Essex League Round 1 - One Tree Hill - October 2025

Essex League Round 1 - One Tree Hill

A big well done to everyone involved in the first Essex League fixture of the season. A lot of work went into organising it by Bernie, Keith and quite a few others, great to have Pitsea helping this time around too. The support was great, it was particularly nice to see Brenda and Kelvin for everyone and finally give them their moving present. Boosts such as having Mick Bumstead and Gary Cahill Sr. there was also great. 

Conditions were mild and pretty dry underfoot which probably made the day easier than it has been in some years. Then we get to the athletes!

Young Athletes

Thurrock had a good couple of Under 13 teams out on the day with the U13 Girls finishing 5th - level points with 4th on 107 points but 5th on count back. The U13 Boys managed 7th in their race with 161 points. Well done to them.U13 Girls: Eden Sloan 12th, Phoebe Thomas 22nd, Isla Lee Sandford 24th, Asya Nalcioglu 49th.U13 Boys: Charlie Matthews 34th, Luke Whiffin 40th, Finley Maule 43rd, Liam Tarasevicius 44th.U15 Boys: George Riley was the sole finisher coming home in an impressive 18th.

Seniors

Valiant battling went on in the women's, with the team coming 2nd in Division 2 on 251 points and setting them well on the path to promotion! Kirsty Osborn led the team home in 20th place, a reward of a top 20 after battling through a likely sprained ankle after a fall. Next in was Leonie who looked at home on the hills in 63rd. Brooke was close behind in 72nd with Jodie Farrell completing the scorers in 96th place. Gloria Bullen was 148th and along with Jodie and Leonie helped the Veterans team to 15th place. In the men's team we knew after final league finishes of 5th and 4th in Division 1 over the last 2 years we were braced for a bit of a drop off with team changes. Everyone dug deep and the end result was a 10th place Division 1 match finish with 559 points. Encouraging that small improvements across the board and 1 or 2 extra personnel may mean that a top 9 placing is doable. Alec Finch was 39th, Ben Prior raced smart given where he's at in his training to come 43rd. Next was Scott Thrush in 87th who battled through some hip issues. Rob Doyle made the top 100 in 96th and then next in was Scott Rice in 130th. Final scorer was Eamonn Shelley who continued his resurgence in 164th. Dave Beatty was next in 204th and Bernie Johnson rounded out the team in 265th after a long day. The Veterans team of Scott, Eamonn, Dave and Bernie were 17th.

The team are looking forward to the next XC League fixture at Hainault on this Saturday 8th November!