Hercules Wimbledon round-up: Senior men win by big margin in Surrey Cross-Country League fixture at Mitcham Common
Hercules Wimbledon’s senior men fired back emphatically in the second round of the Surrey Cross-Country League Division One as they won by a resounding margin at Mitcham Common on Saturday, writes George Mallett.
The competition sees 10 scorers try and secure the lowest points tally possible with Hercules finishing on 161 to Kent AC’s 337 and Belgrave Harriers on 344.
Hercules also had their first individual winner in more than 10 years as Stuart McCallum won by 11 seconds from Guildford & Godalming’s Andy Coley-Maud.
The club now lead the league they have won in three of the past four editions by 181 points from Belgrave, who narrowly won the first fixture at Richmond Park.
GB international McCallum will now look to the Euro Cross trials at Liverpool in two weeks time, a venue that saw him secure a maiden GB vest in 2021.
He was backed up by multiple England international Dan Cliffe, who bided his time before overtaking almost the entire field to finish fifth, 39 seconds back from McCallum. Cliffe has three top-five finishes and one top 10 from only five outings in the competition.
Hercules’ dominance was largely secured thanks to strong packing behind. Charlie Eastaugh, in ninth, led home Henry Silverstein (10th), GB ultrarunner Alex Milne (11th), George Mallett (13th) and James Stockings (14th).
Fred Slemeck, returning after a 2:26 marathon in mid-October, was 23rd with Rhys Boorman and Richard McDowell 34th and 41st respectively.
Hercules’ U13 boys won the team prize and were second in the mixed U15/U17 race.
Theo Creed won the individual race in the U13s with James Fraser sixth. Thomas Hennigan in 15th and Cyrus Sheikh 16th rounded out the scoring but special mention should go to Fredric Bolton who didn’t score but finished just behind in 17th.
In the U15/U17 mixed race Jack Hobden finished 12th followed by Noah Fernandez (15th) and Alexander McGuigan (17th). Tom Davies rounded out the scoring in 27th. Again Sam Dyson and Harry Allen both U15s were unlucky not to score in 28th and 32nd respectively.
In the women’s junior races Hercules were third in the U15 team race – Ava McAndie (10th), Iona Alexander (20th), Julia McDonnell (23rd) and Summer McDougall (25th).
The U17s went one better for second with tight packing seeing Lara Delport in ninth and backed up by Grace Eminson (10th), Dillan Quinn (12th) and Sophia Anderson (14th).
The senior women were 10th with Claire Grima leading the quintet home in 37th. Alice McCormack (42nd), Poppy Robson (51st), Philippa Mitchell (61st) and Abigail Grey (62nd) made up the five.
PICTURE: DAVE GRIMA
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