Hercules Wimbledon senior men continue defence of the Surrey League Cross-Country title
BY GEORGE MALLETT
Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club’s Senior Men continued their defence of the Surrey League Cross-Country title thanks to another win in the third of four fixtures, this time held at West Horsley Place on Saturday.
Whilst countback is yet to be finalized, initial scores put Hercules winning the fixture with a score of 207 points for their ten counters, ahead of Thames Hare and Hounds in second on 231 and Belgrave Harriers on 252.
That score would extend their lead over Belgrave to 162 with one fixture to play, meaning Hercules can afford to finish 16 places on average lower than their rivals for each of their counters over the final fixture, due to be held on Epsom Downs in four weeks time.
The fixture was slightly different due to it doubling up as the trials race for Oxford University ahead of the British Universities Cross Country Championships, meaning a number of their athletes finished high up without counting towards the scores.
As usual Hercules success was earned through good packing throughout. Jonathan Cornish, who spent last year completing his masters at Oxford showed he was still capable of mixing it up with the current students as he finished sixth overall, one second shy of the first Oxford athlete.
Toby Cooke was next home in 12th, ninth of the scoring athletes with Alex Milne (15th overall and 12th scorer) and Michael Wilson 16th. Wilson currently does not appear in the scoring ten for Hercules but looks set to be added in due course. George Mallett (22nd overall/16th scorer), Ed Mallett (26th/20th), Fred Slemeck (27th/21st), James Stockings (28th/22nd), Rhys Boorman (32nd/26th) and Henry Silverstein (43rd/36th) completed the scoring ten. If Wilson is not reintroduced, Eoin Brady will count having finished 47th overall or 40th of the scoring athletes.
In the Junior races, Hercules also enjoyed significant success.
They were led by the youngest competitors with Max Harrison, Ivan Derian and Thomas Hennigan completing an all-Hercules podium in the U13 Boys. Alex Derian in sixth ensured a comfortable win for the team.
Jessica Wood won the U13 Girls, somewhat comfortably, with Anna Wait ably supporting her in fourth.
Isabella Harrison and Freia Harper-Tee, were first and third respectively in the combined U15/U17 race, all the more impressive given both are U15s. Pancho Panchev was third in the U15/U17 Boys race, with Theo Creed sixth, the first of the U15s home.
Further away from home in Spain, Andrew Penney continued his assault on the Hercules all-time rankings competing in the Valencia 10k on Sunday. Penney ran 29:25 to finish 117th in the always uber-stacked Spanish race, in the process moving from ninth on the all-time list to third. Only GB stalwart Dave Clarke and England international Jonathan Cornish have ran quicker.
To cap off a ridiculously busy weekend, over two days at the South of England Indoor Championships in Lee Valley, Ariane Freemantle won U15 Triple Jump gold, jumping 10.32m. It was not the only gold as Matthew Wehrle won the U17 Mens 400m in a new personal best of 50.85s.
Beatrice Eminson was second in the U15 800m, running a new indoor best of 2:23.79.
Jamal Roper secured U13 Boys silver over 60m running 8.33s.
Maia Rose Heward-Mills picked up two medals. First the U17 Women’s 60m (7.72s) silver on Saturday and then the 200m (25.48s) bronze on Sunday.
PICTURES: Sheila Keating