Hercules Wimbledon’s cross-country runners made a solid start to their winter league programme on Wimbledon Common and at Bagshot.
In the 2XU Surrey League Division One match on Wimbledon Common on Saturday, Fred Slemeck (27 minutes, 29 seconds) held off club-mate Kieran White by one second to finish 13th in the senior race.
Jonathan Cornish was 19th in 27:44, Joe Clark 33rd in 28:33, and James Davis 39th in 28:49.
Steeplechaser Rob Tuer (57th place, 29:32), Phil Glynn (63rd, 29:54), Chris Ore (78th, 30:41), Pete Clarke (91st, second veteran over-50, 31:19) and Alexie Calvert-Ansari (104th, 31:56) completed the scoring 10.A With three meetings remaining, Hercules are fifth in the early standings.
Hercules’ Cassian Hyde had a good run in the junior race to finish third in 13:18, just 15 seconds behind the winner.
Matt Gibbons clocked 14:35 to finish ninth, and third U15, while Alex Lloyd-Jones (10th, 14:48), Jack Collins (11th, 14:49) and Jake Blayney (22nd and sixth U15, 16:33) completed the scoring team, which ended the day joint second in the standings.
In his first Surrey League cross country race for two seasons, Peter Riches achieved his best ever placing in taking third spot in the U13 category in 16:21.
Ben Clarke was eighth in 17:09, Alexander Abraham 10th in 17:23, Zac Purnell 12th in 17:32 and Finn Snow 16th in 18:06 to complete the scoring team, which finished second overall.
They’re off: The seniors get the Surrey Cross-Country League off and running on Wimbledon Common
For the women, Lisa Crow led the Hercules contingent home in the opening Max Sports Surrey Ladies League Division One match at Lightwater Country Park on Saturday.
She finished 27th out of 163 runners in the senior race in 26:09.
Emma Henderson was 39th in 26:52, Emile Bokor-Ingram 52nd in 27:45, and Alison Purnell 58th in 28:09.
Gina Galbraith completed the scoring team finishing 61st in 28:16.
Elsewhere, Hercules Wimbledon's marathon-running couple David and Claire Grima enjoyed an all-expenses paid trip to the Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday after winning a competition at the London Marathon in April.
David took almost three minutes off his previous best in finishing 177th out of more than 11,000 runners in 2:48:45.
Claire was not far behind as top veteran woman over 35 finishing 185th in 2:49:18, and was just eight seconds outside her club record set in London in 2012.
A third Hercules Wimbledon runner in the Amsterdam race was Amy Aronson who finished a promising 3:07:06 on her marathon debut.
Hercules Wimbledon's Zoe Pike broke the club women's veteran over 40 record when she finished fifth in the women's race in the Henley half-marathon in 1:29:20.
Her time took more than six minutes off the old record set by Masumi Dobson at Silverstone in March 2009.
This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon compete in the East Surrey League cross country races in Lloyd Park, Croydon, and the Bruce Judd Young Athletes cross country relays at Guildford on Saturday, and the opening Surrey Sportshall meeting at Guildford's Spectrum Leisure Centre on Sunday.
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.
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