Senors at St.Albans Show Serious Steel

A very windy and open course of 2 miles greeted the Senior squad today at the plush St.Albans playing fields.

With St.Albans one of the foremost cross-country schools in the UK everyone wanted to put on a good show and the Bronze success at RGS Guildford the previous week meant confidence was high.

The challenge of the high class field and difficult conditions for running meant that the A Team finished in 6th place. This was a top effort with Judd and St.Albans out in front as expected and other strong teams pushing Fisher out of the medals. The older and stronger senior runners coped with the windy conditions a little better that the JFS young team, but they will be back stronger!

The B team competed very well and all ran some good times, finally finishing 16th.

 

Here you can see Alex Galvin leading the A Team off and Jacob Jones running the first leg for the B Team

 

 

Here are the first leg runners in action, Alex Galvin on the Left and Jacob Jones on the Right

 

Leg Two saw John Erne for the A Team and Gianluca Ercolano in the B Team set off

 

 

As John handed over to Ricky for the 3rd Leg Fisher were in 8th position

 

 

Ricky did his thing and took Fisher to 4th position, as Sean McAllister ran a good lap for the B's. Both had a torrential downpour to deal with on their leg to add to the wind!

 

 

Ryan Galvin sustained the position well and Dan Hodgson also conquered the course for the B's

 

 

Next into the fray was Year 9 Harry Smith and here he is starting well

 

 

 

Both Harry and Joe Halfacre - on his return from injury - manfully took on the conditions and the course

 

The last leg saw captain Robert Spalding in the A's and Oscar Halfacre for the B's. Robert survived a late challenge from Harrow to finish in 6th position, other schools proving a little too strong and the B team all ran with the usual 100%

 

 

Great news was delivered after the completion of the relay as food was available, and it was sausage, beans and wedges!!

The majority of the runners did JFS proud by having seconds, some even had thirds - you know who you are, and you may be identical!

 

Ricky won a nice trophy for the 3rd fastest lap

 

 

This is the photo he wanted to be published

 

 

But its nice to see him smile for once!

 

MASSIVE CONGRATS TO THE INTREPID 12 WHO RAN UNDER DIFFICULT CONDITIONS AGAINST A QUAITY FIELD

 

Attention must be fixed on the Senior Knole and then the National Relays in Coventry!

 

ps

Well done to Spalding and McAllister for keeping Mr Fell and Miss Tomes 'entertained' on the long trip back to school!

 

 

TWO BIG RACES THIS WEEK

First up is the St.Albans Relays on Wednesday:

Wednesday 18^TH November

St Albans Relay Competition

 

(6 x 2 mile legs)

A Team	B Team
Spalding (capt)	Ercolano
Galvin R	Halfacre J
Galvin A	Halfacre O
Lutakome	McAllister
Erne	Daburn
Smith	Jones

                                     

    

Reserve: Hodgson  109 (bring kit, check at 11.45 Wed to       

                 see if you need to travel)

           

             

instructions

meet at the  minibus at 11.45.

Return to school by 6.45 after Tea        

Second is the prestigious Knole Run on Friday, details to follow...

ALSO NO RACE THIS WEEKEND

NO RACE THIS WEEKEND

HASKELL SENIOR SUCCESS

A Fantastic result was achieved yesterday (11/11/15) by the Senior XC team at the RCS Guildford Haskell Relays finished in 3rd position behind St.Albans and Judd and beating a whole host of other schools.

The day began negatively as dropouts meant that the B Team would not have the prerequisite 4 runners, massive kudos to Oscar Halfacre and Fabien Daburn therefore for deciding to run their legs anyhow to record and time. In the end they were teamed with 2 spare runners from Judd and both ran very well.

The course was 1.8 miles long and a mixture of field and forest, good for viewing and with the added danger of getting lost in the wood (something we seem good at doing of late) as it was no one got lost and the race was extremely exciting to watch!

With recent arguments over what legs to run fresh in the mind, Miss Tomes had decided the order pre-race, but all was thrown up in the air when Ryan Galvin reported that he had pulled up lame at his training session the previous evening and was worried he wouldn't be able to finish. After a warm-up run Ryan decided to risk it and was given the 3rd leg. Robert Spalding, the captain noticeable for his absence this season with injury was also a concern but would run the anchor leg, leaving Alex Galvin to take on the challenge of the first leg and Ricky 2nd.

As you can see from the start above, Alex ran a great leg in 11.32 finishing in 8th place. This was a top effort and gave the 'secreat weapon' (named by R.Spalding) Ricky an opportunity to turn his recent form into positions which he duly did, overtaking 3 runners in front of him whilst recording an amzing time on 10.23

Here he is overtaking another runner to move into 4th place

This leg had raised the expectation and thus pressure on the remaining runners and so Ryan - with his injury concerns - set off determined to catch the 3rd place runner.

Showing a whole lot of guts and determination he caught his target, shadowed him, and then finally overtook him to hand over in 3rd place - a top run of 11.28 minutes

This left Robert Spalding around 10 metres in front of the 4th place runner from Judd and as he disappeared into the forest hopes were high he could hang on - even if his recent illness meant he was not in 100% condition

When he emerged from the forest he had extended the lead handsomely and although suffering towards the end was easily able to finish in 3rd place after a great leg of 11.32 minutes.

St.Albans and Judd took 1st and 2nd place - which was expected, but to finish in the medals was a fantastic performance and raised several eyebrows amongst the esteemed schools competing. Remember 3 out of the 4 runners are still in Year 11!

