Beckenham Bronze

Ellen Weir continued her fine run of achievements over the country at Beckenham Place Park on Saturday 29 January, taking the bronze medal at the South of England Championships in the U20 Women's event over 6000m – despite never having raced this far before. It was the first individual HW medal since 2011 when Liam White finished third on Parliament Hill in a similarly talent-loaded U20 field.

The Senior Men's team, despite missing some key players, came tantalisingly close to winning a medal. In the end they finished in fourth, same as in 2020, the highest placing since 1970 when HW won the title (having finished second in 1969 and third in 1968); while Dan Cliffe and Fred Slemeck finished in a fantastic 15th and 16th. 

Elsewhere illness and injury left holes in most the teams. Nevertheless the U17 Women (Abbie Grey, Lulu Weisz, Eloise Davies and Charlotte Lam) finished in sixth. In the U15 Boys race, Benjy Street was 18th with Oliver Holden, Michael Banks, and Noah Fernandez completing the team which finished 10th. The U15 Girls (Elena Hernandez, Elizabeth Thompson, Sophia Anderson and Ariana Shala) were 23rd.

Since the National Championships will be held on Parliament Hill in just a few weeks' time the organisers were obliged to find another venue for the Southern Championships this year. First thought was Brighton, but when that didn't come off, the circus moved to the very scenic Beckenham Place Park; and while Storm Malik made its presence felt at the other area championships, the athletes were treated to blue skies and winter sunshine.

In the U20 Women's race the trio of Ellen – who finished in 22:39 – Harriet Bloor of Lewes AC, the eventual winner in 22:15, and Surrey Champion Pippa Roessler of Aldershot, Farnham and District (second in 22:18) pulled well clear of the chasers early on in the race. 'I felt quite comfortable though the small lap and the first big lap, but on the second lap the other girls picked it up and put in a burst of extra speed on the final hill and I just didn't have it in the end', says Ellen, who quite apart from pushing herself over an unfamiliar distance, is still on the come-back trail after having Covid in January.' 'Hopefully by the time the Inter Counties and the Nationals come around I will be able to hold on better', she says.

With the in-form Albane Fery resting a sore achilles, Niamh Thompson was the only other U20 in the women's race on this occasion, finishing in 25th in 26:09, however the girls are excited for the National Championships, where they will be joined on Parliament Hill by Kiara Valkenburg and Georgie Clarke. 'Now Georgie has finished her exams (mock A levels), give her a few weeks' training and she'll be right back!', says Ellen. 'So if everyone stays injury free we will have a really good team'.

Right: Flashback to Liam White heading for an U20 bronze medal in 2011 – the last time the Club celebrated an individual medal in the SEAA Championships (photographed by the late great Ray O'Donohue). A scan through the results from that year reveal Elliott Palmer in 5th – Elliott was running for Ipswich, but later joined HW and helped the team win the Surrey Cross Country League title in 2018/19. And back in 64th: Jonny Cornish, then running for Oxfordshire Club, White Horse Harriers.

Above: the U20 medallists make an early break; and below, Ellen celebrating with the Senior Men's team.

'It's horrendous, but I love it', was team captain Fred's verdict at the end of this, the longest Senior Men's race of the three Area Championships. The Northern event is over 13.5K and the Midland Championships over 12K, while the South of England Championships are raced over a titanic 15K (approx 9 miles). This is the one that either fires up every competitive sinew, or has strong men pleading prior engagements. At the height of the debates over equalising distances for men and women, the thought of losing this famous test of stamina and character was distressing even to some of those who otherwise supported change. 'I would hate to lose the 9 Miles. I'm all for running equal, but the women can come and run it with us!', says Fred.

'After doing the Northerns for the past twenty years I was looking forward to running the Southern Champs to see how they compare!' says Dan. 'I really enjoyed the unique course as it had a bit of everything, and the distance suited me, not being blessed with much speed, so the longer the better. Overall I felt I paced myself well and was pleased with my performance and proud of the team. I haven’t run Parliament Hill for a long time but can’t wait for the Nationals'.

The race was won by Andy Coley-Maud of Guildford & Godalming, who took the title for the first time since 2017 and is well known to everyone on the Surrey League circuit, having finished first in both match 2 on Wimbledon Common and match 3 on Mitcham Common.

Following in Dan in 49:38 in 15th and Fred in 16th in 49:40, the scoring team for HW was completed by Oli Carrington, 43rd in 51:11, George Mallett, 45th in 51:13, Rhys Boorman, 79th in 52:52, and Jamie Bannister, 115th, in 54:40.

'What do you reckon – another 20 metres and you would have caught me?' asked Dan after winning the HW mini-battle up front. ''I needed about another mile! We were never really together', insists Fred. 'I went off too hard. I had delusions of grandeur at the start and suffered horribly for the first lap and a half, which was when Dan the Man came past, but luckily the race is so long I had time to recover and I quite enjoyed the second half!'

Below: Dan and Fred finishing in a fantastic 15th and 16th.

Miami Nice

Andrew Penney and Tom Jervis took advantage of a window in the cross country calendar last weekend to test themselves over the half-marathon distance in the sunshine of Miami, with Andrew coming away with a PB and a bronze medal in the Life Time Miami Marathon and Half Marathon event. It was also a chance to link up with fellow HW distance runner, New York-based Dom Kiralyfi, who was racing over the full Marathon distance for the first time since 2019, when he clocked a PB of 2:34.09 in New York.

Above: Tom Jervis at the front of the mass half marathon start. Photograph by the Miami Herald

Around 12,500 half and full marathon runners set off together at 6am in attempt to minimise the heat and humidity over a course which heads out to Miami Beach and finishes in Bayfront Park. Andrew, who was also running his distance for the first time since 2019, finished third in the Elite race in 71:43, a PB which puts him 27th on the all-time HW ranking list. Tom, whose half marathon best of 72:54 was achieved in 2017 before he joined Hercules, finished second of almost 10,000 runners in the mass race in 74:29, while Dom was eighth in the Elite Marathon in 2:39.10.

'I'm so happy to have got a medal', says Andrew. 'It was the most unbelievable running experience. The elite marathoners set off at a sensible pace (for them!) so I was in a pack of 10-12 international runners for the first 7-8 miles. Then when some carried on for the full marathon course I realised I was in a medal spot for the half marathon. One to remember!'