Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Penney fifth at London Cross Country Championships

Hercules Wimbledon produced some bright individual performances at the London Cross Country Championships, writes George Mallett.

The club’s senior men won the trophy in 2022 but fielded a weaker team this time around at Parliament Hill.

The only returning member of that triumphant 2022 squad was Andrew Penney who matched his fifth place finish from last year.

Chances are it may well have been higher but for Penney’s desire to compete for the win, setting much of the early pace with eventual victor Dom Nolan in attritional conditions on Hampstead Heath.

The team finished eighth with Sam Peters finishing in 27th. Jamie Bannister was 30th with Joe Clark (60th) rounding out the scoring team.

Richard Jones was 72nd with Chris McIllroy in 76th. Stuart Byrne in 88th made it seven yellow-and-red vests in the top 100.
Jonathan Cornish returned from a period of injury to break the course record at the Wimborne 10 Mile race in Dorset.The England international ran 50:34 to win by almost two minutes from a talented field.

Cornish picked up a £500 payday for breaking Williard Chinhanhu’s 51:37 course record from 2007 in the 25th anniversary edition of the event.

Alex Sutton ran away from the rest of the field in the closing kilometres to win the Podium Classic 5km B Race in Barrowford, Lancashire in a new PB of 15:34. The result marks a 39 second improvement on his PB from earlier this year.

Rhys Boorman, in the final weeks before his upcoming Valencia Marathon on December 4, finished fourth in the Run Through Battersea Park Half Marathon on Saturday, in 70:56.