More fun was had seeing the expressions of those who had run when Ricky was announced as having ran the fastest leg and more medals came his way!

Fabien and Oscar both ran their legs well and this will stand them both in good stead for future events

So all in all a hugely successful afternoon. Following on from the performance at Lancing, the Senior Team can look forward to the Senior Knole, the National Championships and the Harrow South-East Championships with confidence 

WELL DONE TO ALL WHO RAN

LOST AT LANCING?

 The eagerly anticipated race at Lancing College took place in wind and rain, across the challenging course which was muddy and slippery, but for one runner the challenge proved to be getting navigating their way back to the college in the deepening gloom before the very real possibility of Police helicopters being called for a search & rescue operation!

Despite having to wait 30 minutes for certain runners at school the trip down to West Sussex was uneventful but the weather did not lift any spirits. The impressive Lancing with its majestic chapel and dual quads always lifts spirits however. Lifting spirits and undoubtedly a few laughs was the sight of Mr Fell donning his Patrick footie boots to run the senior course alongside (or as suspected behind) the senior runners! Mr Galvin also took up the challenge despite protests from his sons!

All runners set off at the same point and ran towards the first big hill, then to the separated into the short 2.8 mile course and and long 5.8 course.

The short course challenge was just that and JFS came 5th overall. However knowing the course will be vital next year as the same runners look to finish higher

As you can see there were some great performances, not least by Gianluca and Alfie. Special mention to Jonas Bekit who ran further than anyone else having been directed the wrong way at one point!

Pos	Name	School	Time
17	Gianluca Ercolano	John Fisher	18.07
19	Alfie Smith	John Fisher	18.31
26	Peter Edwards	John Fisher	20.05
29	Joe Logue	John Fisher	20.43
33	Ragu Aravinthan	John Fisher	21.47
35	Joe Roberts	John Fisher	21.57
38	Dan Hodgeson	John Fisher	27.18
39	Jonas Bekit	John Fisher	27.59

The Senior Team were superb considering all the runers bar Oscar had not run the course before – and it is challenging with 3 steep hills and open to the elements.

As you can see below beating Harrow and Sevenoaks is a great achievement

Pos	Team	Score
1	JFS	25
2	Harrow	28
3	Sevenoaks	44
4	Charterhouse	51
5	SLH	116
6	Brighton College	118

Pos	Name	School	Time
1	Ricky Lutakome	JFS	Lost
5	Ryan Galvin	JFS	36.24
7	Alex Galvin	JFS	36.47
12	John Erne	JFS	40.04
17	Fabien Dayburn	JFS	40.42
30	Harry Smith	JFS	43.31
43	Oscar Halfacre	JFS	50.08

Ricky’s time may be a little confusing, however he and a runner from Harrow were leading quite considerably from the rest at the half-way stage and missed a sign, ran left the course and proceeded to run off into the distance on the Downs. An hour after the start both had not reappeared and it was apparent that they were lost.

With cyclists and staff out trying to locate the 2 students, the Police were called as night was drawing in fast. Worries were becoming alarmingly real at one point until the news filtered through that they were both found and safe having ran to Worthing and half-way back they were in a women’s house whose door that had eventually knocked on!

Having picked up safe and sound both were awarded honorary first place finishes as they were so far in front when they got lost.

There was time for Ricky to polish off his sausage, chips and beans – one portion behind the Galvin’s obviously – before we departed a lot later than anticipated, but happy that one of our own had done what hadn’t been done in 33 years of the race and got lost to that degree!

Seriously however a truly impressive performance by the boys who ran the long course

Ps. In case you were interested, Mr Galvin finished in 47 minutes and Mr Fell trudged in in 50 minutes, happy in the knowledge that even at his pace, he could still beat Ricky to the finish!

LANCING COLLEGE ON SAT!

Saturday 7th November

LANCING COLLEGE

 

This week’s race is a competition put on by Lancing College – a famous and very old public school in West Sussex. The postcode is BN15 0RW and the school website is http://www.lancingcollege.co.uk/  

This is a challenging race and previous runners have really enjoyed it.

The Junior Course is 2.8 miles long so slightly longer than you are used to, but the majority of it is downhill!

The Senior Course is 5.6 miles and will be a challenge – but we relish challenges!

 

Please meet at school at 12.30. We will be returning to school by about 5.30 after a hot meal and results presentation.

Please let us know if your parents are taking you there so that we can fill the minibuses.

Please email me if you are going direct or there are any issues at dfell@suttonlea.org

Juniors		Inters	Seniors
Freddie Georgiou  7F James Parker  7N Alex Romanowski 7F Lewis Burns 7K Jonas Bekit 7M Joseph Roberts 7B Alfie Smith 7C Tommy Jaye 7B Ragu Aravintahn 7B	Peter Edwards   8N Saul Harvey  8C Luke Barclay   8K Luca Gerges 8B Galvin Biju 8N Ethan Foley 8N	Harry Smith   9M Gianluca Ercolano   10N Ben Brant   10C Jude Watson   9N Jacob Jones   10B John Clifford   9C Daniel Hodgson  10B Joseph Logue  9F	Robert Spalding U6 Sean McAllister L6 Oscar Halfacre L6 Joseph Halfacre  L6 Ricky Lutakome 11M Ryan Galvin  11C Alex Galvin  11B John Erne   11K Fabien Daburn   11M