Hercules Wimbledon round-up: Friday Night Under the Lights goes ahead despite freezing conditions

Hercules Wimbledon athletes overcame the weather this weekend to post some notable performances on the road, writes George Mallett.

A number of senior men and women competed in the Friday Night Under the Lights five-miles race in Battersea Park.

Less than 48 hours before the race, it looked certain to be off with the loop resembling an ice rink on Carriage Drive East, towards the Millennium Park Arena area of the park. But race organisers Keith Scofield and Ben Noad, both coaches of the senior men at Hercules, set about clearing a path of ice, armed with 50kg of grit and more than eight hours of honest graft.

By the evening of the race they had cleared a route to enable the race to take place and despite a number of athletes choosing to remain at home, were still rewarded with some high quality racing at the front end.

The race was won by GB international Henry McLuckie of Shaftesbury Barnet Harriers, his 23:37 being the fastest recorded by any UK athlete this year.

First home for Hercules was Archie Walton, 23rd in 25:05 in his debut over the distance.

Walton was an English Schools medallist in the steeplechase as a junior and has recently made the switch to Hercules from his hometown Taunton.

Next for Hercules was Hector Revill, the St Andrews University student, racing during his winter holidays. Revill finished in 27:02 for 59th, running a 5km section quicker than his official best in the process.

Richard Jones followed him home in 28:00 for 74th. Despite being disappointed with his performance it represented a PB by almost a minute from his previous mark set in 2014.

Another returning from university was Ellen Weir, the GB international junior athlete who is studying medicine at Birmingham University.

Weir finished second in the women’s race in 28:20, 35 seconds behind race winner Dani Chattenton of Milton Keynes Distance Project.

The pancake flat Battersea Park course will have been a big change from one of Weir’s most recent outings where she finished fourth in the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Chang Mai, Thailand.

The final Hercules runner was Ed Charlesworth, who finished 87th of more than 100 runners, in 29:33.

Charlesworth has been a regular for the club on the roads and cross-country and has been rewarded with a new PB in parkrun, running 17:29 at Dulwich Park in early December.

PICTURE: GRAHAM SMITH