Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Success for young and old competitors

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club’s athletes enjoyed another successful weekend with triumphs at both ends of the age range and two of the club’s teenagers taking the honours in the Wimbledon Common parkrun, writes Tom Pollak.

The U11 girls were the standout performers in the final Downs Young Athletes Cross Country league meeting of the season on Epsom Downs on Sunday. They won the last of the four matches to clinch the overall trophy. The boys U11 squad were not far behind them taking runners-up spot in their age group.

Peter Giles, 75, the club’s oldest athlete, gained a hat-trick of wins in the South of England Masters indoor track and field championships at Lee Valley. He took the over-75 800 metres, beating all the over-65 and over-70 runners in the process and also won the 1,500 and 3,000m.

It proved a good championships for the Hercules Wimbledon runners. The trio managed to win five gold medals. Lisa Thomas took the women’s over-50 800m and also won the silver medal in the 400m. Anna Garnier took the over-65 women’s 1,500metres title.

Teenagers Hector Revill and Ellen Weir took the honours in the Wimbledon Common 5km parkrun on Saturday.

Revill made it a hat-trick of parkrun wins this year as he headed home 210 runners in 17:58 with Weir top woman in fifth place in 20:27 in her first appearance in the event in 2020. Alex Binley was third woman in 22:24.

Georgie Clarke won the women’s event at Fulham Palace in 19:52. Eloise Davies was third in the women’s event in a PB of 20:05.

Over in Bushy Park Ross Franks headed home a 1,029-strong field in 16:16 in his first parkrun of 2020. Ore Adewale made her debut in the Hackney Marshes event where she was fifth woman in 22:30.

A dozen of the club’s road runners were in action in the Vitality Big Half. Leading the gold and red-vested Hercules Wimbledon runners home was Rhys Boorman, who finished 57th in a PB of 1:09:43.

Hussein Ahmed was 76th and third veteran over-40 finisher in 1:10:43, with Dimos Evangelidis 163rd and 15th over 40 veteran in 1:14:14.

Over-40 veteran Richard McDowell was 306th in 1:17:54 and Jacob Plummer came 395th in a PB of 1:19:35.

Rob Tuer finished 399th in 1:19:35.