Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Runners in action at London Cross County Championships and London Youth Games
Veteran London Marathon exponent Claire Grima led the Hercules Wimbledon runners home in the London Cross Country Championships at Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday, writes Tom Pollak.
Grima completed the 6km course in 24:14 as the club finished 10th in the team contest.
She was followed by Albane Fery (41st in 24:45), Niamh Thompson (62nd in 25:29) and Kiara Valkenburg (77th in 26:07). Hercules Wimbledon were 10th in the team contest.
Teenagers Edward Newton and Christopher Ellis were 126th and 270th out of 428 runners in the men’s 10km championship.
Almost 40 Hercules Wimbledon youngsters represented Merton and Wandsworth, in the eight London Youth Games races which were the curtain-raiser in north London.
Ava McAndie finished eighth out of 205 runners in the girls U13 race, helping Wandsworth win the team event. Also representing that borough were Isabella Harrison (17th), Josie Hughes (25th), Iona Alexander (46th) and Mae Losson (68th). Vivienne Jonczyk and Martha Eminson were 83rd and 107th for Merton.
Poppy Guest was fourth out of 154 runners in the U11 girls race while Theo Creed, Cyrus Sheikh and Alex Hughes were sixth, 15th and 30th out of 153 runners in the boys U11 race.
Harry Allen (41st) was the top Hercules Wimbledon finisher in the U13 boys race with Sammy Hobden 47th, Sam Dyson 50th, Zach Elliot 51st, William Moret 93rd and Luca Grima 121st.
Twins Sophie and Charlotte Conway headed the Hercules contingent in the girls U15 race finishing 45th and 49th of the 177 runners. Other finishers were Ariana Shala (67th), Elena Hernandez (82nd), Sophia Anderson (85th), Charlotte Gurney (91st) and Elizabeth Thompson (112th).
Oliver Holden was the best of six Hercules Wimbledon runners in the U15 boys race, finishing 23rd out of 180 runners. Also representing Wandsworth, Jack Hobden was 42nd with Matthew Young (53rd), Hugo Kelly (71st) and Tom Davies (123rd) also competing. Michael Banks was 98th for Merton.
Representing Merton, Will Taylor was 14th out of 117 runners in the boys U17 race. Millie Thorpe, running for Wandsworth, was the top Hercules finisher in the U17 girls race in 14th. Georgia Winter and Charlotte Lam were 31st and 50th out of 96 runners. Emily Grey, Lulu Weisz and George Winter – representing Merton – were 17th, 22nd and 26th.
Supervet Lisa Thomas made her debut in the Bedford parkrun on Saturday, finishing 18th out of 339 runners. She was runner-up in the women’s race in 20:46, posting the top age-graded performance of the race.
Alex Binley was top woman finisher, taking ninth spot out of 99 runners, in the Hasenheide event in Berlin (19:51).
Veteran Kieran White (17:04) was third out of 408 runners in Dulwich. Robbie Hynes (17:23) was third out of 391 runners in Rickmansworth.
The club had three of the top four finishers in the Wimbledon Park junior parkrun on Sunday.
Sam Dyson (7:54) headed the field home ahead of Iona Alexander (8:19), who was the first girl.
Thomas Hennigan was fourth out of 95 runners in a PB of 8:49.
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