Highgate Harriers’ Senior Men’s squad celebrate winning the Metropolitan Cross-Country League for the 13th successive year

THE champagne wasn’t just taken off the ice, it “was poured into glasses and raised to lips” as Highgate Harriers’ Senior Men’s squad celebrated their continued stranglehold on the Metropolitan Cross-Country League.

Going into the fifth and final meet of the season on Saturday the task, on paper, was simple: win at Trent Park, or, at the very least, don’t lose to title rivals Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets by more than 77 points.

All the twists, turns and mathematics were cut short, however, when the big race was cancelled due to the course being waterlogged.

The drama wasn’t quite over, though. This week clubs voted on whether the fixture should be rescheduled, and as the New Journal went to press all indications were that it won’t be, and the season is, in fact, over.

That means that champs Highgate have now won the league for 13 years in succession.

But any suggestion that such a winning streak diminishes the glory was dismissed by team manager Rob Wilson, albeit with a hint of caution as he waited on the official word that there were no more races left to run.

He said: “You always want to keep winning – winning never gets old.

“To win it for 13 years in a row is a generation, a new group of runners coming through to create their own history. It’s a great achievement.”

Although the Trent Park meet being called off hands Highgate the title, Rob was adamant the runners wanted the final race to go ahead.

He added: “We won the first three races of the season and looked to be soaring towards the title, but then Victoria thumped us at Welwyn Garden City and the title race was back on again.

London Heathside Senior Men won the North London and London Cross-Country titles [Jacob Howe]

“We were obviously disappointed. We had a strong line-up set for the final race and really wanted to go out and give a good account of ourselves and right a wrong – to try and win the title in the right way. But either way we’re still thrilled if we have won it again.”

The highlights for Highgate started in race one of the season in Claybury when Flurry Grierson, Roger Poolman and Alexander Lepretre finished within a little over 16 seconds of each other to take second, third and fourth place respectively.

Poolman repeated his third place finish in race two when he completed the 8km course at Horsenden Hill in 23 minutes, 40.24 seconds.

Grierson returned as Highgate’s best performer when the Met League moved to Wormwood Scrubs for race day three. The speedster clocked a time of 21:42.52 to finish second, leading the club to yet another team victory as all 12 of their scorers hit home in the top 38.

Race day four, held in Welwyn Garden City, proved a struggle for points, certainly based on Highgate’s high standards. Terry Fawden was the club’s best finisher as he took eighth place with his time of 26:59.86.

Elsewhere, there was also success for London Heathside, the most notable of which saw the club’s Senior Women’s team finish in the silver medal position after taking second place in all four races this season.

Among the top runners was Rebecca Piggott, who finished second in the opening race of the season before going on to win the second meet. She also finished third at Wormwood Scrubs, just five seconds behind clubmate Rebecca Bunting.

Piggott completed a solid season by finishing fourth at Stanborough Park in Welwyn Garden City to be crowned the overall champion in the individual rankings.

The Finsbury Park-based club had a number of triumphs throughout the season, with their Senior Women’s team retaining the Middlesex County title alongside finishing second in the Met League, while their Senior Men won the North London and London Cross-Country titles, as well as finishing third in the Met League.