Rosenheim League Champions
In a hard-fought match at Tooting Bec settled by the slimmest of margins, the Club's Men's team won the Rosenheim League Final trophy on Wednesday night by 2 points over Belgrave. The women's team came agonisingly close to making it a double celebration, missing out on a history-making victory as the positions were reversed and Belgrave took their match by just 1.5 points.
Going into the penultimate event at Tooting Bec – the 3000m – Holland Sports were in the lead in the men's match on 65 points, with HW and Belgrave neck and neck on 63 points, so a win for HW was vital. Ben Toomer duly delivered, beating Belgrave's Paskar Owar into second place and achieving a p.b. of 8:35.81 in the process (although he missed out on the overall race win by a whisker to non-scoring athlete Mike Cummings of Herne Hill Harriers). With the Holland Sports athlete finishing in 7th place, the HW 4 x 200m team lined up for the final event one point ahead in the match. And what a finale it was, with U17 Jaleel Roper, U20 international Chad Miller, Antonio Douglas and European 4x 400m silver medallist Dwayne Cowan combining to break the 25 year old 4 x 200m Club record in a time of 1:28.45, a full 10 seconds ahead of Belgrave.
There were stand out individual efforts and p.b.s in both matches. Antonio Douglas took the 100m in 11.36 and immediately followed up the win with another in the high jump, clearing 1.76m. Barefoot Belal Ahmed won the men's 1500m (4:13.42), and U20 Morgan Sullivan continued his triple jump progress, winning the event in a p.b of 12.46.
Emilie-Bokor Ingram took the 200m (28.09) and 400m (61.91) and was second in the 100m in 13.75, Gina Galbraith won the 1500m in yet another p.b. (5:00.52), and Eileen Brandley (now Toomer!) was first scorer home in the 3000m in 11:06.03.
Congratulations to all who took part, and special thanks to team manager and all-round athlete Heather Jones for engendering such a great team spirit to round off the track and field season.
Match scores
Men:
Hercules Wimbledon 79; Belgrave 77; Holland Sports 72; Epsom & Ewell 59; Serpentine 53; Kingston & Polytechnic 23; St Mary's Richmond 22; Walton 7
Women:
Belgrave 60; Hercules Wimbledon 58.5; Epsom & Ewell 41.5; Serpentine 35; St Mary's Richmond 21; Walton 0
Elsewhere...
HW had a hat-trick of winners in last weekend’s parkrun events, writes Tom Pollak.
David Grima headed home a 424-strong field on Wimbledon Common in 17:22 to post only his fifth victory in the event in 85 appearance since August 2008. His two young sons, Luca and Jasper, were also among ten HW runners finishing down the field. Ben Toomer won on his debut appearance in Thornbury, Gloucestershire, in a faster 16:04 while Finn Johnson headed in a 445-strong field on his debut appearance in the Clapham Common event in 16:28.
Teenage sprinters Jaleel Roper and Zipporah Golding are among a quartet of HW athletes entered in this weekend’s England Athletics U15/U17 Championships in Birmingham. Roper, the Surrey Schools 100m Champion, is down to compete in the U17 Men's 100m and 200m, and Golding, also Surrey County 100m Champion, is entered in the U15 Girls 100m and 200m.
Results
Weds, 22 August: Rosenheim League Finals, Tooting Bec Full results POWER OF TEN
Weds 22 August: Watford Open Graded Meeting: 1500m race 5: 2. Edward Newton 4:41.45 (p.b.); 7. Johanna Tofte 4:46.94. Race 11: 2. Charlie Eastaugh 3:59.07 (p.b.)
Weds, 15 August: 5000m Festival Night, Wimbledon Park Full results POWER OF TEN
Weds, 15 August: BMC Eltham, 800m Race E Men: 2. Charlie Eastaugh 1:56.51(s.b)
Weds, 1 August: 3000m Night, Wimbledon Park Full results POWER OF TEN