Herne Hill Harriers round-up: Junior and senior success at weekend

Herne Hill Harriers enjoyed success over a busy weekend – at junior and senior level, writes Geoff Jerwood.

A number of young athletes represented their London Borough teams at Saturday’s London Youth Games at the usual Parliament Hill venue – made even more testing this year by the wet weather.

A day later several made the yearly pilgrimage over to the Camberley Cross Country Open races and returned laden with medals.

The senior athletes raced for their club teams over the same course in the London Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

Sophia Sahai and Phoebe Bowen brought home individual medals in the U13 and U15 girls races respectively at Parliament Hill.

Harriers’ senior turnout featured 13 women in the first of the two adult events as they ran 6km.

Nineteen men finished the very challenging 10km race at the end of the day’s programme when the course had been cut up by the earlier contests.

Both senior teams demonstrated excellent packing in their races as the women’s team placed fifth of 31 complete A teams. The men were seventh of 38 full A teams, the results achieved despite the highest-placed Herne Hill individuals being cross country team captains Julia Wedmore (18th) and Angus Butler (28th).

Harriers’ A team scorers were Julia Wedmore (18th), Fiona de Mauny (21st), Shannon Sinclair (44th) and Katie Balme (45th) – also third placed U20 woman – for the women. Angus Butler was 28th for the men with Jack Dickenson (30th), Lewis Laylee (35th) and Mohammed Ismail (50th) also in action.

Herne Hill dominated the leading male positions at Sunday’s Emer Casey Foundation London 10km race in Brockwell Park.

Lewis Laylee was second after also racing the day before the next three spots were filled by Andrew Warburton, Josh Pewter and Andrew Perfect.

Jonathan Ratcliffe was eighth – and first over 50 – while Gary Ironmonger was ninth.

Jack McLennan took silver in the U11 boys race at Camberley.

Rosalie Laban, Eva O’Hanlon and Vivi Marshall had a clean sweep of first, second and third in the U13 girls as they won team gold.

Keeran Sriskandarajah, Oak Buchan and Fabien Whitelock (U13 boys)repeated the feat.

Phoebe Bowen won the U15 girls race to bring home yet more gold. Harvey Kande was first for the U15 boys – David Aisa Miller was fourth and Diego Lister fifth to secure team victory.

Ant Buchan, the father of Herne Hill young athletes Oak and Heath, won the senior men’s 10km race.