Hercules Wimbledon AC round-up: Weir is first England women’s finisher at Cardiff 5km road race

Teenage distance runner Ellen Weir was back in an international vest on Sunday, running for the England U20 team competing against their Welsh counterparts in the Cardiff 5km road race, writes Tom Pollak.

This was 18-year old Weir’s first road race representing England after a stellar year in which she has competed on the international stage on the track and over the country, helping Great Britain win women’s bronze team medals at the European Cross Country Championships in Dublin in December.

She gained selection for the Cardiff event thanks to her time of 16:34 for 5,000m at the British Milers Club Grand Prix meeting in Watford in 2021 and her form at the beginning of this year, finishing second in both the Inter-counties Cross Country Championships and the National Cross Country Championships.

With A levels coming up this summer, Weir and the rest of the England team of four men and four women spent the morning revising for their exams, as the race was held at 7pm in the cool of the evening, with the road still a little damp from the earlier rain.

Weir, who already tops Hercules Wimbledon’s women’s all-time five kilometres ranking list, was first woman England finisher, as well as being top under-20 woman overall. She clocked a big PB of 16:31.

“She was happy with her run, especially as it was a difficult start, just behind the elite men,” said dad Andy. “She didn’t go off too quickly, kept the first kilometre to just outside three minutes and just about held it together for the final two kilometres, which was pretty controlled, all things considered.”

Now it is back to studying, attempting to gain selection for the 3,000m steeplechase at the World Junior Championships in Cali, Colombia, in August, as well as volunteering at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, which begin at the end of July.

A raft of Hercules Wimbledon runners were also in five kilometres action in Battersea Park, in the sixth race of the hugely successful Friday Night Under the Lights series, which attracts high quality fields.

They set off in seeded waves over a fast course.

Five of the runners who secured a historic sixth place for Hercules Wimbledon at the National 12-Stage Road Relays in Birmingham three weeks earlier were competing in the elite race, won by Toby Cooke of Winchester in 13:00.

First home for Hercules Wimbledon was Tom Jervis, who finished 17th in a PB of 14:28, closely followed by Dan Cliffe (21st in 14:31), and Charlie Eastaugh (23rd in 14:33). Fred Slemeck was 34th in 14:41, and Ed Mallett, 49th in 14:55.

Matilde Lomba, in her first race for the club, clocked 18:03. That instantly puts her second on the club’s all-time five kilometres ranking list, behind Weir.