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Match 2 of the Surrey Ladies XC League was held at Lightwater, Guildford on 8 November 2008 on a flat but quite muddy course. With illness preventing both Hannah Edwards and Avril Robinson from running, the U17 women's team consisted of just Aisha Naibe-Wey and me, Julia Wedmore. Due to a school race taking place on the same day, the U15 girls team was also depleted, with Jessica Quarty-Pigot, Leila Abandah and Krischelle Kendall-Morris running as a team. Clemmie Hilliare and Chantal Banton were running for HHH in the U13 race.
Before our race I was quite nervous as I saw a girl who had beaten me in the last Surrey League race but when I talked to our coach James, he told me that I could beat her as I had strength built up on Streatham Common, perfect for an uneven and undulating cross country course like this one. Reassured, I took to the start line and battled my way to the front, joining Grace O’Leary from Sutton and District and Lou Lou Rowlands from South London Harriers. After a while the SLH athlete got ahead with the Sutton & District athlete behind her and me in 3rd. Determined not to let them get away, I started to close in on the girl in front and managed to overtake her and sustained 2nd place until the finish in 15:47. This was a great achievement for me as last time I had come 3rd in my age group and 4th overall. Aisha Naibe-Wey made an amazing improvement from 14th in her age group to 6th in 16:49, including a sprint finish in which she overtook two athletes from Guildford, one of our main rival clubs. Aisha also beat 6 girls who finished before her in the previous match, which shows how well she did in this race. As a team we finished 4th in this match, putting us 3rd overall in the league. Hopefully, with new confidence, Aisha and I will do even better in the next match, when the rest of our team have recovered.
The U15 team finished 7th in this match, putting them 8th overall in the league. Jessica Quartey-Pigot was the top finisher in 19th place in 18:36, followed by Leila Abandah in 22nd in 18:58 and Krishelle Kendall-Morris in 30th in 23:40, competing in her first race for HHH. Although the U15s managed to perform better as a team in this match, they really need a full team of strong finishers to move up the league table.
The U13 race, which took place after the U17 and U17 race, contained just two HHH athletes; Clemmie Hilliare finished in 19th in 14:56 and Chantal Banton finished in 35th in 16:36, sprinting past 2 athletes in the final stages. The team came 10th in this match, putting them 7th overall in the league.
Julia Wedmore
