Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Senior men deliver big results at South of England Road Relays

Hercules Wimbledon had one of their best days in recent history as teams performed across the ages at the South of England Road Relays, writes George Mallett.

The club’s senior men led the charge with two teams inside the top eight, unprecedented in their history. Their A and B sides were neck and neck for almost half the race before they finished sixth and eighth respectively.

The former equals the best by a Hercules A team in recent history, with the B’s an emphatic improvement on their club record 17th from last year.

Charlie Wyllie led off for the A team, bringing them home 19th after an 18:24 leg. Chased home all the way by Ed Mallett, the two sides were separated by just two seconds after the opening leg.

So it continued on to leg two, Henry Silverstein and Charlie Eastaugh going stride for stride for most of the run.

With Silverstein overtaking with less than one kilometre to run, Eastaugh regained his position thanks to a fast finish.

Eastaugh ran 18:21 to the B’s Silverstein 18:23. The pair had lifted the two clubs to 10th and 11th respectively.

England international Jonny Cornish took over for the A’s. On any other day his 17:51, the second fastest of all third legs, would have seen them move well clear. But he was chased by GB international Stu McCallum, returning to fitness.

McCallum ran 18:05 to showcase his pedigree. The A’s and B’s were sixth and seventh respectively.

Cornish passed on to GB ultrarunner Alex Milne, who helped solidify the A’s sixth place, running 18:26. Tom Jervis, another athlete returning from injury, ran 18:44. The teams occupied fifth and eighth respectively.

Dan Cliffe equalled Milne’s time but faced a stacked fifth leg with the team temporarily dropping to seventh.  James Stockings’ 19:13 left the B’s one place behind.

Despite running the slowest time of the A’s, George Mallett (18:52) passed Bedford and County to secure sixth place with Eoin Brady maintaining the B’s eighth position thanks to a 19:19 clocking.

The B’s performance saw them only beaten by six other clubs, all A sides.

The C’s finished a respectable 47th and were the second C team and ahead of 19 A teams.

Hercules secured an impressive bronze in the U13 boys race thanks to James Fraser, Max Harrison and Theo Creed.

Creed’s time of 10:00 was the fastest of any leg three athlete, overtaking three people in the process.

The U15 girls were fifth, with Isabella Harrison running the third-fastest leg three in 10:26. She took an incredible 13 places for her efforts. Ava McAndie and Otelia Garcia-Davis also ran impressively. Harrison won the Mini London Marathon earlier this year and was ranked the fifth fastest in her group in the country over 1,500m.