European bronze for Ellen

Above: Ellen (with flowers) and U20 GB teammates celebrate their bronze medals – and a gold for Megan Keith

On a day when GB topped the medal table at the 27th European Cross Country Championships in Dublin, 18-year old Ellen Weir finished in a fabulous 14th and second GB athlete home in the U20 Women's race, which was won by teammate Megan Keith. Herne Hill's Phoebe Anderson followed in 17th place, to secure the bronze medals for the team.

Congratulations, too, to second-claim Stuart McCallum who was 27th and fourth GB athlete home in the senior men's race, won by Norway's superstar and Olympic 1500m Champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

‘It was a tough race with lots of mud and hills, but I really enjoyed the experience and am really happy with my performance,' says Ellen. 'She had a great run' agrees dad Andy. Just as at the trials in Liverpool, 'she resisted the super-fast start and so avoided getting blocked at the first tight left hander. Then as the mud and hills slowed the field down she moved through from 52nd at 900m to 21st at 2.4K and finally 14th at 4K – shame it wasn’t a 5K! We thought top 20 was a remote possibility given her recent times, but she surpassed that'.

'Congratulations to Ellen on her absolutely fabulous and inspiring run', says Club Chairman, Dave Clarke, who knows a thing or two about cross country running, having been National Champion three times and represented Great Britain twelve times in the World Championships.

'She should be very proud of her performance as indeed I am sure we all are at Hercules Wimbledon! To gain a place to represent Great Britain in one European Championships must be one of the pinnacles of every athlete’s dreams! To do so twice, both on the track in the summer and then to follow it up in the winter is so impressive!’


Ellen for England

The opportunities just keep on coming for Ellen. Since her achievements in Dublin, she has been selected to represent England in the Home Counties International in Belfast on January 22nd.

Multi-talents

A big well done to first-year U17 Conor Kelly, who represented England (against Ireland, Wales and Scotland) in the Under 16 Boys age group at the Schools International Pentathlon at the Emirates Arena on 4 December. His overall score of 3227 over the five events (including a PB of 6.03 in the long jump) earned him the individual bronze medal and contributed to team gold for England.

Fellow young multi-eventer Neva Jansen was also in action in the SEAA Combined Events Championships at Lee Valley over last weekend. The only first year U15 in the event, she finished 21st overall, and, says dad and club coach, Bjorn, 'it was a great experience for her first indoor pentathlon, with lots of positives to take away. The highlight was the shot, with a throw of 8.57. It was her first time with a 3kg shot and she was third in that discipline, which is looking really good for her as an individual event'.


For Club and County

Athletes from U13 to W65 competed at Lloyd Park on 11 December as the SEAA Inter-Counties and Masters Cross Country Championships were held jointly over the same course familiar to so many HW athletes.

There was a gold medal for W65 Anna Garnier, silver for W45 Gina Galbraith and for middle distance coach, Anne Hegvold (W50).

Meanwhile for a sprinkling of the Club's junior athletes there was a first experience representing Surrey in the Inter-County Championships. Ava McAndie and Mae Losson were 37th and 71st in the U13 Girls race, with George Macklin 86th for the U13 Boys (both races over 3000m).

In the U15s 4000m race Oliver Holden, who began the day as reserve but was called up in the morning, finished third Surrey scorer in 26th, while in the U15 Girls race Charlotte and Sophie Conway were 64th and 67th. In the U17 Women's race over 5000m Eloise Davies finished in 35th, Lulu Weisz was 46th and Millie Thorpe 69th.

Full results

Down and Up Again

In the second Downs League match, the U11 Girls, led by winner Poppy Guest, finished first team; while Ava McAndie won the U13G race, to add another team victory. The U13B team finished in second, just two points behind leaders Herne Hill. Unfortunately with three athletes having to withdraw from the U11B team due to Covid, only two runners were able to take part, while the U15 girls and boys also had depleted teams, but both finished fourth.

Battersea Power

The HW all time 5 mile ranking list (which includes all known performances to 25:50) swelled after the Friday Night Under The Lights 5 Miles at Battersea, to include Dan Cliffe (24:18), Charlie Eastaugh (24:33), Freddie Slemeck (24:34), Oli Carrington, who moves up the list with 24:43, and Jackson Creegan (25:42).

Full results

South by Southwest

HW fielded a handful of athletes in the South of the Thames 7.5K Championships at Beckenham Place Park on 18 December.

First home for HW in the Men's Championship race was M45 Kieran White (just squeezing into the picture below!) in 38th, clocking 45:23, Malcolm Davies was 95th in 50:31 and M55 Peter Lee 106th in 51:40. M45 Simon Woodley was 119th in 52:30, M60 Richard Evans was 128th in 53:46, while M45 Mark Cahill finished in 161st in 58:00. Stewart Bond started, but didn't finish. Overall the six-to-score team finished in 16th.