Athletics: Herne Hill Harriers’ female athletes continue to produce strong performances

Another weekend saw another Herne Hill Harriers’ senior women’s record as the female athletes from the club continue to go from strength to strength, writes Geoff Jerwood.

This time it was the turn of Lucy Jones at the BMC Grand Prix meet at SportsCity next to the Etihad Stadium in Manchester on Saturday. Placing second in the women’s 3,000m steeplechase in a time of 10:35.66, she revised the previous mark set by Lily Newton last summer.

Jones was a little disappointed with her time as she is seeking to qualify for this event at the UK Championships at the same venue at the end of next month and is likely to need to run at least sub 10:30 by mid June to receive an invitation. But this was a very good early season performance and sets her up well for her next targets.

An athlete who will have a big job to do at those UK Championships is Katie Snowden, who will need to finish in the first two in the women’s 1,500m final to secure a place in the Great Britain team for the Paris Olympic Games.

Her second race of the season, while still in heavy preparation mode, saw her finish seventh in the women’s 1,500m at Saturday’s Nike Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon.

Snowden again ran well in another stacked world-class field, behind fourth-placed British record holder Laura Muir, but just ahead of another rival for an Olympic berth, Georgia Bell, who finished eighth. Snowden’s time of 4:00.24 was a season’s best and another Olympic qualifying time for the second Saturday in a row.

The high-quality middle distance results keep coming as club women’s 5,000m record holder Phoebe Anderson was fifth in her semi-final race at the NCAA East First Round meet, also on Saturday.

Racing at Lexington in Kentucky, Anderson’s 15:35.80 continues her superb consistency this season as she has now run a handful of times that are faster than any other Harriers female has so far achieved on the track at this race distance. Finishing fifth ensured that she punched her ticket to the NCAA’s Finals in Eugene, Oregon next month where she’ll be hoping for a breakthrough performance.

In road racing, Sunday morning saw Andrew Warburton run 31:46 to finish 42nd at the Great Manchester Run 10km.

Further north at the Edinburgh Marathon Festival over the weekend, Jenny Nandi was first female in the 10km on Saturday in 38:04, a good time on a hilly course.

Then in the Edinburgh Marathon on Sunday, Tom Foster ran 3:06.41, James Brown 3:07.11 and Annabelle Acres 3:26.00 as the club was well represented in one of the biggest Scottish road running events on the calendar.