Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Ellen Weir has confidence-boosting win in Belgium

Teenager Ellen Weir posted a confidence-boosting win at the Cross Cup Diest in Belgium in the run-up to this weekend’s English National Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill in north London, writes Tom Pollak.

Weir will be part of a Hercules Wimbledon U20 women’s team looking to make their mark in this iconic fixture. The club will be fielding teams in all 10 races.

The win in Belgium, where she was representing England, was Weir’s first at a major cross country event, after winning the bronze medal at the South of England Cross Country Championships at Beckenham Place Park a fortnight earlier.

She took the lead on the penultimate lap to break the tape in 17:41 – 20 seconds clear of England team-mate Pippa Roessler of Aldershot, Farnham & District.

The win was even sweeter for the Hercules Wimbledon runner as Roessler had finished ahead of Weir in their previous two encounters, at the Surrey County Cross Championships – Roessler took the gold medal and Weir the silver – and at the South of England Championships, where they finished second and third, respectively.

Wimbledon High School student Weir, 18, now faces a busy few weeks. After racing in the English National on Saturday, along with some of her Hercules Wimbledon team-mates, she will be representing Surrey at the CAU Inter County Cross Country Championships in Loughborough on March 12. Then, a week later, she again races for Surrey in the English Schools’ Cross Country Championships at Paddock Wood, Kent.

Last Saturday should have seen the senior men’s team win the fourth and final Open Track Surrey Cross Country League fixture of the season, and with it claim the league title for only the second time since Hercules Wimbledon was formed in 1967. But the match, due to be held on Effingham Common, near Leatherhead, had to be called off after Storm Eunice blew through the course, felling trees and leaving branches dangling dangerously and likely to fall.

Despite valiant efforts to save the fixture by host club, Guildford & Godalming, it had to be cancelled in the interests of the safety of the runners and volunteers.

Hercules Wimbledon are waiting for an announcement from the league as to whether it is possible to reschedule the match.

A dozen Hercules Wimbledon runners were among more than 250 competitors who took part in the monthly Friday Night under Lights 5km road races in Battersea Park.

Fastest from Hercules Wimbledon was Jonny Cornish, who clocked 14:17, just outside his best time, in finishing 25th in the fastest race of the night.

Charlie Eastaugh was also just outside his best in clocking 14:30 while a trio of Hercules Wimbledon runners, senior men’s team captain Fred Slemeck (14:38), Oliver Carrington (14:43) and George Mallett (14:44) all improved on their PBs for the distance.

Teenager Conor Kelly was the best of a handful of the club’s athletes in action in the England Athletics Age Group Indoor Championships in Sheffield. He raced to the silver medal in the U17 200m in a PB of 22.40. He won his beat in 22.56, also an improvement on his best before the championships of 22.95.

Elliott Turbin was fifth in both the U15 boys 300m (39.42) and high jump (1.60m). He clocked a PB of 38.84 in his 300m heat.