Happy New Year!
HW teams kicked off 2020 in style with a hat-trick of team medals in the Surrey County Championships at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking, on Sunday. Over an unusually dry course the Senior Men reclaimed their title (having won it in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018), and there were bronze medals for the U15 Girls and U17 Women's teams, with Ellen Weir underlining her current form over the country by winning individual gold in the U17 Women's Championship. She covered the 5.4km in 20:59, finishing six seconds ahead of the runner-up and second in the race, which combined U17s and U20s.
The Senior men packed the six scoring athletes into the top 24 of the field of 199. Leading the title-winning effort was Alex Milne, making his debut at Dorking. He finished seventh, covering the 12.2km course in 42.05, just two places ahead of team captain Fred Slemeck who clocked 42.37. Richard McDowell was 11th (42:52) with Finn Johnson 14th (43:07), Joe Toomey (20th in 43:58) and Joe Clark (24th in 44:29).
Result: 1 Hercules Wimbledon 85pts; 2 South London Harriers (holders) 120; 3 Guildford & Godalming 138; 4 Herne Hill 223; 5 Thames Hare & Hounds 226; 6 Aldershot, Farnham & District 256.
HW athletes were also in action in County Championships elsewhere. Jonny Cornish won the Oxfordshire Championships by 80 seconds, while second claim Tomer Tarragano won the U20 8km Sussex Championships in 26:40. Rhys Boorman was 10th in the Senior race over 10km in 36:37.
In the bronze-medal winning U17 Women's team at the Surrey County Championships (left), Georgie Clarke was the second HW athlete home behind individual winner Ellen Weir, finishing 6th in 22:37, with Niamh Thompson 14th in 24:25 completing the scoring team.
The U15 Girls were led in by Millie Thorpe who was 10th of the 68 runners, completing the 4.2km course in 17:52. Eloise Davies was 14th in 18:02, Bailey O’Leary 33rd in 19:34. Ore Adewale was 36th in 19:49, separated by a hair's breadth from Georgia Winter, who crossed the line in an identical time.
Sophie Thorpe led the U13G team to sixth place, finishing 23rd of the 82 runners in the 2.75km race in 11:52. Twins Sophie and Charlotte Conway were virtually inseparable in 33rd and 34th, both clocking 12:16.
Benjy Street was 15th out of 87 runners in the U13 Boys 2.75km Championship in 10:33, leading the team (below) to fifth place. Adam Hammadi was the lone U15 representative in the U15 Boys Championship, finishing 22nd out of 62 runners over 4.2km, while in the U20 Men's Championship, over 6.1km, Henry Silverstein was seventh in 22:10 while in the U17s Championships Morgan Rennie was 27th in 24:21, Hector Revill was 28th in 24.31 and Edward Newton 33rd in 25:45.
In a Senior Women's team (pictured below with team manager Keith Scofield) comprised entirely of the Club's valiant vets, Claire Grima led the team to eighth, finishing 13th of the 132 runners in the 8.4km Championship in 33:49, with Gina Galbraith 31st in 36:39, with Zoe Pike (44th in 38:04) and Lisa Thomas (59th in 38:56) completing the scoring team. Helen Davies was 88th in 42:33.
Meanwhile, as the Indoor season begins...
More than a dozen HW sprinters were in action in the South London Athletics Network indoor meeting at Carshalton on Saturday. In his first race for HW, U13 Javon Blake clocked an excellent 8.51 over 60 metres, while U17s Emmanuel Adetu and Efe Peters opened up the season with PBs of 7.28 and 7.43 respectively.
There were PBs, too, for U15 Romane McFarlane (8.50), U17s Stephen Appoh (7.76), Missy Cooper (8.40) and Darcey O'Shea (8.59), while of the seniors, Antonio Douglas and Pete McLeod also clocked PBs of 7.09 and 7.68 respectively.
Results
Saturday 4 January, South London Athletic Network Open Meeting, Carshalton Full results
Saturday 4 January, Sussex County Cross Country Championships, Bexhill Full results
Sunday 5 January, Surrey County Cross Country Championships, Denbies Vineyard, Dorking Full results Power of Ten
Sunday 5 January, Oxfordshire Cross Country League (Inc Oxfordshire County Championships), Adderbury Full results
parkrun
On Saturday Kieran White won at Rushmere in 17:19, beating a 234-strong field, while Jess Coulson was top woman at the St Mary’s event in Bridport, Dorset, in 21:23. Justin Reid was runner-up out of 1815 runners in Bushy Park in 17:07, and Alex Binley was third woman on Wimbledon Common (where there were 15 HW runners in action) finishing in 19:59.