Taking the Fifth!

The Senior Men clinched an historic fifth Surrey Cross Country League title yesterday (8 February) on a bleak and misty Epsom Downs. The U13 Boys also topped their league, as did the U17 Women, while the U13 Girls, U15 Girls, and combined U15 Boys/U17 Men team were second. The Senior Women finished in an excellent eighth in this ultra-competitive league, given injuries have frequently decimated the turnout.

There were a host of overall individual winners, too. Jessica Wood topped the U13G rankings; brother and sister act Isabella and Max Harrison claimed top spot in the U15G and U13B list, while Theo Creed (U15B) was the leading U15 Boys individual, and Claire Grima, the most consistent member of the Senior Women’s finished as the leading individual in the W45 category.

Despite finishing second in the final match to Belgrave, the Senior Men built up a big points lead, having won the first three matches. The final tally was 780 to Belgrave’s 909.

A fifth title is a feat not many would have dreamed of when the squad of 2018/19 finally achieved the goal which had eluded teams since 1967 when Hercules Wimbledon AC was created from a merger between Hercules AC and Wimbledon AC (Hercules AC were Champions in 1965). The day when the trophy was at last raised in Lloyd Park in 2019, ending six seasons of dominance by Kent AC, was one of high emotion, not least because of the happiness it brought to the late great Pete Mulholland. The following season the title was regained by Kent, and Covid saw off any matches in 2020/21 – but in 2022, in a campaign which went down to the wire, this time against closest rivals, Guildford & Godalming, the men regained the trophy, repeating the feat last year, again holding off G&G in the final showdown at West Horsley Place.

And so to Epsom, where for the only match in the series, the team finished in second, as Belgrave denied them the clean sweep, securing the victory with 196 points to 251. No matter, the final tally across the season meant that the HW men finished 118 points ahead overall, on 789 points.

First home for Hercules was Toby Cooke in fifth, with Fred Slemeck in 15th, and James Stockings and Alex Milne in 24th and 25th respectively. American Hayden Beauchemin, completing a placement year at Imperial College, finished 29th, with George Mallett 31st. Josh Lally in 33rd scored for the first time, with Charlie Sandison, returning from injury and making his club debut in 38th. Oli Carrington, who has scored in each of the last three seasons, replicated his performance from the final fixture last year, surging over the final 400m to take the tenth and final scoring place in 40th.

Southern U20/Senior Indoor Championships

Ryan Facey found himself up against Olympians Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and CJ Ujah having made the semi-finals at the Southern U20/Senior Championships (1/2 February), in which he finished sixth in 7.07, after running a season's best of 6.97 in the heats.

In the same heat Joshua Martin finished sixth in a season's best of 7.33; while in the Senior Women's 60m Priscilla Adu-Bobie finished fourth in her heat in 7.92, which was good enough to qualify for the semi final, where she clocked 7.95s to finish eighth.

In the 200m, Khalid Ali finished third in his heat in 23.11 returning a few hours later to clock 23.80 to finish in fifth in his semi-final.

In the High Jump, Mabel-Rose Scales just missed out on the U20 podium, clearing 1.65m once again, to equal the athlete in third place, but finished in fourth having made more attempts.