Essex League RESULTS/Reports - 2007-08
ALL REPORTS below ARE PROVIDED BY DAVE JOYCE
Essex Cross Country League Season : Stubbers : 13.10.07
As bright sunshine broke through early morning mist on what turned out to be a beautiful day
for the league's opening fixture and so it was a great day for the Orion's Senior Mens cross
country team who turned out in strength to record a splendid second-place finish and our
best ever result in this League, never having previously made a serious and consistent
attempt to contest Essex cross-country League races in past seasons. Lets hope we've made
our mark and it's the first of many.
The Essex League competition is obviously far stiffer than the Chingford League but our
Senior Men proved they can match the best Essex County can offer when given the opportunity
to race against some very talented teams. Some of the opposition teams contain the best
runners in the County including those who make up the Essex County Representative Teams at
Senior and Under 20 level, in the main race, including a couple of internationals. It was
great to see Orion's young promising team led home by Deputy Captain Richard doing so well,
witnessed by amongst others, the Orion club historian Ron Bond who was marshalling on the
day and was delighted to watch the outcome.
The Senior Men and Junior Men's field of competition included 150 runners and 20 teams.
Colchester were first with 101 points followed by Orion Harriers 138 points, a comfortable
56 points clear of third place Thurrock Harriers and Orion were ahead of big names Southend
AC, Havering AC, Chelmsford AC and Basildon AC.
Richard Kingsnorth 12th, Danny Moses 13th, Shay Joyce 18th, Jack Stroud U20 28th, Ben Hall U20
32nd, Kevin Julian Vet 35th, Gerry Shaw Vet40 48th, Graham Hall Vet40 99th and Roger
Kingsnorth Vet60 107th. Great Result - Well Done All.
Orion's success continued through the "Race Card" with the only race not contested by us
being the Senior Women's race.
Highlights being:-
Under 20 Men's race saw Jack Stroud 5th and Ben Hall 6th.
Gavin Lewis was 2nd and Mathew Moy 12th in the Under 17 Men's Race and 4th Team. 2 Gavin
Lewis,12 Mathew Moy, 18 Frankie Conway, 19 Danny Sach, 20 Ben Hayes and 30 Danny Penfold.
Under 13 Boys 5th Team. 22 Bix Hall, 30 Jack Waller, 32 Adam Andrews and 34 Harry Sach.
Under 15 Boys 5th Team. 24 Auberon Hall, 32 Alex Gordon, 38 Chris Atkins, 43 Joseph Glynn
and 50 Nathaniel Flynn.
Natalie Kipps continued her winning ways with Victory in the Under 20 Women's race and 2nd
Team. Natalie Kipps, 19 Teresa Conway, 22 Rebecca Kipps and 26 Jo Hardaway.
Lauren Macgregor 5th and Jay Andrews 9th in the Under 15 Girls race and 3rd placed Team. 5
Lauren MacGregor, 9 Jay Andrews, 14 Laura O'Connor, 29 Melissa Timpson and 30 Jessica Kipps.
Armani Antoine-Chager was second in the Girls Under 13's. 4th placed team. 2 Armani
Antoine-Chager, 26 Isobel Barry, 27 Emily Jung.
The season is still young, but our men ran an excellent team race to start the season with
11 starting the race and our juniors performed as well as ever with around 30 runners
involved.
Essex Cross Country League: 'One Tree Hill', Thurrock 3.11.07
The first of a series of unfortunate fixture clashes that appear on this years Orion
Fixture Card took its toll in the Senior Mens race at the second Essex Cross Country
League fixture
at Thurrock's One Tree Hill which saw the Men's team drop from 2nd in the first fixturelast
month at Upminster to 10th on the day from the 19 Essex Teams contesting the league fixture.
