat in the pack biding her time. Both girls gave their best and in the final lap, Heidi just surged ahead. Both collected brilliant new PBs – Heidi 3rd in 4:58.55 and Madison 4th in 4:59.12 – a time that puts her first on the all time U13 UK rankings.

Max Sanderson had a good run out in the men’s B mile to finish in 4:29.07. And Isabel Forrest was just outside her best in a race she led for the early laps – 5:33.49.

ISA Cross Country

The Independent Schools Cross Country events saw some great running by our Beagles – in the year 5/6 event Thea Clark finished 3rd and Colm Forrest was 1st meaning both have qualified for nationals!

In the senior event, the Year 10/11 race saw Olivia Forrest take the win, with Missy Tiller second and Isabel Forrest 4th – all also qualifying for nationals. The Year 9 race saw Heidi Woodley sprint to a super finish and take the win. We also saw great performances from David Mikolajczyk, Belle Bazely and Millie Cameron.

Parkrun round up (8/9 February)

With a busy weekend of events, we had relatively fewer Beagles running on Saturday, however there was a good turnout at Raphael, where 6 were in action. Simon Knightbridge (18:13) maintained his strong consistency, taking 3rd, Zachary Haines* picked up a new PB in 8th (19:11) while Callum Goodey (20:06) ran close to his PB, finishing 15th. Aria Lily Sabado (20:41 PB) had a strong run, claiming a course best by an impressive 42 seconds. Also taking part were Matthew Jones (23:57) and Stuart Bennett (33:16).

At Brentwood we had 2 runners with Keith Thornton (23:55) and Phil Price (24:23) taking 11th and 12th respectively. Scott Brooks (18:46) kept up his strong record at Wickford with a 1st finisher while at Billericay; Elliot Worth (20:30) took 9th with Mason Grindrod* (22:58) 26th.

On Sunday with the cold and damp conditions persisting, numbers were similarly down, however at Harrow Lodge both Jude Deal (08:20) 1st and Willow Smith (09:05) 4th had strong runs.  At Hutton Rec., Nadia Price (09:11) celebrated her 100th junior event with a 3rd-place and 1st female, just ahead of Alexandra Johnston (09:19) in 4th. Ted Lobo* (10:15) also ran well taking 7th, Sophie Lobo* (10:26) 8th, Camilla Nash (10:51) 9th and Bailee Abrahams (10:55) 10th.

Finally, Liam Worth (09:49) took 10th at Lake Meadows and at Clacton, Adam Armour (08:00) took 2nd on his debut at the event.

Parkrun & junior parkrun roundup (1/2 Feb)

We start our 5k round-up this week at Chelmsford where Emily Brewington (22:05) ran well to finish 61st overall and 4th female, while just behind her was Jude Hearn (22:06 PB) who recorded a course best. Also running was Freya Brewington (30:00) who was making her debut at the event.

A big turnout at Brentwood with 9 Beagles taking part. Lianne Esterhuysen (22:53) ran well to finish 9th and 1st female while just 5 places further back was Daniel Esterhuysen (23:40). Max Massarella (24:52) took 20th, Lorraine Massarella (24:57) 21st, Matt Earing* (27:37) 36th, Phil Price (29:24) 44th, Joshua Barke (32:56) 82nd, Lola Massarela (33:23) 87th and Nadia Price (51:51) 142nd.

Elsewhere we had one runner at Valentines as Keith Thornton (20:45) took 6th and at Thurrock, Orsett Heath, Elliot Worth (21:54) also finished 6th.

On Sunday, plenty of our juniors were out and about. Sophie Bickerstaff (07:34) ran at Chelmsford for the first time, finishing 4th and 2nd female.  At Harrow Lodge,  6 runners  were led home by Emily Brewington (08:26), with Willow Smith (08:50 PB) in 4th and Erza-Zion Gooch (09:03) 5th. Also running well were Jack Collier (10:11) in 11th, Harry Collier (10:28) in 14th and Freya Brewington (10:49) in 17th. Over at Hutton Rec., Lianne Esterhuysen (08:25) ran strongly form the off to take 1st while Nadia Price (09:16) made it a female Beagle 1-2. Alexandra Johnston (09:26) took 4th while Liam Worth (09:57) placed 5th. Max Morris (10:29) was 8th, Danel Esterhuysen (11:39) 16th and making her debut was Liza Esterhuysen (13:36).

Finally, running at Great Wakering Rec. for the first time was Adam Armour (07:52) who took another 1st place token, his 3rd in a row.

Well done to all our representatives at parkrun. Can we please remind you that we can only pick up your results in the parkun club report if you register yourself as being part of the club in your parkrun profile. Unfortunately, the automatic club report only works on the Saturday parkruns so we are unable to spot performances at junior parkruns beyond the local ones we monitor (Harrow Lodge, Hutton Rec., Chelmsford, Lake Meadows, Great Notley and Northlands). Feel free to contact us if you need help setting up your profile or if you want to tell us about your runs further afield.

Coming up

The rest of February continues to see the Beagles out competing with two big events to look forward to – the Middle Distance Open at Lee Valley and the National XC at Parliament Hill. Keep an eye out for streaming links to watch live!