North London Championships (November 2017)

North London Championships (November 2017)

Berkeley Fields, Greenford 4th of November
MOHAMED DAUL MOHAMMED, a week after winning the North of Thames/Liddiard Cup, and suffering with some leg trouble, took Hillingdon to individual and team victory, in Berkeley Fields.
In the North London Championships, the organiser Brian Fowler, stressed that the first North London cross country championship was in 1904.

In the race, a tightly knit group, went through the first of three large laps. That included Mohamed Daud, Rob Thompson, Mohamed Hassan Mohamed and Ermias Zeration.
As they went into the last of the three laps Mohamed Daud and Rob Thompson had drawn clear. Mohamed Daud moved away on the hill at the back of the course but Thompson, running better than  the previous week end, was only 8 seconds behind him at the finish. Jonathan Poole, who ran 2:21.30 in the London, moved past Hassan Mohammed with 200 metres to go and Hugh Torry had made steady progress for fifth place.

It was interesting to talk to Doug Milsom, at 78, the oldest in the race who finished 92nd but, always outside the last few in the Met League and, to learn that he started with Finchley Harriers in 1955/56 and then stopped when he was 37, because he was suffering from exercise induced asthma but at 65, he decided to race again and he also runs with a pacemaker that was fitted seven years ago.

Rachel Thomas, who took Victoria Park & Tower Hamlets to individual and team victory took up athletics seriously when her 2 year old son was born but, before that her sport was playing good class hockey for Hampstead & Westminster.
For the whole North London race she was battling with Natasha Sheel, till just before the run in to the finish. Sheel remembers how they last had a confrontation when Rachel was 2nd & she was 3rd overall, in the three fell races, in two days, in the Ryde AC, Isle of Wight fell races in September.
In the North London race Victoria Crawford was in third place all the way.