Glorious Gilad inspires Immanuel
ATHLETICS Immanuel College in Bushey enjoyed success on their very first appearance at the Watford District Cross Country schools championships, where the Year Eight and Year Ten boys’ teams competed against all other schools in the area.
Gilad Nachshen beat 71 other runners to first place in the Year Ten event, helping his team to a creditable sixth place overall.
Phil Monaghan, Head of PE at Immanuel, commented: “The boys all did very well and I’m really proud of them. They showed great resilience, especially when you consider they were up against some of the biggest schools in the district.”
He went on to say: “Our plan now is to bring through more runners, both boys and girls, so that we can eventually enter teams across all age groups from years seven to 11.”
Meanwhile, in only her second race since returning from an 18-month layoff due to injury, Lauren Maltz ran 3.2km in 15.05 at the Start Fitness Metropolitan League cross country fixture in Welwyn.
At the same meeting, Maayan Radus placed third in her 4.4km race in a time of 17.06, while Nick Gold, V45, of Highgate Harriers, completed the senior men’s 8km race in 30.31.
On the international stage, Israeli star Lonah Chemtai-Salpeter ran a phenomenal marathon in a rainy and windy Florence, breaking a course record that had stood since 2002.
Not only was her time of 2:24.17 the fastest in Europe this year, but she also broke the Israeli national record, previously held by Elena Dolinin, by a huge 11.42.
Additional reporting by Danny Felsenstein