A record number of Highgate Harriers took part in the penultimate Start Fitness Metropolitan League fixture on Saturday 11 January. There is a massive muddy hill in Alexandra Palace Park which the 43 senior men had to negotiate three times, up and down like mountain goats and, the women had the same hill to take account of. 
Despite being beaten on the day by Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets  AC (1,419 to 1,405) the Highgate senior men had enough of a cushion to be the overall Premier League leaders with 5,510 to Victoria Park’s 5,255 with London Heathside on third on 4,344. Therefore, if Highgate don’t drop their guard for the final meeting at Trent Park on the 8th of February they could definitely win the League with the team trophy again. 
Alex Lepretre was in good form, as he has been all season so far. He was third of the 497 finishers in 27:16. The rest of the scoring team were 6 Robel Bahelbi 27:23; 9 Murray Strain 27:45, 10 Sean Renfer 27:53; 11 Charlie Haywood 27:53; 13 Robert Wilson 28:16; 33 Dominic Smith 29:18; 39 Pete Chambers 29:37; 49 Jon Laybourn 29:59; 58 Daniel Brewer 30:14; 64 Ash Chambers 30:28 and 68 David Shepherd 30:38.
Highgate women are still in the chase but will have to be extra strong to overturn the leading two clubs in the last meeting at Trent Park. After Alexandra Park the scores were London Heathside 1,434, Victoria Park & TH 1,311 and Highgate 1,259. 
The first scoring six for Highgate were led by a brilliant and improved performer Nina Griffith who finished in second place out of the 236 field in 31:55. International, Lizzy Janes of Herts Phoenix (30:14) was first.  The other Highgate runner were Vicky Walker in sixth (33:39); 29 Rachelle Baker 35:14; 45 Lisa Wenninger 35:55; 73 Louise Faherty and 110 Natasha Cendrowicz.
A total of 88 finished the junior men’s race and Finlay Sleeman was the first Highgate runner in 16th (14:23). Monte Watson was 57th and Josh Groves 58th.   Highgate Harriers’ Junior women are in 6th place of 24 club teams, and their best performance was by Ellen Donald who was 6th of 66 in 16:26. Also running were 9 Lauren Russell (3rd under 15 in the race) in 16:35; 25 Jess Parry; Lal Ergun; 52 Gabrielle Kennedy and Serlin Ergun 58^th.
HIGHGATE HARRIERS CLOSE 'THE GATE' EARLY
In the Middlesex County Championships on Saturday 4 January at the Wormwood Scrubs course, Highgate Harriers won the team event by a wide margin in the Senior Men’s race shutting the gate with their six scorers all finishing in the first 14 of the 166 finishers.  The first three teams were: 1 Highgate, 53 points; 2 London Heathside, 131 and 3 Thames Valley Harriers, 167.
Highgate's Alex Lepretre was 2nd in the race in 42:04 beating the last Metropolitan League winner, Shafesbury's Dylan Evans, who was 3rd in 42:10. The winner was international, Nick Goolab of Belgrave Harriers in 41:14. The other Highgate runners in the scoring team were 6 Sean Renfer (43:07); 9 Charlie Haywood (43:35); 10 Robert Wilson (43:39); 12 Terry Fawden (44:39); and 14 Dominic Smith (45:25) The next three home were; 28 John Laybourn (47:26); 29 Andres Chau (47:35) and 35 Tom Crowley (48:40).
Highgate's leading woman were: 4th Jessica Anderson (34:18); 17 Lisa Wenninger (35:57); 31 Sarah Dewhirst (38:47) and 38 Sabina Russsell (39:41). The winner was Lithuanian Gintare Juknyte of Aldershot Farnham & District in 33:45. The Highgate Harriers’ women’s team were 4th of the 12 teams that closed in with their four to count scoring 4, 17, 31 and 38 for 90 points. Thames Valley Harriers won with 27 points. 
In the Under 17 women’s race Highgate's Ellen Donald finished 8th^th in 26:35. In the Under 20 men’s race Tal Pelmont came 8th in 25:36.  In the Under 17 men Finlay Sleeman finished 19th^th in 24:53 and 24th was Charlie Gundy in 26:02.

The fourth fixture of the StartFitness Metropolitan Cross Country League took place at Alexandra Palace on Saturday 11th January.

Pictured is Highgate Harrier Nina Griffith who finished second in the Senior Women's race.
Full results on the Met League website.

At a muddy Scrubs (4th January 2020) full teams turned out to contest the U11 U13 U15s age groups. With individual medals for Thomas Chadwick 3rd in U13s, Ellie Chadwick 2nd U13s, Garance Ferara 3rd U13 the teams collected a string of titles.

