Herne Hill Harriers athletics: Good results at Bruce Judd Surrey County relays

The club’s young athletes warmed up for this weekend’s English National cross country relays in Mansfield with some very good performances at the Bruce Judd Surrey County relays at Stoke Park, Guildford on Saturday.

Although some of the age group teams were depleted due to illness and half term holidays, Harriers won the U15 girls relay and gained silver medals in the U13 boy’s race, in which the B team also placed fourth.

In the U15 girls event, Poppy Craig McFeely got the team off to a promising start leading home a strong field by 30 metres.

Maisie Collis maintained the lead on leg two and Eva Holland  (23.22) brought them home eight seconds clear. The B team of Phoebe Bowen, Sophie Williams and Tilly Stevens-Cox were an excellent sixth.

The U13 boys had to settle for second place medals in the opening race of the day.

Zac Crowther, Fabien Whitelock and Christo Chilton chased a strong South London Harriers team but finished eight seconds in arrears. Chilton was rewarded with the medal for the fastest leg in the race (7:22) but was unable to close the gap enough.

The B team of Oak Buchan, Joe Russian and Diego Lister were fourth.

The U13 girls’ team of Annabella Bailey, Izzy Perry and Rosalie Laban finished eighth. The U15 boys team of Ben Harrison, Jacob Harrison and Joe Roberts placed sixth with the B team of Jacob Taylor, Harvey Kande and David Aisa Miller eighth

There was also a Herne Hill contingent racing at the Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday.

Second claim man Ryan Burling, who competes for Harriers in National League track and Surrey League cross country, made a hugely impressive debut with a stunning time of 2:20:10 in 29th place, with a sub-70 second half.

The first man across the finish line wearing Herne Hill’s red and black colours was M50 athlete Jonathan Ratcliffe, whose excellent 2:44:46 sees him consolidate his sixth ranking in the UK in his age group for 2018.

Ratcliffe was followed in by M40 Matt Munro (2:58:13), Eriç Dol (3:00:20) and Patrik Ewe (3:02:49).