Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Junior teams excel at National Cross Country Relays in Mansfield
BY GEORGE MALLETT
It was another successful Saturday on the cross-country fields as a host of junior squads excelled at the National Cross Country Relays at Berry Hill Park, Mansfield.
Four junior trios made the trip up to Nottinghamshire with the U13 Boys group leading the way with an outstanding fourth place.
Competing over three roughly two km laps, Ivan Derian led the current U13 national cross country champions to an outstanding 16th off the notoriously competitive opening leg.All three team members clocked times within four seconds of each other with Thomas Hennigan taking over on the second leg and running the third fastest of the middle legs.
His 7:47 lifted Hercules all the way to seventh. This team have grown quickly accustomed to winning silverware having medalled at both the South of England and National Road Relays and Max Harrison set off like a boy possessed. Closing on third place North Shields Polytechnic, Harrison ran 7:45, again the third fastest of the final legs, but ran out of ground and finished 15 seconds short of the medals.
The U15 Girls took on the same course, with opening leg Isabella Harrison keen not to be outdone by her younger brother.Indeed her split of 7:45 on the opening leg equalled his time and had Hercules in 10th. It was a position they would finish in, despite some yo-yoing in between. Beatric Eminson ran 8:21 on a competitive second leg to leave Hercules in 15th before Freia Harper-Tee’s 8:03, the ninth fastest final leg saw the trio finish 10th out of 89 teams.
The U17 boys competed over three three-km legs, performing admirably to finish inside the top 15. Alex McGuigan ran their fastest leg of the day, running 9:35, the eighth fastest middle leg, with Noah Fernandez and Pancho Panchez running consistently to both clock 9:48. They were 14th of 92 teams.
The days final representatives were the junior men. The trio of Isaac Lutaya, Seb Cockerell and Benjy Street steadily moved through, only entering the top 50 on the final leg but finishing in 33rd of 83 teams, thanks in no small part to Street’s 9:11 close, again over roughly three km.
Hercules had two representatives at Sunday’s New York City Marathon, one of the world’s six Abbott World Marathon Majors.It was a case of quality over quantity as now New York-based Ben Toomer finishing in 2:27:22, his fastest time since he finished 25th at the 2021 edition of the same event.
Adam Moriarty ran 2:29:08 earlier this year at London but headed to the USA knowing that the hilly course through the five boroughs was never going to lead to many personal best marks. Nevertheless, Moriarty judged it well to finish in 2:32:46, his second fastest time ever.
PICTURE: HERCULES WIMBLEDON AC