Athletics round-up: London Cross Country Championship individual wins for Herne Hill Harriers and Hercules Wimbledon

HERNE HILL HARRIERS

A relatively mild Saturday saw the 2024 London Cross Country Championships that takes place at Parliament Hill Fields, over the same iconic undulating terrain which will be the scene of this season’s English National Cross Country Championships in February.

For the second successive Saturday in big competitions, Herne Hill Harriers’ women’s A team were second with the men’s A team fifth, writes Geoff Jerwood.

The women’s squad added to their growing collection of team and individual medals. In their 6km race, Lucy Jones and Sophie Tooley underlined strong form as they ran away from the field of 217 finishers to finish first and second.

Jones was first across a finish line for the third time in as many November Saturdays so far, with a clear victory by 44 seconds. Tooley has stepped up to another level during the last month and the 25-year-old claimed an excellent silver medal with her best race so far as a senior athlete.

This pairing led the Harriers women to team silver medals, with the other two team scorers being Jenny Nandi (15th) and Shannon Sinclair (29th).

They were backed up by Ella Newton 66th and Jess Winfield 133rd.

In the men’s 10km race, in-form Herne Hill-based Australian Brandon Dewar placed fourth, another fine run after his fifth place in the Surrey League seven days earlier.

Andrew Clarke showed a return towards his best in 10th place with Daniel Shaw close behind in 17th. M45 Ben Millar closed the scoring quartet in 70th.

The men’s turnout was completed by Alex Lee 71st, Fintan Kearney 93rd, Stephen McLeod 110th, Jamie Brown 124th, Craig Duncan 191st, M55 Norman Urquia 244th, William Oliver 273rd, M55 Jonathan Ratcliffe 306th, Leon Kong 345th and M55 Andrew Simms 349th.

Former Great Britain junior cross country international Phoebe Anderson enjoyed a superb result at the NCAA Regionals as she placed second in a high-quality field at the Northeast Championships in the USA.

Her performance secured qualification for the NCAA National Cross Country Championships tomorrow in Madison, Wisconsin, where she will be looking to make her mark on the biggest stage.

Prior to the senior women’s and men’s London Championships the London Youth Games Cross Country races were held on the Parliament Hill course, with youngsters representing their London borough of residence rather than their clubs.

Top results were achieved by Herne Hill athletes in an event which had been contested in past years by a young Sir Mo Farah.

These included a bronze medal for Tommy Clerkin in the U15 boys race where he was followed in by club mates Leau Roch (seventh) and Caspian Holmes (17th).

In the U13 girls race another bronze medal was secured by Skyla O’Brien, with Marnie Millar 12th and Isobel McLennan 14th. Henry Kucerov was fourth in the U13 boys race, while in the U17 women’s event, Sophie Jack placed sixth and Maeve Minielly was 12th.

HERCULES WIMBLEDON

Races have continued to come thick and fast for a Hercules squad competing at the sharp ends in both the roads and cross-country this weekend, writes George Mallett.

Andrew Penney took the individual London Cross Country title as he led the senior men to team bronze at Parliament Hill on Saturday.

Penney bided his time before running away from the rest of the field to finish 10 seconds clear of James Hoad of Thames Hare & Hounds, running the approximately 10km over the rugged terrain of Hampstead Heath in 34:29.

Penney was ably-supported by Rhys Boorman, who finished ninth in 35:57.

Youngster Tom Maloney was 25th, with Joe Clark 54th to round out the scoring four. Their top four counters added up to 89, four clear of London Heathside. Thames Hare & Hounds were clear winners.

Hercules had three silver medallists in the London Youth Games Cross Country at the same venue.

Wandsworth’s Isabella Harrison, who last week ran the fastest parkrun by a female in the UK that weekend, was second to Jorija March in the U15 girls, with Merton’s Theo Creed emulating that result in the U15 boys. Anna Wait, also representing Merton, was a close silver in the U13 girls.

Special mention should also go to a slew of Merton representatives, Freia Harper-Tee, seventh in the U15 girls, Jessica Wood, just missing out on the U13 girls podium in fourth, and Thomas Hennigan, eighth in the U13 race. In the U17 girls Ava Mcandie (Wandsworth) and Lara Delport (Merton) finished seventh and ninth respectively.

Club 10k leaderboards and records were broken at 10k events in Brighton and Fulham on Sunday.

Ruby Carter took 90 seconds off Claire Grima’s eight-year-old club record at Brighton, finishing fifth female in 34:44. It has been a productive couple of weeks for the new signing, having finished sixth in last weekend’s Surrey Cross Country League fixture.

Alex Milne ran under 30 minutes for the first time, cementing his position at fourth in the club’s all-time list, finishing seventh over the line in 29:46 in Fulham.

On the same twisty course, Charlie Wyllie was ninth, taking 12 seconds off his own best to move into the club top-10 with 30:40. Tom Drayton (32:16) and Sam Todd (32:28) both clocked big PBs and were rewarded by moves into 33rd and 37th respectively on those all-time lists.

Liam White’s U20 club record had stood for 13 years but was bettered by Jack Hobden, still missing from the official results at the time of writing, but with a time of approximately 32:44.

Once that becomes official it will take 15 seconds of White’s run from the Isle of Man Easter Festival.

DULWICH RUNNERS

Dulwich Runners had top-10 performances from their men and women at the London Cross Country Championships, writes Jonathan Whittaker.

The women’s quartet of Alex McClelland (40th, 25:17), Rosie Murton (54th, 26:10), Harriet Mountain (55th, 26:10) and Katie Smith (59th, 26:25) placed ninth out of 25 teams.

The men secured seventh place out of 38 teams. The scoring team was made up of Aaron Wilson (32nd, 37:43), Sean Cordon (33rd, 37:56), James Blackwood (41st, 38:18) and Jon Phillips (66th, 39:43).

A number of the club’s athletes represented England in the British and Irish Masters Cross Country Championships in Ireland on Saturday. Jack Ramm (third, 25:13) and Ed Chuck (fourth, 25:22) helped England secure gold in the men’s 35-plus age group. Mike Mann (ninth, 31:49) was part of a silver medal-winning England 75-plus men’s team while Ros Tabor (34:25) secured second place in the women’s 75-plus age group.

Alex Winchester (32:15, 40-plus age group) and Garry Meehan (38:01, 60-plus age group) recorded stunning times at the Brighton 10km to beat two long-standing age group club records.

PICTURES: DULWICH RUNNERS

TOP PICTURE: LEON KONG/HERNE HILL HARRIERS