Ellen triumphs in Belgium
Photograph by Lucien lambotte
Joy is written all over Ellen Weir’s face (captured by photographer Lucien Lambotte) as she clinches her first major cross country win, representing England at the CrossCup Diest in Belgium. ‘I really enjoyed the race and it was a great experience', says Ellen. 'I was very happy to cross the line first, for the first time in a big race.’ The win was also a huge confidence-booster in the run up to the National Championships on Parliament Hill on Saturday, where she will join Albane Fery, Niamh Thompson, Georgie Clarke and Kiara Valkenburg in what may well be the Club's strongest U20 Women's team ever at the Nationals – a great testimony to the talent and togetherness within coach Anne Hegvold's training group.
For Ellen the win in Belgium (on 13 February) was no doubt all the sweeter, as she came home twenty seconds ahead of England team-mate Pippa Roessler. The Aldershot, Farnham & District athlete had finished ahead of Ellen in the medals at their last two encounters (at the Surrey County Cross Championships, where Roessler took gold and Ellen silver), and at the Southern Championships, where they finished in second and third respectively.
'It was a crazy course round a large adventure playground and water park', says Ellen's dad Andy. 'They ran through sand pits, mud and over hurdles, with turns every 50m or so, so it was actually quite sapping. Ellen got to the front after the first 900m lap and she and Pippa drifted clear with Ellen looking stronger on the heavy patches. She pushed it on the only hill (over the toilet block – I kid you not!) and got clear on the penultimate lap.'
For Ellen, like many HW athletes, the next few weeks sees a run of Championship events. A fortnight after the Nationals, she will be representing Surrey at the CAU Inter County Cross Country Championships in Loughborough (12 March), and the weekend after that she will again run for Surrey in the English Schools’ Cross Country Championships, which this year are being held at Hop Farm, Paddock Wood, in Kent.
Above: Jack Rowe stretches out the PUL5K field in Battersea Park. Photo by James Rhodes
PUL-ing power
The cancellation of the 2022 Armagh International 5K road race, due to concerns about the number of coronavirus cases locally, came as a big blow to the running community. After all this is an event that bills itself as having 'acquired almost iconic status as the greatest in-depth 5K Road Race in the world', famous for athletes running sub-15 minutes (including a fair few from Hercules over the years). However Armagh's loss turned out to be Battersea's gain, thanks to PUL5K, a collaboration between the Friday Night Under the Lights team of HW coaches Ben Noad (also the Club's Performance Director) and Keith Scofield – who have built up a reputation for slick, quick racing in Battersea Park – and Podium 5K, known for staging fast races all around the country.
The Friday Night Under the Lights concept was born out of a thirst for keen competition following lockdown. 'We had held a couple of socially-distanced 5K Club competitions at Wimbledon Park in October 2020 and April 2021, which everyone loved, but there was an appetite for a faster course', says Ben. 'After Keith took on the mountain of paperwork, we managed to get Battersea Park as a venue, and put on the first race on 7 May'. The race attracted a high class field and, as expected, delivered impressively fast times. Jack Rowe of Aldershot, Farnham & District won in13:35.3, with the first ten athletes running sub 14:30, including HW's Charlie Eastaugh, and a raft of runners, including HW's Tom Jervis, going under 15:00.
'The feedback was great', says Ben, 'so we just thought, let's carry on'. Since then they have staged two more 5K events, plus a 5-Mile race in December, and when the Armagh event was cancelled there was a clamour for them to put on an alternative. 'Keith was itching to do it', says Ben, who took a little more persuading, given the immensity of the task amid his already busy calendar of events-organising, but withSportsShoes.com coming on board as sponsors, and the help of the extra publicity generated by Podium 5K, he and Keith swung into action, following the established model of invitations to quick runners and masses of social media, after which the interest and excitement snowballs.
And so on the chilly night of Friday 11 February (the day after the Armagh race should have been held) Battersea Park was treated to four great races, in which the overall winner was once again Jack Rowe, seven men ran sub 14 minutes, and 110 ran sub 15 minutes, including HW athletes Jonny Cornish, who finished in 14:17, and Charlie Eastaugh in 14:30 . Both were outside their PBs, however Fred Slemeck, who clocked 14:38, Oliver Carrington, 14:43, and George Mallett, 14:44, all recorded best times.
What especially pleased Ben, on top of the way all the races were packed tightly and keenly fought, was the quality in depth of the women's elite race, won in 15:52 by Allison Keiffer of the USA, a 2:28 marathon runner. Plus the the way Hercules athletes (when not racing) and Club members and officials have completely embraced the Friday Nights Under the Lights series, pitching in to help each time with registration, marshalling and recording at the finish. 'As much as anything', he insists,' we owe it to everyone who gives up their time to put on some cracking racing and create a real buzz'.
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