Havering cross country teams started their season with three wins and three second places in the Essex Cross Country League.
This comes as the league resumed after its Covid-enforced layoff at Hockley on Saturday.
Havering senior men carried on their great form as they were led home by a superb run from Grant Twist in second, with four athletes in the top eleven.
Rob Warner finished fifth with James Stewart following not far behind in eighth and one of the stars of the race was under-20 Alex Ford in his first senior race, finishing in 11th.
Kieran O'Hara finished 15th and John Whitehead finished 25th to complete the scoring six.
The squad had a great turn out with 16 runners toeing the line.
Rob Trevor (27th), Steve Rand (39th) and Jason Crispin (45th), Tom Keevil (56th), Gary Atkins (62nd), John Barker (88th), Roy James (92nd) and Tony Collins (110th) completed the winning Havering contingent.
The under-17 and under-20 Women also got their season off to a winning start as Maddie Barker, Sydney Foley and Natalie Sewell packed well in fourth, fifth and sixth and Hannah Yexley’s ninth place ensured victory.
The under-15 boys edged out Southend for victory. Daniel Lammas and Oliver Taylor-Bush were fourth and fifth, Nathan Hart came in 14th and Michael Tesi, one place back, kept the team in front as Finley Wolton and Charlie Burgess were 17th and 18th.
Six more boys competed with Toby Johnson and Joseph Gray were 21st and 22nd, Sean Langan 26th and brothers Waleed and Waeel Kabuye 30th and 31st.
The senior women started their title defence with runners up spot.
Ginte Bailey was an impressive third and Morgan Campbell a good seventh.
Clare Rudgley and Emily James, in her first senior race, completed the scorers in 52nd and 41st, with debutant Charlie Yexley in 53rd, Tracy O’Neil in 55th and team manager Jane Hallam completing the line up in 63rd.
The under-17 men also started the season well in second as Matthew Blacklock came 5th, Charlie Howell 10th, Shane Hart 11th and Max Robbins 14th - they were the scorers, with Finley Wolton and Charlie Burgess in 17th and 18th also in action.
Freddie Rowe led from start to finish for the second-placed under-13 Boys squad.
Jude Hearn (12th), William Tilson (13th) and Ethan Carroll (15th) just edged out Southend for second place.
Both the under-13 girls and under-15 girls squads were lacking a scoring four.
Abi Swan flew the flag for the under-15s in 13th and Abi Rogers, Isabella Taylor-Bush and Jessica Page finished between 16th and 23rd for the under-13s, with both squads hoping that more of their colleagues will join them in later fixtures.
Stephanie Okoro and Jacob Blanc did the club proud as they brought their track season to a close with medal-winning performances against the best of the home countries in the School International at Derby on Saturday.
Stephanie has been the undisputed number one UK 300m hurdler, having won every title on offer way ahead of the opposition, and she ended her season in spectacular style when she took over a second off her previous best to win gold.
She stopped the clock at a superb 41.60s, which was not only a new championship best (and Havering AC club record), but the third fastest ever time at the event by a UK under-17 beaten only by Olympians Meghan Beasley (41.41s) and Perri Shakes-Drayton (41.48s) – times which look well within reach as she has another season in the U17 age group.
Stephanie added a second gold as a member of the winning 4x300m relay squad, whose winning time of 2m 37.57s was another new championship best and the second fastest by a UK U17 team.
Jacob Blanc ended his season as the top-ranked UK under-17 100m hurdler, despite losing out at Derby to teammate Daniel Goriola, having clocked the fastest time in the UK in winning the English Schools title in July and adding England Athletics gold in August.
Jacob had the honour of being appointed boys’ team captain for the event and now has a further international vest to look forward to as he competes again for the English Schools team in the indoor pentathlon in Glasgow in early December.
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