Cornish grabs PB in 5k while Harriers’ Georgie Grgec is first woman home in annual event

Hercules Wimbledon Wimbledon Park once again cemented its status as South London’s running hub as Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club hosted its annual 5,000m Night on Saturday, writes George Mallett.

Athletes from across the south of England descended on the track, with no less than seven athletes running times which see them ranked in the top 100 in the UK this year.

In the men’s A race, Jonathan Cornish led home the Hercules athletes, finishing fourth behind Ned Potter of Chichester.

Cornish, celebrating a pair of England Athletics call-ups, was keen to improve on his 14:24 personal best, doing much of the early leading and working hard until the end.

He was deservedly rewarded with a new best of 14:14.48 , ranked 84th in the UK this year.

Cornish’s 5,000m improvement adds to a breakthrough summer in which he has bettered his times in every distance from 1,500 to 10,000m, and will leave him in a confident mood heading into his England debut on August 20 at the Asics Home Nations 5k in Cardiff.

A whisker behind Cornish was Andrew Penney, who took 16 seconds off his personal best to finish sixth in 14:15.28.

The performance is all the more impressive given the Hercules athlete became a father for the first time just two weeks ago.

Determined to make his newborn baby and partner proud, Penney duly delivered, and moves to 87th in the UK rankings.

Penney, already a multiple-time Surrey representative, adds to 800m, mile and 1,500m personal bests all achieved this summer.

Surrey Cross-Country silver medalist Fred Slemeck has enjoyed a similarly glittering 2022, running most of the race by himself but taking a deserved new personal best.

Slemeck’s time of 14:35.38 was a one second improvement on his 2021 best, and leaves him well poised as the season transitions back on to the roads and cross-country, two disciplines in which he excels.

Other highlights of the evening included a fifth place for Joe Croft in the evening’s C race, running 15:28.36, just over a second ahead of Oli Carrington, in eighth.

Both represent season bests for the two athletes. In the B race, Ed Mallett ran 15:25.82 for 18th in a competitive field, while Finn Johnson finished sixth in the evening’s third race, running 16:01.12 in his first outing over the distance this year.

For Herne Hill Harriers, Georgie Grgec was awarded the fastest female of the meeting, with her 16:07.30.

Julia Wedmore continued her string of big PBs with her third in eight days, in 17:51.53.

Henry Brown clocked 17:09.84, M55 Francis Marsh 16:39.35 and M45 Ben Paviour ran 15.54.49 – rapid for a man approaching 50 in the coming months.

Brandon Dewar clearly won his race in a PB of 14:53.02, his first sub 15-minute time on the track, and in the final race of the night Lewis Laylee recorded 15:07.63.

All Hercules eyes will now move to this Saturday’s Southern Athletics League Division 2 West fixture in Aldershot, where the club hope to cement their status at the top of the division.

After three of the five fixtures, Herculessit first on 661.5 points, almost 60 clear of their closest challenger, Basingstoke & Mid Hants AC.

A win this weekend would put them in an almost unbeatable position heading into the league finale, to be held in Wimbledon Park on September 10.

Hercules’ opponents on Saturday are Aldershot Farnham & District, Newquay & Par and Epsom & Ewell who sit eighth, 16th and third respectively in the current standings.

Main Photo: Jonathan Cornish and Andrew Penney together Picture: Hercules Wimbledon AC