Hercules Wimbledon just missed out on a set of team medals in the South of the Thames five-mile cross country race staged in freezing conditions over a testing, muddy course at Polesden Lacey.

Jonathan Cornish led the club home finishing 12th out of 182 runners in the men’s event in 27 minutes 48 seconds.

With Richard McDowell 17th in 28:27, Joe Clark 19th in 28:37 and Rob Tuer 40th in 30:01, Hercules Wimbledon missed out on the bronze medals by finishing in fourth place.

Hercules were also fourth in the eight-to-score competition for the Brent Shield with Chris Wright 42nd in 30:12, Neil Fraser 44th in 30:22, David Scrimshaw 83rd in 33:40 and over 50 veteran Charles Hamden 117th in 35:45.

Gina Galbraith led the Hercules women’s team home finishing 27th out of 101 runners in 36:57 with Hannah Walker 72nd in 43:16, Vivien Takacs 74th in 43:38 and Fran Clarke 79th in 44:40.

Over 50 veteran, Lisa Thomas, who missed the start by a couple of minutes, finished 82nd in 45:17.

Elsewhere, while most of his club mates were in action in Surrey, Hercules Wimbledon’s Belal Ahmed made a winning debut in the Highbury Fields 5km parkrun in north London.

But, it was a close call for Ahmed who managed to sprint home to win by just one second in 17:09.

Adam Harwood headed home a dozen Hercules Wimbledon runners in the Wimbledon Common event finishing sixth out of 226 runners in 18:40.

Richard Evans was first veteran over 50 finisher in 12th place in 20:07, with Simon Bodle second in that age category finishing 16th in 20:17.

Kieran White headed home a quartet of Hercules Wimbledon runners in the Self Transcendence 10km road race in Battersea Park in finishing sixth out of 210 competitors in 33:45, with Jonny Earl 18th in 35:57 and Frank Wood second veteran over 50 finisher in 40:05.

Hercules Wimbledon's track and field training sessions take place at Wimbledon Park athletics stadium on Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting at 6.30pm and Sunday mornings at 10.30am. Further details from coaching coordinator Maurice Sharp on 020 8337 8707.