Golden Girls
HW's young women and girls teams emphasised the strength in depth of their squad last Saturday in Richmond Park as the U17 Women clinched the title in the final match of the Surrey Cross Country League season. The U15s finished second in their league and the U13s third.
Despite the U17s being down to just two athletes, thanks to illness and injury, they had built up an unassailable league over the four matches, and so third place on the day was enough to seal the overall title. The headline performance was posted by Surrey County champion Ellen Weir who won the 4.7km race in 17:09 to beat the runner-up by more than half-a-minute. Niamh Thompson completed the two-woman team finishing in fifth in 18:08.
The win also saw Ellen confirmed as top U17 scorer overall for the season, having won all three of the matches in which she competed, with Georgie Clarke, winner of match 2, second, and Niamh fifth.
Final U17 standings: 1 Hercules Wimbledon 151pts; 2 Epsom & Ewell 199; 3 South London Harriers 224.
Meanwhile in the final match of the Men's League at Lloyd Park, Croydon, Jonny Cornish finished in third place (out of 243 runners) in the 5-mile race in 27:17. Before the match both Cornish and Alex Milne were in contention for the title of top HW scorer, with Cornish leading by two points, and the two were neck and neck for most of the race, however Cornish just edged it at the finish as Milne finished fourth in 27:21. Both posted their best placings of the season to finish fourth and fifth overall in the League.
Tom Jervis was the next man home, finishing in 14th in 28:30, with Fred Slemeck 16th in 28:32, Andrew Penney 26th in 29:11, Rhys Boorman 28th in 29:13, and Dimos Evangelidis 40th in 29:33. Howell Craske, making a welcome return after illness, was 41st in 29:38, with Joe Clark (48th in 29:51) and Will Woodcock (50th in 30:05) completing the team. At the conclusion of the race it was time for team captain Slemeck to hand back the silver trophy, won so famously last season, to Kent AC, with the promise of another titanic battle next season.
Teams: 1 Kent AC 162; 2 Hercules Wimbledon 270; 3 Thames Hare & Hounds 387; 4 Herne Hill 395; 5 South London Harriers 422; 6 Belgrave 502.
Final standings: 1 Kent AC 722; 2 Hercules Wimbledon 1095; 3 South London Harriers 1636; 4 Thames Hare & Hounds 1655; 5 Herne Hill 1703; 6 Belgrave 1954.
Lulu Weisz led the Girls U15 team to second place in the Richmond Park match, finishing fifth in 18:50, with Millie Thorpe sixth in 19:03, Ore Adewale 12th in 19:30 and Georgia Winter 14th in 19:36.
Final U15 standings: 1 Epsom & Ewell 123pts; 2 Hercules Wimbledon 176; 3 Epsom & Ewell B 250.
Sophie Thorpe and Sophie Conway were the leading U13 girls, finishing 13th and 14th of the 53 runners in the 3.2km race in 13:01 and 13:03 respectively. Grace Eminson was 23rd in 13:38 and Sophia Anderson 25th in 13:45 to complete the scoring team.
Final standings: 1 Herne Hill 86; 2 Epsom & Ewell 235; 3 Hercules Wimbledon 316.
In the Senior's match Claire Grima led the HW team home (above) over the 8.3km race, finishing ninth of the 260 runners in 31:44. Jess Prior was 34th in 33:51, Gina Galbraith was 46th in 34:23 with Estle Viljoen 125th in 37:48, Fran Clarke 132nd in 38:20 and Jo Wilkinson, making her Hercules Wimbledon debut, 138th in 38:31.
Benjy Street led the U13 Boys team (below) to third place at Lloyd Park, finishing 11th of the 59 runners in 12:45. Oliver Warbey was 16th in 12:58, Ronan McArdle 18th in 13:05 and Jude Goldsmith 36th in 13:53. Overall the team finished fourth in the League.
One for the Road
In Armagh on Thursday night, Ed Mallett clocked a pb of 15:11 in the Armagh International Road Race over 5km amongst a high quality field in which 140 men clocked times inside 15 minutes and 227 went under 16-minutes.
London Schools Cross Country Championships
Georgie Clarke, who missed the final match of the Surrey Coss Country League through illness, was 14th in the 4.1km Inter Girls Race at the London Schools Cross Country Championships on February 5th in 17:00. In the Junior Girls race over 3.5km Georgia Winter finished 13th in 15:01, Ore Adewale was 15th out of the 144 finishers in 15:13, while Freya Doyle was 45th in 16:19. Mabel-Rose Scales – more at home as a high jumper – was 81st in 18:26. In the Inter Boys race, Edward Newton finished in 18th, covering the 4.7km course in 17:55.