Athletics round-up: Hercules Wimbledon juniors impress with Herne Hill’s Gaby Reynolds claiming British Masters W40 title
It was the turn of Hercules Wimbledon’s juniors to impress on Saturday as they came out in their masses for the second fixture of the Surrey Cross Country League, held at Nonsuch Park.
There were race wins for the U13 boys and girls and the U15 girls, with further individual and team podiums, writes George Mallett.
Isabella Harrison took the individual race win in the U15 girls section, finishing 17 seconds clear of the rest of the field.What makes Harrison’s performance all the more impressive is it was a combined race with the U17s, meaning she comfortably beat some girls two years her senior.
Freia Harper-Tee was third U15 overall and fourth in the combined race. Eleventh and 21st respectively in the U15 race were Leah Paulson and Isabelle Sparkes, leading the quartet to a narrow win.
Hercules were second in the U17 race. Ava McAndie was seventh in the age group, ably backed up by Lara Delport (ninth), Dillan Quinn (12th), and Elisabeth Thompson (27th).
The U15/U17 competition for the boys is a strange one with the two age groups competing as combined teams. This should in theory put U15 athletes like Theo Creed at a significant disadvantage, but he made a mockery of that theory by finishing a hugely impressive second overall. More than 20 seconds clear of any U15s, only U17 Alex Lennon could deny him the individual win.
With U17s Pancho Panchev fourth, Noah Fernandez 12th and U15 Harry Allen in 15th, Hercules were a not too distant second to Sutton & District AC.
The U13 girls were imperious. Jessica Wood won the race by 13 seconds with Anna Wait third. Ava Wallace-Shafie in 11th and Gwyneth Morgan 14th cemented a comfortable win from South London Harriers.
For the U13 boys, Max Harrison led the yellow-and-red contingent, winning a sprint finish for second.Only four seconds behind was Alex Derian in fourth with Thomas Hennigan (seventh) and Ivan Derian (eighth) leading some heavy packing from their winning four counters.
Alex Milne will represent Great Britain & Northern Ireland in Bangalore, India at the IAU 100km World Championships at the weekend.
He used Battersea Parkrun on Saturday as one of his final preparations and broke the course record as he clocked 15:00 over the 5km distance. Having ran sub-30 minutes over 10km just two weeks prior and finishing third in the Surrey Cross Country League Division One before that, Milne heads to Asia in impressive form.
HERNE HILL HARRIERS
Herne Hill’s Gaby Reynolds left younger veteran women in her wake as she claimed the W40 title at the British Masters Athletics Federation 5km road race championships in Battersea Park on Sunday, writes Geoff Jerwood.
The 43-year-old clocked 17:16 clocking to enjoy a winning margin of more than 90 seconds.
Reynolds’ return to top-level racing has been remarkable, having given birth to her third child as recently as April. This is the second national gold medal she has won since making her comeback as she was also a key member of Harriers’ historic senior women’s team who won the English Road Relay Championships in Sutton Coldfield in October.
Reynolds led the Herne Hill W35-44 team to silver medals in conjunction with fellow W40 Susan Grounds (22:07) and W60 Sarah Allen (28:06).
The M45-54 team brought home gold medals with good performances from M50s Simon Coombes (fifth in 16:30), Ben Paviour (sixth in 16:33) and M45 Ben Millar (10th in 17:05). Further backup was provided by another M50 Robin Jones (19th in 18:23). Reynolds’ husband Bryn was the sole Harriers representative in the M35 age group placing eighth in this category with 17:18.
The M60s field was exceptional. David Taylor and Graeme Moyse found their 17:45 and 17:50 were only sufficient for eighth and 11th respectively around the fast circuit.
The club’s U17 women produced a team win at the second Surrey Cross Country League fixture at Nonsuch Park with Maeve Minielly second, Orla Carroll eighth, Lily Kitto 15th and Martha Brennan 23rd.
There were individual race winners for the club in the U13 girls’ and boys’ races through the efforts of Skyla O’Brien and Henry Kucerov. The U13 girls were third team, with the other scoring team members being Marnie Millar eighth, Isobel McLennan 17th and Eva Burke 23rd.
The U13 boys placed second, courtesy of first-placed Kucerov, Josiah Aldham third, John Reynolds ninth and Anton Thomas 16th.
The combined U15 boys and U17 men were third. Tommy Clerkin was ninth overall, but second U15, Leau Roch was 14th and was third U15, Arnold Duan was 22nd and was seventh U15 and the team was closed by U17 Alfie Bryan, 24th overall.
The U15 girls were fifth with Sofia Mendes seventh, Clementine Cole 17th, JoJo Solley 40th and Asisse Ubhi 44th.
There was a big PB for Sam Brashaw, clocking 2:27:43, in the Valencia Marathon. Close behind him was 39-year-old Jack Brotchie with his own PB time of 2:27:54. Next in was Ross Brown with 2:38.44, then John Cousins ran a PB of 2:44:52.
The women also ran well as Charlotte Spencer recorded 3:14:36 and Hannah Edwards 3:31:34.
At the London Universities and Colleges indoor track competition at Lee Valley on Saturday the team from St George’s University featured some Harriers athletes.
Grace Leyland produced a strong front-running win in the women’s 3000m, recording a big PB of 10:08.12. Tom O’Mahoney ran two lifetime bests as he placed fourth in the men’s 1,500m in 4:10.47 and followed up with second in his 3,000m ( 8:50.62).
Harriers’ history will be made this weekend at the European Cross Country Championships in Anatalya, Turkey with two athletes from the club competing in a Great Britain team in the same event.
Poppy Craig-McFeely was an automatic selection for the U23 women’s team after placing fourth in the trial race in Liverpool last month and then, a few days later, Phoebe Anderson was added as a discretionary selection based on her stellar form while competing in NCAA races in the USA.
PICTURE: HERCULES WIMBLEDON