Fab 5000m Finale to the Summer Series
Above: Jonny Cornish and Andrew Penney in the mix in the final race of the evening. Thanks to Pete Clarke for the photograph.
On Saturday 6 August the HW 5000m Festival, complete with BBQ and music, brought the curtain down on the 2022 Summer Series of Distance Running at Wimbledon Park. The series of four Open meetings kicked off with the 1500m Night on 1 June (see News report of 7 June) and has seen some great racing and fantastic times achieved over 1500m, the Mile, 3000m and finally 5000m.
In the final race of the night, preceded by a fast invitational 1500m, there were PBs once again for Jonny Cornish, Andrew Penney and Fred Slemeck, with Jonny and Andrew running themselves into the HW Men's All-time top ten over 5000m – all of which bodes well for the road and cross-country season, in which all three excel.
'Another great summer evening of running at Wimbledon!', said a happy Andrew after the race. 'We were strung out by the swift pace set by our pacemaker and yet with 800m to go the field coalesced and there were 6-7 guys still somehow in the mix for a last lap burn up. It was genuinely exciting just to be a part of it, and at that point I thought I was in with a chance for the win, having had some good runs over 1500m this season, but the guys kept driving it forward and I was unable to pick it up at the bell.
'We were all rewarded with some fast times though. I was ecstatic with my 14:15 and also super-happy for Jonny who did a lot of the work at the front of the train and hugely deserved his fantastic PB.
Previously at Wimbledon Park
Over two consecutive Wednesday evenings in July the HW 3000m Night, followed by the Dave Clarke Mile Extravaganza again delivered a feast of personal bests and exciting racing at Wimbledon Park.
At the 3000m Night, Andrew Penney continued his fantastic run of form clocking 8.16.17 to take sixth place in the A race, followed in a couple of places behind by Jonny Cornish, in a PB of 8:17.42. Underlining the quality of these meetings the A race was won in 7:56.00 by Ian Crowe-Wright of Brighton & Hove – a PB for him and a new track record.
As a sharpener for the SAL match three days later, race guru Ben Noad incorporated a quick 800m into the schedule before the final race of the night, which was won by Archie Walton in 1:55.80, ahead of William Leslie, who clocked a PB of 1:57.42. Andrew Merry finished in sixth place in 2:04.63.
HW 3000m/800m Night full results
Below: HW athletes out in force on the 3000m Night
A week later the Dave Clarke Mile Extravaganza saw two men run sub-4 minutes in the final race of the evening. First home for HW was Andrew Penney – yet again – who nailed a big PB of 4:07.05 to finish eighth, with Charlie Eastaugh clocking 4:14.93 in twelfth.
The night was also notable for U20 Ellen Weir right), whose time of 4:58.42 was good enough to catapult her to the top of the Club's All-time Women's ranking list for the Mile, to add to the records she already holds for the 3000m (9:34.95) and 5000m (16:30.44), along with the U20 Women's record for the 1500m.
The twelve mile races were watched keenly by Club Chairman Dave Clarke, in whose honour the event is named, and whose Club record for the Mile is 3:56.9, set at Crystal Palace in 1982 when representing Great Britain against the USA. At the end of the evening he presented a bottle of Champagne to the fastest man and woman of the night: Henry McLuckie of Shaftesbury Barnet, who won the final race in 3:58.49; and Niamh Bridson Hubbard of Blackheath & Bromley who finished second in Race 9 in 4:37.08.
Dave Clarke Mile, full results
Photograph of Ellen copyright Liviu Enache