U11 Boys 1st
U11 Girls  1st
U13 Boys  1st
U13 Girls   1st
U15 Girls  1st
U15 Boys  3rd

Probably the best results for the club in the young athletes’ age group for a few decades! 

The annual Highgate Harriers Boxing Day club race, known as the Bottomist Cup, took place on Hampstead Heath, with the race being around two and a half miles.  
Under 20 runner Issac Adni, who has won a number of Parkruns at Wormwood Scrubs and Chelmsford this year, finished first of 32 starters with a time of 16:29. He was followed in second place by Stanley Harrison, who was Middlesex U20 800m champion back in 2014, in 17:24. John Armstrong finished third.

DOMINIC TWICE NO 1 
Dominic Ogbechie was ranked UK Number 1 in 2019 in two events for Under 20 men according to new rankings published by Athletics Weekly. 
In the long jump he did 7.66 indoors in Cardiff on the 3rd March; he also high jumped 2.18 indoors at Birmingham on 9th February.

In the third fixture of the Start Fitness Metropolitan League at Hillingdon House Farm near Uxbridge on Saturday 7 December Hannah Viner was the first Highgate Harrier in the women’s race; she finished in third position in a time of 31:02, behind the winner Lizzy Janes who ran 30:03 and Revee Walcott-Nolan (30:23) in second. Viner was pleased the League has decided to give parity to the women by making the distance they run equal to the men’s distance. She felt this should also have been decided for the Southern & National championships. The six winning scorers on Saturday after Hannah Viner were: 4th Zoe Macdonald 32:05; 15 Victoria Walker 33:33; 22 Jess Anderson 34:01; 25 Rachel Baker 34:17; 57 Sabina Russell, 37:04; and 60 Louise Faherty 37:08. 208 finished.
            
In the men’s race the first two were Dylan Evans of Shaftesbury Barnet in 26:29 and Austin Roth of Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets (26:32). However, in third place, and his highest position in the League, was Highgate’s Alex Lepretre (26:38). The others in the team of 12 were: 6 Chris Rainsford (27:00); 8 Robel Bahelbi 27:17; 12 Sean Renfer 27:41; 19 Robert Wilson 27:59; 20 Charlie Haywood 27:59; 23 Murray Strain 28:06; 26 Pete Chambers 28:16; 31 Ash Charles 28:25; 36 Dominic Smith 28:34; 40 Nikki Faulkner 28:51 and 57 Peter Hawkings 29:38. There were 458 finishers. 

Highgate Harriers’ women were first team on the day in the Division One Team results with 353 points ahead of London Heathside 321 and Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 296. However, after the first three fixtures. Highgate are third overall with 962 points behind Victoria Park, who have 967, and London Heathside, who have 1,061 points. 

Regarding the men, Highgate are gaining momentum all the time and going further ahead in the League overall. The first four clubs in the League table after three fixtures are: 1 Highgate Harriers 4,105; Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets 3,836; 3 London Heathside 3,095; and 4 Woodford Green & Essex Ladies 3,041.


A TRUE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER JOINS HIGHGATE
 
Back in September this year Charlie Harpur chose Highgate Harriers to be his club having done some training with the group coached by Brahma Pochee. Harpur has already had some success as a long distance runner on the trails and roads and is currently the 100k Champion of GB, winning the Anglo Celtic Plate 100k at Perth back on the 24th of March this year. He also won the South Downs Way race over 100k in June 2018. On 16 November 2019 he won the 46-mile Beacons Ultra race in a course record and last year in the Virgin London Marathon he ran a very respectable 2:33.26. Harpur’s potential for very long distance races is certainly something to be admired.

VINER AT THE SHARP END
 
Hannah Viner ran with the best British cross country runners at Sefton Park, Liverpool on 23 November in the British Athletics Cross Challenge, which doubled as the European Championship trials. Viner finished 21st in 29:54 in a race littered with internationals. It was won by Jess Judd. Highgate’s Rachel Johnson also did well in good company to come in 59th in 31:54. In the men’s race, Charlie Haywood finished 100^th (35:05). The winner was Ben Connor of Derby in 30:22.

STRAIN JUST AS GOOD WHEN IT IS EASIER
 
Murray Strain, who has had some good tough cross-country ’fell-type’ races in the ‘North’ and was in Highgate Harriers’ winning team in the National 12 stage of 2016, finished in 2nd place, out of 202 runners in the Inter Financial Services Cross Country Championships at Richmond Park on the 20th of November.  The winner was Serpentine’s Andy Greenleaf in 31: 00 with Strain 2nd in 31:49.

In the Regents Park 10k on Sunday 1 December, Highgate’s Monte Watson was 18th of 280 finishers in 38:45 and Nadi Jahangiri came 27th in 39:38.