Highgate Harriers brightest young stars (from left) Isabella Millett, Hannah Giles, Ella Hartley, Ellen Donald, Dempster Fawden, Jesse Hopkins, Monte Watson, Ezra Baddiel Banks, Ripley Watson, Phoebe Littler, Emma Williets and, cup-laden at the front, Terry Fawden and Georgia Fear 

Published: 14 January, 2016
by STEVE BARNETT

THE Highgate Harriers enjoyed one of their best ever displays in the Middlesex Cross-Country Championships as they raced to five team victories at Wormwood Scrubs on Saturday . 

The senior men’s team led the charge with all six of their scorers landing in the top 22 out of a field of 179 finishers.

Running over 12,000m, Chris Rainsford narrowly missed out on victory as he finished second with a time of 39 minutes, 50 seconds. Robert Wilson took seventh place in 40:34, finishing just 26 seconds ahead of Robel Bahelbi in eighth. 

Only two seconds separated Jonathan Laybourn and Dominic Smith, who both finished in just under 42 minutes to take 17th and 18th place respectively. Guillaume Cribier completed the scoring in 22nd place with a time of 43:14. 

Their combined efforts saw Highgate take top spot out of eight clubs, but the successes didn’t end there. 

For the second year in a row Terry Fawden raced to victory in the men’s Under-17s event, this time crossing the finishing line in 23:24.

Louis Griffin (24:39) and Aurel Sinke-Uribe (24:49) also ran well to finish the 6,000m race in fourth and fifth place respectively. 

The points that the trio scored were more than enough to earn Highgate another team victory. 

Winning silver for the hero Harriers: the men’s team celebrate their county triumph (from left) Victor Mound, Guillaume Cribier, Chris Rainsford, Robert Wilson, Jon Laybourn and Dominic Smith

The club also ran out winners in the boys Under-15s race, which was run over 4,000m. 

The top three scorers were Oliver Haddad, who finished second with a time of 13:43, Austin Harris, who took fifth place in 14:01, and Abel Sinko-Uribe, who clocked a time of 14:25 to take seventh spot. 

And Highgate went on to cap a magnificent and memorable meet with two more team triumphs. 

The boys Under-13s also won their race thanks to the efforts of Patrick Kyle (13:10), Roland Somogyi (13:13) and Monte Watson (13:17), who finished the 3,000m course in sixth, seventh and eighth place respectively. 

The girls Under-15s team also won, with Phoebe Littler completing the 4,000m course in 15:59 to take sixth spot. She finished just six seconds ahead of Sasha Fear, who came seventh in a time of 16:05, while Emma Williets was 14th with her time of 16:54. 

There was also silver success for the girls Under-13s team, who finished their 3,000m challenge just behind winners Thames Valley Harriers. Ava Mulvill was the top placed Highgate runner as she finished fourth in 14:11, while just three seconds separated Ellis Gilmore (14:43) and Ellen Donald (14:46), who finished ninth and 10th respectively. 

Duo Georgia Fear and Hannah Viner raised hearty cheers as they took the top two places in the Under-20s race. Georgia finished the 5,000m course in 19:30, 21 seconds ahead of Hannah. 

And in the women’s senior race, run over 8,000m, Svenja Abel stormed to victory in 28:43, while Emma Burgess (33:10) was sixth.