Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Southern League title win secured in style

BY TOM POLLAK

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club’s Southern League team maintained their unbeaten run this season to clinch their divisional title.

Some of the club’s youngsters won titles and medals in the South of England age group championships.

The fifth and final Southern League match at Tooting Bec on Saturday proved the toughest of the season. After a five-and-a-half hour battle with hosts Herne Hill, Hercules Wimbledon won by just 11 points. They were the only team in the 17-club division to win all five matches this summer.

Team manager Heather Jones played her part in the triumph as she competed in seven events – winning the high jump and javelin B, finishing second in the 100m hurdles and pole vault A, third in the long jump A and triple jump B with fourth spot in the hammer B.

The men dominated the track events with Ryan Facey and Armani Thomas winning the 100m and 200m A and B races. Hamed Agboke and Andrew Sarpong claimed the 400m A and B events.

Charlie Eastaugh posted the best Hercules Wimbledon performance – winning the 800m by nine seconds in 1:55.80.

Ross Franks won the B race. Eastaugh made it a middle-distance double as he took the 1,500m A with Jonny Cornish taking the B race. Finn Johnson won the 5,000m B.

All-rounder Mark Andrews played his part before suffering a nasty injury as he took a tumble at the first flight in the sprint hurdles. He could just about hobble afterwards. Before his dramatic fall, he gained valuable points winning the high jump and pole vault and took second place in the shot, discus and hammer. Andrews won the javelin B.

Other winners were top individual woman performer Gina Galbraith (3,000m A), Alex Binley (1,500m, 3,000m and 2000m steeplechase B), Ann-Kathrin Miekle (100m hurdles B and javelin A), Lance Power (40m hurdles and pole vault B), Andrew Thomas (2,000m steeplechase A), Agith Naval (high jump B), Denzil Agyeman (long jump B), Pete McLeod (triple jump A) and Ryan Hester (triple jump B).

The men won both their relays. Ryan Facey, Jaleel Roper, Antonio Douglas and Armani Thomas combined in the 4x100m and Douglas, Hamed Agboke, Morgan Rennie and Devonte Casely-Hayford linked up in the 4x400m.

Meanwhile, the club’s youngsters were in good form at the Julie Rose Stadium in Ashford.

Mabel-Rose Scales retained her girls U13 high jump title with a 1.45m clearance. Scottie Noel took gold in the U13 shot – a final effort of 7.71m lifted her from fifth to first place. Scales just missed out on a second medal, finishing fourth in the long jump with 4.50m.

Freddie Arkell took two silver medals in the 100m (11.53 seconds), battling into a stiff 2.5 metres-per-second headwind and long jump (6.13m) where he led until the fourth of the six rounds.

Making her debut in the South of England track championships, Lulu Weisz sliced half-a-second off her lifetime best to take bronze in the U15 girls 800m in 2:19.69. Georgie Clarke missed out on a medal by 0.43 seconds in taking fourth in the U17 1,500m in 4:49.70.

Hercules Wimbledon runners gained a hat-trick of parkrun wins on Saturday. Fred Slemeck was in action in Gothenburg, Sweden, where he crossed line in 17:21. Ellen Weir was top woman finisher on the Isle of Wight in 20:53. Chloe Binley was first woman on Wimbledon Common in 19:50.

Dwayne Cowan heads the Hercules Wimbledon contingent in action in the British Championships in Birmingham this weekend. They double up as trials for the World Championships in Doha starting at the end of next month.