The fixture clashing with Orion's away Mob Match at Ranelagh Harriers. In spite of that
there were good individual performances from our young Orion Harriers Men's team in what
turned out to be a very high quality race due to the Essex County selectors being present to
finalise team selections for the forthcoming SEAA South of England Inter-Counties
Championships next month. In spite of the Orion Men's team being short in numbers there
were some excellent individual performances which included first man home for Orion Shay
Joyce 23rd overall but being inside the top six Under 23's was notified by the Essex County
selectors after the race that he's short-listed for Essex County selection. Jack Stroud was
32nd and 7th Under 20 home, Danny Mosses finished in 35th and Ben Hall 41st and 9th U20,
making up Orion's top quartet of scorers. Ben's dad Graham Hall was next home for the club
in 112th and Steve Timpson 159th our 6th runner in the race, just about made up the
necessary six team scorers - there were 175 starters.
In the Senior Women's race Anne D'Asha was 55th and Nicky Farbridge 66th which was two more
than Orion turned out in the first fixture and the Senior Women's race had 80 starters.
In the Junior Age group races Orion Harriers impressive juniors performed as well as ever
with around 30 runners involved and once again making a big impression, fielding several
promising young runners who are up there with the best in Essex and in with a great chance
of Essex Country team selection, the highlights being:-
Under 20 Men - Jack Stroud 7th and Ben Hall 9th. They were 5th and 6th at Upminster.
Under 17 Men - Gavin Lewis scored another impressive top three place, this time third home
following his second place in the first fixture. His Coach Maxine Joyce is very happy with
Gavin's consistent high quality performances of late and Gavin recently received a selection
letter to join the England Athletics London squad for special training.
Under 20 Women - Orion's Natalie Kipps made it two Essex League wins from two with an
excellent victory in her race and an even stronger performance than her previous first
League victory at Upminster to impress the Essex County selectors and Natalie's meteoric
improvement this season since linking up with her new coach Maxine Joyce, now puts Natalie
in pole position to achieve her first Essex County Vest, and in doing so fulfil a
longstanding ambition of hers.
Under 15 Girls - Two more from the Maxine Joyce stable - Orion's Lauren MacGregor 5th and
Jay Andrews 8th are firmly in contention for Essex County team selection for places in the
team of 8 runners to be taken to South of England Inter-Counties Championships next month.
Under 13 Girls - Armani Antoine-Chager was 5th, following up a 2nd place in the first league
fixture and is also strongly placed to make the Essex County squad for next month.
Full Orion Results:-
Under 13 Girls - 5th Armani Antoine-Chager, 21st Leah Honeychurch, 22nd Alice Buckmaster,
23rd Charlotte Matthams, 24th Sienna Blake and 25th Sarah Dudley. Team 4th from 11.
Under 13 Boys - 11th Ben Silverstone, 12th George Moy, 27th Bix Hall, 30th Rowan Mahon,
31st Andrew Kelly, 34th Ben Lawrence, 35th Adam Andrews, 40th Matthew Higgins and
41st Callum Lambert. Team 5th from 10.
Under 15 Girls - 5th Lauren MacGregor, 8th Jay Andrews, 18th Laura O'Connor,
29th Jessica Kipps and 30th Melissa Timpson. Team 4th from 9.
Under 15 Boys - 21st Auberon Hall, 26th Alex Gordon, 32nd Buddy Green,
37th Joseph Glynn and 41st Nathaniel Glynn. Team 5th from 10.
Under 17 Women - 12th Rebecca Kipps. Team combined with U20 Women.
Under 17 Men - 3rd Gavin Lewis, 15th Ben Hayes, 16th Frankie Conway and 20th Danny Penfold.
Team 4th from 7.
Under 20 Women - 1st Natalie Kipps, 8th Teresa Conway, 11th Lizzie D'Asha and
12th Jo Hadaway. Team 3rd from 9.
Under 20 Men - 7th Jack Stroud 7th and 9th Ben Hall. Team combined with Senior Men.
Senior Women - 55th Anne D'Asha and 66th Nicky Farbridge. Team 14 from 16
Senior Men - 23rd Shay Joyce 23rd, 32nd Jack Stroud (7th U20), 35th Danny Mosses,
41st Ben Hall 41st (9th U20), 112th Graham Hall and 159th Steve Timpson. Team 10th from 19.
