Woodford Green may have been missing a whole host of athletes through illness, injury and exams, but such is the strength of their youngsters they still had nearly 30 athletes at the latest Met League race.

The Alexandra Palace course had been like a lake before Christmas, but on the day it was mud, glorious mud to greet the athletes, who were trying to stay on their feet on the sharp descent.

First up were the under-13 girls and despite missing a couple through illness, Woodford still had 10 toeing the line.

Going up the big hill, Woodford had three of the top four.

Abigail Reid, Tilly Major and Molly Sherrin shared the lead which was a great sight for all Woodford members and coming down the hill it was Reid who got away with Major.

In the end, Reid got home by some 80 metres, while Major had to pick herself off the floor before finishing just ahead of Sherrin.

Rosemary Kelly was next home in seventh spot, while Amana Oguntuga, probably looking forward to the track season and slightly firmer ground underfoot, still held on well for 16th spot.

Isabella Worwood and Emily Millward were always quite close to one another and showed courage in the deep mud to come in 24th and 29th.

Lexie Gobran, who is a sprinter, turned out to place 32nd, with Maya McNelis in 35th.

Lexie Bonney closed out the squad in 44th, and she too came through well after a slow start.

The Woodford girls have a massive 150-point lead in the table.

There were 65 starters in the combined under-15/under-17 race with five Woodford girls in action.

Miya Maeda had her best race to date as she placed sixth overall, just over 30 seconds behind the under-17 winner.

Bronya Overington was next home in the under-15 race in 33rd with Olivia Howe in 40th.

In the under-17 race, Ellen Savidge was 15th and Jess Adams 17th.

Woodford's under-13 boys are a great bunch and Nate Harding finished in fifth, with Oscar Farthing 10th, Godwinner Nkembani coming home in 15th and Gregor Samson 19th.

It appeared they might have lost places during some confusion over the back of the course where some runners went off course.

Patrick Hayden (44th) is taking a leaf out of the others books.

The team were second on the day and they are not that far behind an awesome Shaftesbury outfit.

There were just three Woodford Green runners in the under-17 race and Kieran Allgood led them home in a fine sixth place.

There was a welcome return to Liam Waldron who had been out injured for months and despite being nowhere near full fitness, he still placed 23rd.

Fred Taylor completed the line-up in a fine 37th.

In the under-15 race, Evan Johnson was ninth, Reuben Fabian 12th, Max Richards 21st, Sid Cody 25th, Liam Short 32nd and Jay Russell 40th.