Herne Hill Harriers round-up: Absences hit club hard at South of England Road Relay Championships

Herne Hill Harriers’ women were defending champions at Sunday’s South of England Road Relay Championships but finished 14th in Milton Keynes, writes Geoff Jerwood.

They were not helped by most of their fastest runners being abroad, mainly at training camps, with a couple more unwell.

There are few clubs in the area who would still be able to field a complete team of six runners and finish in the top half of the order with so many unavailable.

Fiona de Mauny led the team out on the first 5km leg and confirmed she is on her way back towards good racing form as she handed over in 18th position in 18:27 on what is always the strongest leg of the day in terms of depth.

Sarah Grover took over on a longer stage and moved the team up to 15th (32:24). Eliza Cottington was a late addition to the team when illness befell a couple of the original selections and held on to 17th position with 20:12 for a short stage. Natasha Lodge had to step up from a short leg to a longer one and ran 34:26 to bring the team home in 18th at the end of leg four.

Suzanne Swaine also stepped in to fill the other 11th-hour gap in the squad and gained a place on fifth stage with 20:24, before Ella Newton ran a fine anchor leg in 19:15 to move up three more places.

The men’s 12-stage team was almost as depleted. Often they have raced with a full A and B team but this time only had one competing and with little left in reserve.

Eight of the team were veterans eligible to compete in age groups of M35 or, in most cases, older. But here they raced among the younger senior men and acquitted themselves well in a high level event.

The fastest long and short stages within the team were recorded on the first two legs, as Lewis Laylee ran 27:06 for 15th place and then M35 Mike Cummings clocked 15:33 to move up one to 14th.

Another M35 Jack Brotchie clocked 28:33 for 16th on leg three, then Joe Fenwick moved back up to 14th with 15:59. Joe Elliott is still recovering from recent Covid, but his 29:54 held the team in 20th before M40 Mohammed Ismail completed the first half of the race in 22nd with 17:39.

The next three men are all in the M45 age group, but each moved up one place each – Andrew Perfect (28:37), Simon Coombes (16:25) and Raj Paranandi (29:12).

Jonathan Ratcliffe (M50), possibly the most prolific racer in the club, was called into action against some men less than half his age on leg 10, but kept the team in 19th before M35 Jeff Cunningham ran 28:49 to move up to 18th.

Last leg man Ross Brown brought the team home in 18th overall to qualify for the National Road Relays in Sutton Coldfield in a fortnight’s time.

Ratcliffe demonstrated his love of racing as often as possible as he warmed up for the relays by placing 39th at the Serpentine Last Friday of the Month 5km in Hyde Park in 18:17 and then 23rd in the Sri Chinmoy 10km in Battersea Park on Saturday morning in 36:41.

M60 veterans Tony Harran and Gary Budinger clocked 20:27 and 24:16 respectively in Hyde Park on Friday, while Tim Kerr, Fraser Hagell and David Field ran 39:19, 39:27 and 40:31 in Battersea on Saturday.

Gen Huss was the fifth female at the Kingston Spring 20 miles road race in 2 :23:33 on Sunday.

Robert Nagorski ran 90:25 in the Warsaw Half Marathon Peace Race.