Click here to view the results (hyperlink to Tadworth AC website).
On Saturday 11 October 2008 Herne Hill Harriers females took part in the 1st of 4 Surry Leagues Cross Country races at Nork Park.
The Senior Women ran the first race. They had to run a distance of 6k. We successfully had many senior women running and I remember one of them finishing at least in the top 20.
For the first time in a long time we had a full U17 team. The members of the team were Hannah Edwards (2nd), Julia Wedmore (3rd), Avril Robinson (dnf) and me, Aisha Naibe-Wey (14th). Unfortunately the U15 girls didn’t have a full team. They only had two girls - Leila Abandah (38th) and Phoebe Kitchen (44th). In this race the U15 girls and U17 women had to run a distance of 4.5K together. The 4.5k consisted of 2 small laps and 2 medium laps.
As we were standing on the line I felt the adrenaline rush through my body. The line wasn’t as long so some of us had to stand behind those that had already found themselves places in front. I was one of the girls standing behind but it seemed as if everyone was fighting to be in front so I followed the crowd and did the same. As the man said go we all went for it. I gave myself a target of top 20 and tried to stay within that mark.
Before the race we walked the course, whilst walking it I thought it was long but other than that I didn’t really think much of it. The race seemed to have divided straight away. We had the leading group (Hannah Edwards and Julia Wedmore were part of that), a few runners in between, then the next group (which I was part of) followed by the rest. At this point of the race I thought everything was going well and I was happy with my position but it all kicked in during my first medium lap. The sun was literally beating my back and it wasn’t at all ideal weather for cross country. I could feel myself going slower and slower but at that point it didn’t seem too bad as everybody seemed to be going slow as well. The race was at a steady pace until the second medium lap when I had to keep telling my self that I was nearly there. Some runners had began to walk and drop out which made me feel as if I wanted to do the same. I also started to walk but then I thought “No I can do this”. It was then that I saw some of the best runners in the UK on the floor. They had dropped out. That made the race even harder for me as I thought to myself “if they are dropping out then why am I still running, I mean, they are like the best in the country” but somehow I managed to buck up the courage to continue and finish the race strong.
The U13s had 6 girls in their team. The members of the team were Alex West, Francesca Meade, Billie Barbour, Georgie Hay, Charlotte Scott and Chantal Banton. They had to run a distance of 3.2k which consisted of 1 small lap and 1 medium lap. Charlotte had to drop out as she had a bad ankle sustained from a previous school race. Alex was our top finisher followed by Georgie, Francesca, Billie and Chantal.
The U13 girls team had younger athletes compared to the other girls they were competing against, for example, Chantal is only 10 ½ and did very well. For many of the girls it was their first real cross country race. It was hard for them but they all pulled through and finished to make Herne Hill Harriers very proud of them.
At this time I do not know exactly where the teams finished overall but I felt happy just to know that the teams finished strong especially considering the fact that it was very hot and it wasn’t at all ideal weather for cross country.
Aisha Naibe-Wey
