Herne Hill Harriers

22/08/09 - HHH men throw themselves to 3rd in British League National 2

Bouncing back from the disappointment of our result in Leeds at the beginning of the month, the Herne Hill Harriers flagship team did themselves proud at Kingsmeadow in the final fixture with an excellent 4th place in one of the strongest matches BAL National Division 2 has seen for many a year. Led by superb placings by every one of our throws team we placed 4th on the day, but in a topsy turvy division in which almost everybody beat each other during the season we moved up to 3rd of 8 teams in the final league table, representing possibly our best season's performance in the history of the club. With two teams promoted, 3rd may sound like a near miss, but in reality we were quite a way behind the top two. Nevertheless with a young team we have every hope of improving and strengthening this year's squad to mount a very serious challenge to win promotion next year.
 
In a division where only bottom club Swansea had nothing left to play for and where all competing clubs have high quality athletes to potentially call upon, this was always likely to be an extremely competitive meet and it did not disappoint. Cardiff AAC's website threatened a team laced with Welsh internationals and with men such as Christian Malcolm, James Thie and Joe Thomas on show they scored a runway victory on the day to win promotion as divisional champions. Local rivals Blackheath Harriers comfortably claimed the other promotion slot with a display of consistency throughout a season without a match win but finished 2nd in 3 of 4 fixtures. HHH were up and down during the season, with a solid 5th in Cardiff, a superb win at Bromley and an unfortunate 7th at Leeds before 4th at Kingston in the toughest match was enough to see us to 3rd in the final league table at the head of a group of 5 teams who had close battles with each other throughout the season. Surely one of the best contested BAL 3rd tiers for some years.

Click here to view the results and view Geoff Jerwood's report.

Match result: Cardiff AAC - 362; Blackheath & Bromley Harriers - 311.5; Leeds City AC - 310; Herne Hill Harriers - 297; Kingston & Polytechnic AC - 273; Harrow AC - 245.5; Thames Valley Harriers - 236; Swansea Harriers - 162

16/08/09 - Kwei Sankofa adds two World Masters medals to the GB/HHH tally
 
Following the excellent silver and bronze medals won by HHH members Masakatsu Kondo and Dave Taylor at the World Masters Championships in Lahti, Finland, Kwei Sankofa rounded off the championships with two more silver medals for Great Britain as he placed a superb 2nd in the M50 400m with a clocking of 53.28 and then ran 2nd leg in the 2nd placed GB M50 4x100m relay team the following day. Kwei proudly brought his medals along to Tooting Bec track a week after his performances sealed a successful move into the over 50's age group this summer. (Geoff Jerwood)

12/08/09 - HHH take no prisoners to regain Rosenheim League title

The cream of Herne Hill Harriers' track & field squad defied atrocious conditions at Kingsmeadow to win the Rosenheim League for the first time since 2001 with an emphatic victory.

Such was the determination to win this competition and atone for the misfortune of our own making in recent years that we lined up with quality in every event. This superiority shone through the gloomy drizzle as we won 5 of the 12 events and placed 2nd in 6, leaving only the pole vault in which we failed to place in the top 2. In fairness our athlete would have had to add at least 40cm to his PB to score any better than 3rd in an event affected more than most others by the heavy intermittent rain. Well done in particular to Robert Graham, Peter Phillips, Stu Thurgood, Paul Oluyemi and our 4 x 200m relay team for their event wins and well done to anybody who has competed for the team in the earlier matches and who therefore contributed to the opportunity to reclaim the famous plate. (James Ward)

Match result: Herne Hill Harriers - 87; Kingston & Polytechnic AC - 71; Belgrave Harriers - 65; Croydon Harriers - 64; Hercules Wimbledon - 48; St Mary's Richmond - 33.5; Walton AC - 28; Serpentine RC - 25.5

Click here to view the results (courtesy of David Barrington).

09/08/09 - Julien Allwood completes clean sweep of national titles

Julien Allwood completed a clean sweep of major championships by winning the National U17 men's triple jump title at the National U17 and U15 championships at Bedford this weekend.
 
Julien led from the first round after an excellent 14.40m jump but found the pack closing as the competitiion developed but was able to improve to 14.53m in the second round. Julien was chasing 15.00m and had two huge no jumps before clinching victory with a new PB of 14.58m in the final round which is a new U17 men's club record as well as the best legal jump in the country this year in his age group.
 
