Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Alex Milne produces superb run to smash marathon PB at London showpiece

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club’s all-time marathon rankings took a battering despite less than ideal conditions at the recent London Marathon.

There were 56,640 runners that crossed the finish line on The Mall, setting a new world record for the most amount of marathon finishers, with Hercules providing a significant proportion of the top 100.

Running off the elite start, Alex Milne produced what could be described as the best performance of an already startling career to finish 19th overall in a 2:14:03, in doing so he took two and a half minutes off his previous best, and beat a host of professional athletes.

Only four Brits ran faster in conditions which were recorded as the third hottest in 25 years, meaning the majority of runners ran far slower than they were hoping to on the day.

In doing so, Milne fell only 29 seconds short of Dave Clarke’s 35-year-old club record, moving second on the all-time list, a staggering achievement given Clarke was one of the most decorated GB internationals of his generation.

Milne reached halfway in 67:09, then 30th in the race, before becoming one of the few to run negative splits, clocking 66:54 for the second half and moving 11 places higher.

In the mass race, featuring all bar the elite field of 25 or so athletes, Herc packed out the top 100.

Freddie Hessian was first home in 23rd in 2:21:49, holding it together well after passing the first half in 69:19. It seems his debut enter at ninth on the club’s all-time list.

Charlie Sandison was next home in 2:23:19, his first marathon in the club’s colours.

Though he boasts a 2:19 best in previous Fulham colours, this mark is 13th on the club’s all-time list.

Jonathan Cornish, more often seen competing over much shorter distances, was not far behind in 43rd. His 2:23:25 sees his debut at the distance slot just behind in 14th and say him raise valuable funds in the process for Dorset Wildlife Trust.

In another significant breakthrough, Oli Carrington ran a perfectly measured race to run a negative split of 73:05/72:43 to take almost six minutes off his previous best and run 2:25:48 for 73rd, 20th on the Hercules all-time list.

Also in the top 100 were Dan Cliffe and George Mallett, both clocking 2:26:29 in 80th and 81st respectively.

Cliffe, making his debut over the distance entered at 23rd on the all-time list. Freddie Slemeck ran 2:28:25 for 133rd, Richard McDowell 2:33:06 for 288th and Rhys Boorman 2:33:19 for 297th.

Over in Northern Ireland, Finn Johnson produced a solid performance over the demanding course of the Belfast City Marathon this weekend, finishing 40th in 2:46:09.