Onwards and Upwards

The Club's teams were in action last Saturday in the first match of the Surrey Cross Country League season. The senior men launched the defence of their title in drizzly conditions over a new course at Effingham Common, and with many of last season's top scorers unavailable finished second to last year's runners-up, Kent AC. A big tumout at the next match on Wimbledon Common will be vital, in a bid to pack more runners into the front of the race and claw back some of the 93-point deficit.

For the A team Tom Jervis put in a strong performance to finish sixth of the 228 runners, covering the five-mile (approx) course in 25:48, with Alex Milne eighth in 25:56 and Jonny Cornish 15th in 26:20. Finn Johnson took 18th place in 26:31, with team manager Fred Slemeck following in 20th in 26:35.  Matthew Richards, in his first race for HW was 37th in 27:07, while Dimos Evangelidis (27:08) finished 38th and Joe Clark (27:23) and Joe Toomey (27:28) were 43rd and 44th respectively.  Will Russell completed the team, finishing in 68th in 28:37. In the B race the HW team finished fourth.

Standings after match one are: Kent AC 204 points; Hercules Wimbledon 297, South London Harriers 326, Thames Hare & Hounds 335, Herne Hill Harriers 451, Guildford & Godalming 473, Belgrave 576, Dulwich Runners 690, and Clapham Chasers 743.

In the U15/U17 Boys match numbers were more seriously depleted. Morgan Rennie finished the 2.5 mile (approx) as 14th U17 in 13:56, and Adam Hammadi was 28th U15 in 15:15. For the first time the U13 Boys ran separately, however with only three HW youngsters taking part, they were similarly unable to complete a team. Ronan McArdle finished 24th in 11:50 over the 1.8 mile course (approx), with Oliver Holden 30th in 12:01 and Matt Weisz 36th in 12:13.

Meanwhile at Priory Park, Reigate, the Senior women finished sixth in their match. Claire Grima led the team home in eighth of the 232 runners, covering the 3.75 miles in 25:12. Jessica Prior, making her HW debut, was 19th in 25:57, with another debutante, Anna Horgan, 23rd in 26:02. Gina Galbraith was 37th in 26:44 with Lisa Thomas completing the scoring team in 63rd in 28:03.

However it was the youngsters who produced the standout performances at Reigate. Led in by Ellen Weir, the U17 Women took the individual and team honours in the 2.50 mile race. Ellen was dominant as she won her first Surrey League race in 15:45, having finished runner-up in last season’s final event in Lloyd Park, Croydon. Georgie Clarke, who won that race in Lloyd Park, was third in 16:17. Niamh Thompson was 10th in 18:17 with Selma Hegvold 13th in 19:06. Rebekah Riches led the B team to fifth place finishing 14th in 19:07.

The U15 Girls took third spot, led in by Lulu Weisz, who was a fine second in her age group in 16:53, improving on her previous best league placing of fifth in Nonsuch Park last November. Millie Thorpe was ninth in 17:17, Millie Doyle 17th in 17:58 and Georgia Winter 22nd in 18:22. Such was the turnout that the girls were able to field an U15 B and C team who finished in 7th and 9th.

Top finisher in the U13G two-mile race was Sophie Thorpe, 19th in 14:08, who led the team to sixth place. Charlotte Conway (25th in 14:27) together with her twin sister Sophie Conway (26th in 14:29) and Miona Ivanovic (27th in 14:38) completed the team. The B team finished 10th.

Next League fixtures – be there!

Match 2   9 November: Wimbledon Common (Men); Mitcham Common (Women)
Match 3  11 January: Beckenham (Men); Wimbledon Common (Women)
Match 4   8 February: Lloyd Park (Men); Richmond Park (Women)

Having scored for the senior men on Saturday, Alex Milne and Jonny Cornish turned out again the next day in the Oxford half-marathon. In the pouring rain Milne headed home more than 6,500 runners,  winning by almost a minute in 67:31. Cornish was fourth in 68:55 with Andrew Penney, coming back to fitness,  clocking 73:21 in 13th.

Results

Saturday 12 October: Surrey Cross Country League (men), Effingham Common Full results
Saturday 12 October: Surrey Cross Country League (women), Priory Park, Reigate Full results