Essex Cross Country League: 'Gloucester Park Basildon 24.11.07
The second of a series of unfortunate fixture clashes that appear on this years Orion
Fixture Card occurred when the Essex Cross Country League fixture took place at Basildon's
Gloucester Park on Saturday 24 November which clashed with the Orion Harriers -v- SLH Mob
Match at Chingford. However the good news filtered through to Basildon when the Club's
contingent learnt that Orion had comfortably defeated SLH at Chingford, despite the
weakened team. However lets all hope that by next year our Captain, Deputy Captain and
Fixtures Secretary can do their best to avoid these clashes and Orion will be able to field
full strength teams in both the Essex Cross Country League fixtures and our traditional Mob
Matches. The Orion Harriers Juniors again turned out in strength and produced another batch
of impressive performances as ever with around 30 young Orion Harriers athletes involved
across the various age categories, making a big impression and fielding several promising
young future stars who have recently gained selection to the Essex County Team.
Senior & Junior Men - Despite the clash on the day, 5 of Orion Harriers top Men runners
opted to turn out in the Essex League (Jack Stroud 14th, Shay Joyce 22nd, Daniel Moses 27th,
Eric Paul 35th (5th Vet 40) and Neil McGoun 45th) and if it wasn't for the unfortunate fact
that young Ben Hall was taken ill in the week then Orion Harriers would once again have
finished 2nd from the 18 Essex Teams contesting this third League fixture, matching our
result on day one of the League season at Stubbers Upminster last month. In the event,
Orion still managed a very respectable 6th spot with Ben's dad Graham Hall finishing as
Orion's 6th man home in a very creditable 88th position. Well done Graham. Steve Timpson
also ran the race finishing 150th. Jack Stroud's 14th place and 6th Under 20 home was an
exceptional performance and his best ever run in the League having finished 28th and 32nd in
the previous two fixture this run against this level of competition will push Jack right up
in contention for Essex County selection if he can maintain it over the next few months and
Shay Joyce having recovered from a virus is again heading back toward the top 20 target area
he sets himself. There were 170 starters in the senior men's race.
In the Individual standings after 3 races Shay Joyce is 20th with 40 points, Danny Moses
21st with 41 points, Jack Stroud 23rd with 42 points, Ben Hall 41st with 73 points and
Graham Hall in 93rd with 187 points.
Senior Women - In the Senior Women's race just one Orion Senior Woman turned out and Sally
Mhalanga finished well in 46th from the 70 starters.
Under 20 Men - Jack Stroud was 6th as reported above.
Under 17 Men - Gavin Lewis now tops the Individual standings after 3 races after finishing
2nd and gaining a very satisfying revenge over Colchester's Lloyd Heard who pipped him at
Stubbers after a tough race long battle and Havering Mayesbrook AC's Grant Twist who pushed
Gavin into 3rd at One Tree Hill. At Basildon Gavin's strong running up the hills saw him
get the better of Heard by 9 seconds and Twist faded to 5th, 19 seconds adrift of Lewis.
Southend AC's Howard Clarke, ran a blinder to win by a 13 seconds from Gavin on the day.
Gavin is in popular demand having recently been selected for both the England Athletics
London squad and the Essex County Team. An improving Frankie Conway was next home for
Orion in an excellent 16th place followed by another improving runner Danny Penfold 23rd
and Mathew Moy 25th who's recovering from a recent bout of flu. The team finished 4th
from the 9 teams competing.
Under 15 Boys - A closely packed Orion Harriers group consisting of Alex Gordon 24th,
Auberon Hall 25th, Ellis Ball 29th and Buddy Green 39th saw the Team finish 6th from 12
teams. Well done Lads.
