Hercules Wimbledon AC: Cornish third at British Universities Indoor Championships
Hercules Wimbledon athletes hit the road and track in a busy weekend, despite the last-minute cancellation of the English National Cross Country Championships, writes George Mallett.
The event was due to take place at Weston Park, Staffordshire but competitors were informed the day before that heavy rain had rendered the grass car park inaccessible.
There is no new date yet for the champioships to take place.
Jonathan Cornish had already chosen to do the British Universities Indoor Championships in Sheffield, representing Oxford University over 3,000m.
The England international finished third in his Saturday heat and just outside the automatic qualifiers. His time of 8:24.31 ensured his participation in the final as the fastest time qualifier. He returned one day later, somewhat heavy legged from the day before, to run 8:28.73 for 11th.
Some junior athletes chose to head to their local parkrun.
Theo Creed improved his parkrun best to 16:33 at Dulwich Park, good enough for 16th on the day.
Pancho Panchev and Thomas Davies were 31st and 32nd respectively in 17:05 and 17:14.
Isaac Lutaya ran 17:46 for 42nd with James Fraser 45th in 17:50. Not far behind in a sea of Hercules junior vests were Harry Allen (18:01), Sam Dyson (18:10) and Max Harrison (18:25). Otelia Garcia-Davis ran 19:16 with Freia Harper-Tee, Lara Delport and Ava McAndie also under 20 minutes in 19:50, 19:52 and 19:57 respectively. Dillan Quinn was just outside that mark in 20:09.
Some of Hercules’ senior athletes competed at the Wokingham Half in Berkshire. Simon Wade was first home in 75:09 for 83rd, less than 20 seconds outside his personal best. David Grima ran 75:32 for 87th with George Longworth not far behind in 92nd (75:48).
Claire Grima was 20th woman home in 1:21:43 with Poppy Robson 64th in 1:27:15. Charles Hampden-Smith ran 1:28:50, good enough for third in his V60 class.
Adam May was sixth in 1:23:18 at the Victoria Park Half Marathon.
Paul Wignall competed in the Inter-Area Championships in Lee Valley. He ran 69.09 over 400m, second in his V70 class.
PICTURE: HERCULES WIMBLEDON AC
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