Herne Hill Harriers round-up: Snowden delivers tactical masterclass
There was a huge entry, many clocking personal best times in 12 races spanning seven hours of action, culminating in the elite races for women and then men.
Generous prize money and the opportunity for high-quality races attracted international athletes, including an Olympian from the 2021 Tokyo Games in each of the elite women’s and men’s races.
The women’s winner was one of these, Herne Hill Harriers’ star Katie Snowden with a successful return to racing after having cut short her indoor track campaign a month earlier to build fitness for the summer season.
Snowden delivered a tactical masterclass, staying in the lead pack around the five laps of a flat circuit before asserting authority to use her track speed to good effect in the closing stages with an impressive finishing kick to take the win.
The winning time of 15:18 was a PB and thereby lowered her own Surrey County female road 5km record by five seconds.
The 31-year-old was very pleased not only with her race execution, but with an affirmation that for this time of year she is stronger aerobically than previously and expects this to stand her in good stead for her bid for World Championship team selection later this year.
Her club-mate Georgie Grgec was also on the podium, finishing in third place with a PB of 15:23.
The New Zealand international was always in the same group at the front and her own strong finish saw her equal Snowden’s previous Surrey record to go second on that all-time list.
Their times are unsurprisingly the two fastest Herne Hill Harriers clockings so far in 5km road races.
In the same race two more Harriers clocked even bigger PBs as 20-year-old Poppy Craig-McFeely ran 16:10 for an astonishing 44-seconds improvement and Sophie Tooley lowered her PB by 15 seconds with 16:31.
In the men’s elite B race Brandon Dewar was three seconds shy of his PB with 14:36, while in earlier races Ryan Willmott (16:14) was also close to his best and Calum Murphy ran an inaugural PB for the distance (16:51).
Sunday morning was for longer road racing as Sam Bramwell produced one of the fastest half-marathon times recorded by a Herne Hill athlete with his excellent sixth place in the Bath Half in a race which incorporated the trial for the British team for the World Championships later this year.
Bramwell was on target for something even faster with his 10km PB split of 29:55 and held on well towards the finish to record 64:53 for his first time under 65 minutes.
Matt Raymond ran around two-and-a-half minutes quicker than his previous best to clock 75:57, while Russell Drummond was happy to run 81:28.
Over an even longer distance at the Essex 20 Miles road race, W40 veteran Gaby Reynolds was first woman (2:02.08) on a windy morning with parts of the course very exposed.
This was a marathon pace rehearsal effort which saw off females of all ages on the day.
These included runners who competed in an inter-counties match between eight counties which was incorporated into the event.
With no Surrey team present Reynolds was unable to claim that title but went home happy that her preparation for the big one in London next month.
PICTURE: GRAHAM SMITH