Brilliant Bronze

Forty-nine years after the last team medals were won, the Senior Men's team finally clinched bronze in a hard-fought battle with eventual winners Highgate Harriers and silver medallists Tonbridge AC.

Since Hercules Wimbledon was created in 1967 after the amalgamation of Hercules AC and Wimbledon AC, the Club's history in this competition reads: bronze medallists in 1968, silver medallists in 1969, Champions in 1970, and bronze medallists again in 1974. Since then, however, medals have eluded the squad, in a time span which, as noted in Athletics Weekly's report, 'takes in the career of multiple National champion Dave Clarke (Club Chairman) who was there supporting his team but never won a team medal' (though he won individual bronze in 1979).  

In this, the longest Senior Men's race of the three Area Championships, the first challenge is to field a squad fit enough and strong enough to wedge as many bodies as possible into the front of the pack.  So, in the lead up to the race with only a couple of the usual suspects missing, coach Ben Noad dared to suggest it could be time to dream. And when Jonny Cornish spearheaded the attack, sitting in fourth position with gold and scarlet vests packing in not far behind, it began to look like dreams might come true.

So close was the fight at the head of the long snake of runners that the final positions were only cemented in the last 400 metres, and for a brief moment the murmur was that the medals for Hercules might just be of a different colour. However the scribbled maths in former team manager Fred Green's trusty notebook suggested otherwise, and so it transpired. No matter: when third place was announced a huge cheer went up, as the irrepressible Finn Johnson uncorked a bottle of fizz to drench the scoring team of Jonny Cornish (7th out of 665 finishers), Fred Slemeck (18th), Andrew Penney (19th), the Mallett brothers, George and Ed (21st and 28th respectively), and James Stockings (32nd). 

A mere two points separated first and second places, with HW just 24 points off gold.

'You could tell by the reaction just how much it means to us to finally crack winning a regional medal', enthused team captain Fred Slemeck, who only three weeks earlier was celebrating team gold and an individual bronze at the County Championships, following team gold at the London Cross Country Championships in November.

'We've done so well in the Southern 12-Stage and 6-Stage Relays, and been fourth the last two years in these Championships but despite saying, 'right we're going to get a medal this time' we have never managed to do it. Until now!'

Above: first scorer Jonny Cornish in the mix up front during the early part of the race. Thanks to photographer Mark Hookway of Tonbridge AC for the photos.

'I really enjoyed the race and the course', said first man home, Jonny Cornish, whose seventh place was the highest in the Senior Men's race since Dave Clarke's bronze in 1979.  'I could hear all the shouts for Hercules and I tried to hold on to fourth for as long as I could, though I knew the others would be strong. A few people caught me in the end, but it is just brilliant to get a team medal for the first time since '74'.

'This is one of the best Hercules moments ever', joined in Andrew Penney, who first competed for the Club as a 15-year old sixteen years ago, and was third man home, a whisker behind Fred.  'Looking back and knowing we had six guys in the top 32 was awesome. I was so nervous beforehand. I wanted to take one for the team, but I had been concentrating on the track and apart from a couple of 10-mile road races I hadn't done that much distance training, so I just tried to relax and ease into it. The great thing about 15K is that by virtue of building steadily throughout the race you can rack up places pretty quickly, and the next thing I knew I found myself in the top twenty'.

Such is the step up for the whole team that HW's first twelve runners all finished in the top 100, compared to last year's race in which the sixth scorer was 115th. 

Below: team captain Fred Slemeck, who along with Ed Mallett has featured in all three medal winning teams over the last couple of months: gold at the London Cross Country Championships in November; gold at the Surrey Championships at the beginning of January, and now bronze at Beckenham. Thanks to Mark Hookway, once again, for the photograph

Perhaps the gutsiest run of the day was produced by George Mallett, who injured his foot scoring for the team in the Surrey Cross Country Championships, but thanks to some physio wizardry managed to stretch away from brother Ed and James Stockings, who had worked together for the majority of the race, to finish in fourth. 'George had an absolute blinder', said an appreciative Fred Slemeck. 'Turning round with Penney at the finish and seeing him come over the line just behind was amazing!'

Cheering the team on as always was the evergreen Mike Fuller, who had been waiting for this moment for many years, having been the second scorer in the last medal-winning team of 1974. 'I'm so proud of the lads, he says. 'They are a good bunch who train hard and I'm so pleased that they seized the moment. It was great to watch. We have come so close to Southern medals in the past three or four years that I felt it was only a matter of time before it happened'. 

While the Senior Men profited from a largely injury-free squad, some of the Club's teams in the other age groups suffered from withdrawals due to illness and injury.

U20 Ellen Weir, who won the individual bronze medal last year, is still finding her best form after a combination of a big summer of racing, and starting out at University. Nevertheless she was still able to finish an excellent 5th, ahead of international team mate and close rival, Pippa Roessler of Aldershot, Farnham and District (last year's silver medallist). Millie Thorpe, the Club's only other representative in the Women's U20 race, finished in 28th.

In the U20 Men's race the sole HW athlete, Isaac Lutaya, was 68th. For Isaac, who is also looking forward to competing over shorter distances on the track this summer – this was a massive leap forward following his debut in this event last year, when he finished in 140th.

For the U13 Girls Isabella Harrison finished in an excellent 10th, to lead team mates Alexandra Bramwell (44th), Freia Harper-Tee (53rd) and Isabella Sparkes (76th) to seventh place.  Almost matching them, the scoring U13 Boys team of Sam Dyson (16th), Harry Allen (29th), Cyrus Sheikh (69th) and Isaac Mistry (119th) were eighth.

The U15 Girls finished in 17th. Ava McAndie was 61st, followed by Iona Alexander (72nd), Mae Losson (84th) and Lara Delport (113th). The U15 Boys were 20th, with Noah Fernandez finishing in 43rd, and Hugo Barbudo Bernal (75th), Yusuf Achchi (137) and Oscar Baritsch (164th), completing the team.

U17s Jack Hobden (69th), Tom Davies (119th) and Hugo Kelly (158th) were without a fourth runner and so unable to close a team, as were the U17 Women, however Grace Eminson, Amelie Stark and Abigail Grey finished in 58th, 59th and 75th respectively.

Full results 

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