Penney gives bankers a run for their money

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Andrew Penney gained an historic victory in the Inter-Financial Services Cross Country Championships in Richmond Park last Wednesday (21 November) when he became the first athlete from the Club to take the title.

Penney, 27, who was competing in the event for the first time, was among a group of three runners who broke away from the 200-strong field soon after the start of the 5.75 miles race and then edged away to win by nine seconds in 30:11. He led BlackRock, who were also contesting the Championship for the first time, to fifth team place.

Meanwhile, other Club members were in action on Saturday (24th) in the South of the Thames Cross Country Association 5 Mile Championships over an undulating three lap course in Morden Park. With most of the leading men giving the race a miss it was left to Richard McDowell to bring the A team home, moving through on the final lap to finish eighth of the 182 runners in 27:08. Joe Clark was 21st in 28:15 with teenager Zac Purnell, the third U20 finisher, two places behind in 28:33, and Rob Tuer (35th in 29:43) completing the team, which finished fifth of the 40 teams.

James Miller (62nd in 30:54), M50 Stuart Fraser (65th in 31:00), M40 Simon Woodley (100th in 33:04) and M50 Mark Livingstone (122nd in 34:39) completed the B team, which finished 21st. Other HW runners included M55 Richard Evans (123rd in 34:45) and Charles Hampden-Smith (129th in 35:08), and M50 Gordon Lilly (139th in 35:49).

The women’s team also finished fifth. They were led in by V40 Gina Galbraith who was seventh in 32:17, followed by V50 Lisa Thomas (who earlier in the day had run in the Wimbledon Common 5km parkrun) 14th in 34:50, V45 Fran Clarke (30th in 36:41) and V55 Alison Purnell (33rd in 37:37).

Other HW runners in the women’s race were Monika Crouse (44th in 38:45), Hannah Fernando (55th in 40:31), Marilena de Luca (57th in 40:53) and Rowena Hornshaw (70th in 44:56).

Results

Wednesday 21 November: Inter-Financial Services Cross Country Championships, Richmond Park  Full results
Saturday 24 November: South of the Thames Cross Country Association 5 Mile Championships, Morden Park     Full results

Parkrun
Jonny Cornish and Claire Grima had strong runs in the Bushy Park 5km parkrun on Saturday morning with Cornish taking second place out of 1118 runners in 15:18 and Grima third spot in the women’s race in 18:13. Justin Reid was first M45 veteran in 17:14, posting the top male age-graded performance of the day.

Jonny Earl led in the 170 runners in the Trelissick parkrun in Cornwall crossing the finishing line in 17:01, slicing 33 seconds off his previous best posted on his debut appearance in the event in September.

HW had three runners among the top six finishers on Wimbledon Common with David Lewin leading the 17-strong Club contingent home, taking third place out of 428 finishers in 17:41. Teenager Hector Revill was fifth in 18:09 with Joe Toomey sixth in 18:32. Richard Evans, who raced in Morden Park later in the day, was top M55 finishing 15th in 19:58. Albane Fery was sixth woman finisher and Lisa Thomas ninth.

Alexie Calvert-Ansari was seventh out of 449 runners in his first appearance for 15 months in the Fulham Palace event in 17:01, just 17 seconds slower than his best time for the course set in April 2015. Teenager Gabriel Durand was ninth out of 100 runners in Old Deer Park, Richmond. W50 Michelle Howe was seventh woman in the Wormwood Scrubs event while M50 Gary Forde was 11th out of 142 runners in Sheringham Park, Norfolk, in a personal best of 22:27, slicing five seconds off his previous best set back in July 2016.

Hercules Wimbledon