Herne Hill teams excel in cross country relays

Herne Hill Harriers Club team athletics competition over the weekend offered mainly cross country relays championships, with Herne Hill Harriers senior and under 20s at the South of England event at Wormwood Scrubs and the younger runners at the Surrey Championship at Stoke Park in Guildford, writes Geoff Jerwood.

Next to the Linford Christie Athletics Stadium in West London on Saturday, the A team placed sixth.

Both A and B teams got off to a strong start as Sarah Grover handed over in sixth in 11.09 and Ella Newton 11th in 11:36.

20 year old Grace Leyland ran very well to move the A team up a place on leg two in 11:38 and then team captain.

Julia Wedmore completed the team in 12:01 for a top six finish.

In the B team two more young seniors Jemima Hayward-Bhika 13:22 and Jennifer Nandi 13:40 brought their team home in 18th overall.

The senior men placed 13th in a strong field.

The U20 men were Sam Camenzuli 10:28, Jacob Alley 11:14 and George Rates 11:15, on the same lap as the women, while the men raced a longer loop of 4km.

The quartet were Mike Cummings 12:12, Jack Dickenson 12:43, Joe Elliott 12:59 and Josh Pewter 13:09.

Also on Saturday Herne Hill contested five races at the Bruce Judd Surrey cross relays at Guildford.

With a number of young athletes away on half term holiday Harriers were still able to win one race and had two second places, plus a fourth and a fifth place.

The Under 15 boys team of Oak Buchan 7:38, Freddie Hake 7:51 and Fabien Whitelock 7:21 emerged victorious with Whitelock moving through from fourth place on the final leg with the third fastest individual time in the race overall.

Harriers B team of Jon Goldston 7:44, Thomas Tope 8:10 and Oliver Caldicott 9:18 placed tenth.

Herne Hill had two teams in the first six in the Under 13 girls race, with Florence Mills 9:03, Sophie Jack also 9:03 and then anchored into second place by the fastest overall leg of the day in her age group from Orla Wright as she clocked 8:27.

The B team of Maeve Minielli 9:19, Summer Mackay 9:52 and Emelie Cherel 9:37 finished sixth.

There were similar team finishing positions of second and sixth for Harriers Under 15 girls, albeit the B team contained an athlete who ran twice in the same team, so were deemed to be non scorers according to the race rules.

The silver medal team was Orla Carroll third in 8:35, Vivi Marshall moving up to second with 8:32 and India Blakey holding her place with 8:18, the third quickest individual in her category.

The B team was Rosalie Laban 9:07, Anna Forster 8:48 and then Laban ran again with 9:34 to complete the team crossing the line in sixth.

Dulwich Runners

Dulwich fielded a strong, in-form men’s team for the South of England Athletics Association cross country relay championships – and were rewarded with the club’s best ever area relay performance.

Fred Bungay ran an excellent first leg of 12:32 to keep Dulwich in contention in 17th place.

Shane O’Neill was then able to pick up 3 places in his time of 12:46 before Jack Ramm (11:50) and Ed Chuck (11:38) ran commanding legs to place Dulwich in ninth overall (48:46).

So Dulwich finished second of the London teams after Newham and Essex Beagles in a tough field.