Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Allen and Dew complete 50km race to Sussex sea front

Two of Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club’s intrepid long-distance runners are celebrating after racing 50 kilometres to the Sussex sea front, writes Tom Pollak.

Felix Allen and Max Dew were well placed in the ultra-marathon trail race from Horsham’s Christ’s Hospital School to Hove.

The course was very hilly, with more than 700 metres of climbs including crossing the South Downs, but the pair rose to the challenge and finished sixth and seventh out of almost 400 runners in 4:07:33 and 4:14:35, respectively.

They both improved on their performances on their debut in the testing event last year. Then, Dew finished fifth in 4:21:09, three months before he completed the Self Transcendence 24-hour track race in Battersea Park. Allen also significantly improved on his time for the course of 4:40:25 in finishing 19th last year.

Allen, who became a supervet on Tuesday when he turned 50, is no stranger to tough races. Two years ago he raced up a tower block in the City of London while in 2017 he won the Polar marathon in Greenland in sub-zero temperatures. The same year he also ran a marathon in the sweltering heat of Senegal in Africa.

The clubs younger athletes took second team spot in their opening Ebbisham Boys League meeting of the season at Kingston.

Teenager Elliott Turbin had a busy time gaining valuable points in winning the U15 boys high jump (1.50m) and 300m (39.1 seconds) and finishing runner-up in the 100m in 12.6, the same time as the winner.

The club gained maximum points in the U13 and U15 1,500m. Noah Fernandes and George Macklin won the U13 races. Sam Dyson and Harry Allen emulated the feat in the U15 events.

Sam O’Connell gained valuable points winning the U15 discus and javelin with throws of 21.68m and 25.16m respectively.

Charlie Eastaugh was the fastest of five Hercules Wimbledon runners in action in the Tracksmith Amateur Mile races on the London Community Track in Queen Elizabeth Park, Stratford. Battling windy conditions, Eastaugh was third in his race (4:11.56).

Andrew Penney was fourth in a PB of 4:13.63 with Ed Mallett 11th.

Matilde Lomba and Bettina Urlbauer were sixth and seventh in the women’s race.

Eastaugh was in action again two days later in the Irish Milers Meet in Belfast when he finished eighth out of 13 runners over 1,500m in 3:48.61, his fastest time this year.

Eastaugh will be aiming to go faster when he competes in Hercules Wimbledon’s 1,500m Night of Racing at Wimbledon Park on Wednesday.

Jonny Cornish, Fred Slemeck, Gina Galbraith, Andrew Penney and Thomas Whorton have also entered.

Surrey U17 high jump silver medallist Mabel-Rose Scales is among more than 30 Hercules athletes competing in the SLAN Maytime open meeting at the David Weir Leisure Centre, Carshalton tomorrow.

Photo: Hercules Wimbledon’s Felix Allen on his way to Hove