Under 13 Boys - Another closely packed Orion Harriers group consisting of George Moy 29th,
Andrew Kelly 30th, Bix Hall 33rd and Andrew Adams 24th along with Ben Gordon 43rd placed
the Orion Harriers Team 5th from 12 teams. Well done Lads.
Under 20 and Under 17 Women - Orion's Natalie Kipps marched on with 4th in the combined
U17/U20 race but more importantly Natalie made it three Essex League wins from three with
another comfortable win in the Under 20's Division once the age groups results were
separated, Natalie finishing 40 seconds ahead of the next Under 20 Kate Richardson of
Havering Mayesbrook AC. Natalie is another Orion Harrier very much looking forward to
representing Essex for the first time next month at Parliament Hill and gave credit to her
coach Maxine Joyce after the race for helping to fulfil her ambition of gaining Essex
selection. In the Individual combined points standings after 3 races Natalie is 4th. It
was nice to see Lauren Richardson returning to Essex League action for Orion Harriers
after a long absence and Lauren finished well in 26th place followed by Rebecca Kipps
29th and Jo Haddaway 31st. The Team finished 4th from the 9 teams competing.
Under 15 Girls - Orion's Lauren MacGregor ran a very good race to finish 4th after shaking
off and beating Havering Mayesbrook AC's Sidnie Sales who had finished ahead of her in the
first two fixtures and Thurrock Harriers Hannah McGowan-Jones after the three battled it out
up and down the hills in a race long dual. Jay Andrews finished a comfortable 10th - Both
Lauren and Jay have gained selection for the Essex County team of 8 runners to be taken to
South of England Inter-Counties Championships next month. Next home came with a good
performance was Laura O'Conner in a very creditable 17th place, finishing strongly,
followed by Melissa Timpson 29th and Jessica Kipps 30th - The team finished a great 2nd
behind Havering AC but pipping home team Basildon AC by 3 points. Lauren MacGregor is 5th
and Jay Andrews 9th in the Individual Points table after 3 races.
Under 13 Girls - Armani Antoine-Chager turned in another great performance finishing in 2nd
place for the second time in her 3 league outings this season - the great form which has
earned Armani selection for the Essex County team for next month's South of England
Inter-Counties Championships. At Basildon Armani ran an intelligent race, not attempting to
chase pacemaker Jessica Judd of Thurrock Harriers as she did last time out at One Tree Hill
only to pay the penalty in the later stages of the race, fading to 5th but this time out
Armani concentrated on comfortably defeating the rest of the field as she did in the first
fixture at Upminster and that she did with a 14 seconds gap on the third runner home and so
gained revenge over Amanda Blaxland Havering Mayesbrook AC, Amy Garnet Southend AC and
Rebecca Stanley Havering Mayesbrook AC. Supporting Armani, the Orion Harriers Under 13
Girls made a great turn out and effort, running and packing in well with Leah Honeychurch
24th, Charlotte Mathams 25th, Isobel Barry 29th, Isobella MacQueen 30th and Sienna Blake
33rd - The Team finished 4th from 12.
Essex Cross Country League: 'HOCKLEY 15.12.07
The third of four unfortunate fixture clashes that appear on this years Orion Fixture Card
occurred on Saturday 15 December when the Essex Cross Country League fixture at Hockley fell
on the same day as the Chingford League fixture at Highams Park - which in all fairness
isn't a patch on the Hockley course and sports centre venue facilities, modern changing
rooms, hot showers, canteen, refreshments, St Johns First Aid support and large car park
etc. Due to the clash however, both the Juniors and Seniors were depleted at Hockley.
With one more Essex CC League fixture clash with the Chingford CC League to come, lets all
hope that by next year such clashes will be a thing of the past and Orion will be able to
field full strength teams in both the Essex Cross Country League fixtures and our
traditional Mob Matches plus the Chingford CC League as a second option. The tragedy is
that when the Orion Senior Men have fielded a full strength team in the Essex CC League,
they've finished 2nd from the 19 League teams that compete in the toughest League in Essex
County and could well have been topping the overall league team table by now, which really
would have put Orion Harriers on the map ! - maybe next year !
