Herne Hill Harriers are on the verge of their highest ever position in the national track and field league, writes Sarwar Khan.

In its 122-year history, the Harriers have never been in Division One of the British Athletics League but, with just one match left in Division Two, that could be about to change.

Victory at Abingdon on Saturday in their third league encounter has put them four points clear at the top of the league ahead of the final meet in Derby on August 27.

If they finish higher than fifth in the eight teams taking part, they will secure top spot.

Promotion would cap an excellent year for the club, whose senior women were also promoted to Division Two of the UK Women’s League, their highest placing to date.

At Abingdon, multi-event star Thomas Ashby gave the club an early lead by accumulating points with wins in the A-string discus (47.74m) and the B-string high jump (1.85m).

His younger brother, Blade Ashby, won the B-string the long jump (6.96m).

It was the Harriers dominance in the field events which ultimately gave the club an edge over their league rivals, with further wins courtesy of Ashley Ralph in the B-string discus (38.87m) and Paul Oluyemi in the A-string long jump (7.03m) despite pulling up with an injury in the warm up.

While there were no wins on the track, there were plenty of second places.

Matthew Walcott in the A-string 110m hurdles (14.51 seconds), Peter Phillips in the A-String 400m (47.98) Idris Oduriye in the B-string 100m and 200m (10.69 and 21.92), Samuel Adeyemi in the B-string 400m (49.52) and the 400m relay team of Sam Parsons, Nicholas Atwell, Adeyemi and Phillips were all runners up.