Rob Russell

Rob Russell and Chris Smith claimed top 10 finishes as Thames Valley Harriers men’s team won their Metropolitan League match at Perivale to clinch promotion.

To send a link to this page to a friend, simply enter their email address below.

The message will include the name and email address you gave us when you signed up.

Email address

  Send link

To send a link to this page to a friend, you must be logged in.

Russell recorded a time of 28 minutes 45 seconds over the 8km course to take seventh place on Saturday, with Smith just 18 seconds behind him in 10th and Naz Dawit marking his return to form in 17th (29:30).

Their efforts were backed up by a strong team performance to ensure that the Valley beat host club Ealing, Southall & Middlesex by 670 points to 593 and secured the runners-up spot behind them in Division Two.

And, to complete a successful day for the club, the veterans’ team held on to their Division One status and TVH’s women edged out Ealing to seal their own promotion to the top level.

TVH stalwart Sean Renfer (28th, 30:21) was their fourth finisher in the senior men’s race, with Matthieu Ribault (42nd, 31:25) producing his best performance for the club.

Steve Norris was the first veteran home in 59th place (31:58), followed by Andy Fooks (64th, 32:07), Matt Ponting (84th, 32:54) and youngster Henry Hughes (91st, 33:12).

Calum Nicol (97th, 33:29) was followed by debutant Peter Scannell (101st, 33:39), Lee Mahon (124th, 34:30), Phil Wetton (143rd, 35:22) and Ali Yahye, who returned from injury in 154th place (36:00).

Richard Bell (163rd, 36:26), Lee Benjamin (171st, 36:53), Richard Hooley (183rd, 37:57) and Christophe Cayssials (208th, 39:07) added valuable points in the veterans’ race.

Simon Maddison (238th, 42:32) and Tony Smith (243rd, 43:46) brought up the rear as TVH’s veterans finished fifth, squeezing past Metropolitan Police to avoid relegation by two points.

In the women’s 6km race, Tracy Barlow was the fastest TVH finisher in 27th place (24:27), followed by Joanna Mobed (33rd, 24:52), Siana Jones (36th, 25:20) and Jessica Bass (40th, 25:30).

Diana Kennedy (56th, 26:38) completed the scoring team, with Andrea Broughton (79th, 28:29) also finishing as the Valley took second place in the table behind Enfield.

Abraham Mendes da Costa led TVH’s under-13 boys to second in their age group as he finished sixth (11:13), ahead of seventh-placed Cassius Rathbone (11:23) and Lucillo Burrell, a further place and one second behind.

They were followed by Nicholas Cowley-Andrea (12th, 14:35), under-13 debutant George Goodhart (19th, 12:14) and Byron Fredericks (27th, 14:14).

The girls’ race was again dominated by the Weir sisters, with India second (12:02) and Kosana fifth (12:13). Jaime Cubitt placed 18th (13:25) as the team took third place overall.

TVH had several runners missing in the under-15 and under-17 race, but Joe Cooper led them home in 17th place (13:37) ahead of James Horrex (24th, 14:13).

Louis Marriott (28th, 14:54), Ayuub Abdullahi (29th, 15:00) and Jack Keen (30th, 15:10) helped the Valley to finish seventh while, in the girls’ event, Eve Goodhart ran well to take sixth place (15:07).