Orion Harriers Juniors were also under strength at this fixture, in some of the younger age
groups, due to a number of youngsters opting for Highams Park.
On the day however there were top quality performances, especially from Jack Stroud, Shay
Joyce and Natalie Kipps
Senior & Junior Men - Top Orion Harriers duo Jack Stroud and Shay Joyce ran superbly
finishing 14th and 15th, virtually crossing the line together and in doing so defeating a
host of decent runners in what must rate as their best performances in this League to date.
After the race both said they preferred competing in the higher quality Essex CC League in
preference to the Chingford League and felt it helped improve them. Ben Hall was having his
first outing after recovering from a recent illness and finished a respectable 44th. Ben's
dad Graham Hall finishing as Orion's 4th and final man home in an improving 81st position.
There were 140 starters in the senior men's race. With only 4 runners, 2 short of the
required 6, Orion placed 13th team from 19.
In the Individual League standings after 4 races Shay Joyce moves up to 14th with 55 points,
Jack Stroud moves up to 15th with 56 points and Danny Moses is in 18th with 75 points, Ben
Hall also moves up to 32nd with 117 points and Graham Hall jumps up from 93rd to 69th with
268 points. Steve Timpson is in 110th with 447 points.
Under 17 Men - Gavin Lewis still tops the overall Individual League standings after 4 races
on the basis of his previous three outings after finishing outside the top 3 for the first
time this season when he placed 8th and his nearest rival Colchester's Lloyd Heard closed
the gap with a win. Mathew Moy showed a good return to form after a bout of Flu affected
his last outing and Mat jumped up 10 places to finish 15th on the day. Consistent Frankie
Conway way 18th just ahead of Danny Sach in 20th and Danny Penfold completed the pack in
24th and together the lads took credit for an excellent 3rd team place from the 9 full
finishing teams.
Under 15 Boys - Ellis Ball showed great improvement to turn in his best performance of the
season, improving 10 places on his last outing to lead home the Under 15 Boys team in 19th
place, followed closely by Auberon Hall 21st and Alex Gordon 28th but with only 3 runners,
1 short of the required number they finished 6th team from 9.
Under 13 Boys - The Under 13 Boys did manage to field a full team of 4 and the closely
packed Orion Harriers team were led by Bix Hall, first home for Orion in 28th place,
followed by Andrew Kelly 34th, Rowan Mahon 36th and Andrew Adams 37th. The Orion Harriers
Team 6th from 12 teams.
Under 20 and Under 17 Women - Natalie Kipps, having her best ever cross country season, had
perhaps her best run in the Essex CC League when passed Havering AC's Georgie-Lou Sales the
winner of the previous League race and then out-sprinted Southend AC's Danielle Hurley to
take 3rd place and narrowly missed catching Basildon AC's Jessica Dunn for 2nd in the
combined U17/U20. Teresa Conway 23rd, Lauren Richardson 25th and Rebecca Kipps 26th packed
in well to complete the team of 4 and the Orion Harriers team placed a very creditable 3rd
overall from the 10 teams competing.
Under 15 Girls - Lauren MacGregor and Jay Andrews were both a little under the weather on
the day but still made the effort for the Orion Harriers Under 13 Girls team finishing 13th
and 15th respectively. Melissa Timpson was 30th and Jessica Kipps 31st, completing the team
which finished 5th from 12.
Under 13 Girls - Armani Antoine-Chager is fighting her way back to fitness and form,
finishing 4th on the day Armani still sits second in the individual league standings going
into the last fixture. Charlotte Mathams was the only other Under 13 running and finished
24th, a place up on her last outing. Sadly only the two ran, down from six last fixture and
so the team dropped down to place 5th on the day from 9
Essex Cross Country League Round 5: 'Hylands Park Chelmsford' 12 January 2008
The final Essex CC League fixture of the season took place at Chelmsford's Hylands Park,
this race replaced the one originally scheduled to be hosted by Orion at Chingford but
switched due to a fixture clash with the Chingford League fixture at Trent Park. The Essex
League are keen for Orion to host a League fixture again following the highly successful
event in the 2005/2006 season.
When the final Individual League Standings were calculated, there were some notable season's
performances for young Orion Harriers after some consistent quality performances across the
season in this tough league, in particular:-
Senior Men: Shay Joyce finished 12th and Danny Mosses 14th.
Junior Men: Jack Stroud finished 3rd and took the Bronze Medal.
Under 17 Men: Gavin Lewis finished 2nd, taking the Silver Medal after a remarkable year of
improvement under the coaching guidance of Maxine Joyce. It's bitterly disappointing that
Gavin has decided to leave Orion Harriers at the season's close to join Woodford Green after
being a lifelong Orion Harriers member. However we wish him well and hope he returns.
Under 20 Women: Natalie Kipps, having her best ever cross country season, under the coaching
guidance of Maxine Joyce, completed a clean-sweep of 5 wins from 5 to top the Under 20
Womens standings, adding this triumph to her Essex County AAA Cross Country Championship
Title which she won a week earlier.
Under 15 Girls: Lauren MacGregor finished 4th, just missing the Bronze Medal by a single
point and Jay Andrews finished 6th. Both girls also from the Maxine Joyce stable can be
well pleased with their season having just moved up from Under 13's last season.
Under 13 Girls: Armani Antoine-Chager finished 4th, just missing the Bronze Medal after a
fantastic first Essex CC league season but of course Armani took the Silver Medal in the
Essex County AAA Cross Country Championships a week earlier.
Results at Hylands Park:-
Senior Men & Junior Men:
9 Jack Stroud (3rd U20), 20 Danny Moses and 111 Steve Timpson (V40).
Team: 13th from 19 teams (3 runners only)
120 finishers.
Final Individual Standings:
Senior:
12 Shay Joyce, 14 Danny Moses, 55 Graham Hall (V40), 78 Steve Timpson.
U20:
3 Jack Stroud
Senior Women:
40 Jackey Antoine
Team: 14th team from 14 (1 runner only)
55 Finishers.
Final Individual Standings:
No Orion Harriers Senior Women completed the minimum 4 races.
U17 & U20 Women:
3 Natalie Kipps (1st U20), 15 Lauren Richardson, 17th Rebbeca Kipps and 21st Jo Haddaway.
Team: 1st from 9
22 Finishers
Final Individual Standings:
4 Natalie Kipps (1st U20), 18 Rebbeca Kipps and 21 Jo Haddaway.
U17 Men
4 Gavin Lewis, 9 Frankie Conway, 15 Mathew Moy, 20 Danny Penfold and 22 Danny Sach
Team: 4th from 9
26 Finishers
Final Individual Standings:
2 Gavin Lewis, 13 Frankie Conway, 14 Mathew Moy and 17 Danny Penfold.
14th team from 14
U15 Boys
24 Ellis Ball and 26 Alex Gordon.
Team: 8th from 9 (2 runners only)
40 Finishers
Final Individual Standings:
17 Auberon Hall and 21 Alex Gordon.
U15 Girls
3 Lauren MacGregor, 4 Jay Andrews, 28 Melissa Timpson and 29 Jessica Kipps.
Team: 3rd from 10
30 Finshers
Final Individual Standings:
4 Lauren MacGregor, 6 Jay Andrews, 22 Melissa Timpson and 23 Jessica Kipps.
U13 Boys
26 Ben Lawrence and 27 Andrew Kelly
Team:7th from 11 (2 runners only)
30 Finishers
Final Individual Standings:
24 Bix Hall, 25 Andrew Kelly and 27 Andrew Adams.
U13 Girls
17 Armanni Antoine-Chagar, 21 Honeychurch, Leah 25 Blake, Sienna 27 Barry, Isobel
Team:4 from 10
33 Finishers
Final Individual Standings:
4 Armanni Antoine-Chagar
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