Julien has this season won the South of England and National indoor titles and the Surrey, South of England and English Schools Championships this summer during which he has been undefeated in his age group this season and represented England Schools.
 
Several of the club's younger athletes travelled to Bedford and, although unable to increase their medal tally, performed with distinction. Funto Fabunmi-Alade was fourth in the final of the U17 women's 200m whilst Charlotte Kannini-Parsons in the javelin, Gabriella Rosejee in the shot and Lakesha Quamina-Abrams in the discus all finished in the top eight. Amongst the boys, Blade Ashby was also top eight finisher in the U17 men's long jump and Lewis Lloyd narrowly missed out on a place in the U17 men's 800m final by 0.2 of a second. (Steve Bosley)

09/08/09 - Dave Taylor and Masakatu Kondo claim World Masters medals

At the recent World Masters Championships in Lahti, Finland, Dave Taylor returned to racing action after a lengthy absence with injury to claim bronze in the M45 5000m in 15:38:26 in a race won by Ben Reynolds of Thames Hare & Hounds while Masakatsu Kondo went one better and claimed silver in the M45 long jump with a jump of 6.34m, just 3 cm short of the winning distance. (Geoff Jerwood)

09/08/09 - Paviour cruises to Surrey 5K road title

Ben Paviour followed up his recent 3rd place in the Elmbridge 10K to claim victory in the Belgrave Bolt 5K which incorporated the Surrey 5K Championship. Finishing in 15:50, Ben's win laid the foundations for further individual and team success as Vic Maughn claimed the M40 gold medal, placing 12th overall in 16:34 while it was left to Tony Harran, 33rd in 17:35, to close the team and secure silver medals in the team race.

Behind him, Simon Phillips finished 36th in 17:46 and James Ward placed 38th in 17:48. Raj Singh was a little weary after his recent fine efforts as he finished in 18:33 for 54th spot while Paul Shiel recorded 19:10 for 64th place.

Helen Sharp was our leading women on the day, recording 20:52 for 106th place overall. Behind her, Louisa Harrold finished 125th in 21:43. Our next finisher was Rebecca Barrow in 22:12 for 132nd place to close the 5th placed women's team, a few seconds and places ahead of Glenn Burnip who finished 135th in 22:22. Sarah Allen recorded 23:30 for 145th place and Sonia Williams grabbed 169th position with an effort of 25:46. Andy Lea-Gerrard was 179th after recording 27:23. (James Ward)

02/08/09 - Women place 3rd in Gateshead finale

The women's track & field team completed their debut season in the UK Women's League by finishing a fine 3rd in Gateshead.

Click here to read Steve Bosley's report and view the results.

Match result: Channel Islands - 184; Herts Phoenix - 179; Herne Hill Harriers - 170; Gateshead - 154; Reading - 154; Coventry Godiva - 131; Aldershot, Farnham & District - 109; Leeds City AC - 98

01/08/09 - Disappointing trip north for British League team

Our British League team travelled to Leeds with high hopes of another strong performance to maintain its push for promotion from BAL National Division 2, but a weakened team could place only 7th despite a number of excellent individual and PB performances. A hugely disappointing performance, but all is not lost with a home match to follow at Kingsmeadow in 3 weeks' time.

Click here to read Geoff Jerwood's report and view the results.

Match result: Leeds City AC - 351; Blackheath & Bromley Harriers - 333; Cardiff AC - 307; Thames Valley Harriers - 292; Kingston & Polytechnic AC - 255.33; Harrow AC - 250.33; Herne Hill Harriers - 232; Swansea Harriers - 169.33 

01/08/09 - Southern Men's League team seals promotion in style

After a sluggish start to a season in which we were defeated in our opening home match, the promotion plan carefully-crafted at the outset of the season had come together as 3 narrow victories, including key wins over our promotion rivals were concluded with a resounding route of our opponents at Parliament Hill.

Any fears that we might become embroiled in another closing-fought contest were quickly allayed when it become clear from the early field events that our opponents Eastbourne Rovers, Queens Park Harriers and Holland Sports simply didn’t have the all-round strength in depth need to mount a serious challenge despite being able to call on several impressive athletes. More often than not, competition was brushed aside as we finally enjoyed a comfortable afternoon, secure in the knowledge that the victory we needed would be obtained.

Disappointment was restricted to the inclement weather which worsened throughout the afternoon and, perhaps, that the sense of pride and achievement should be dampened by this conclusive victory being just a little too easy. The divisional title, too, has eluded us by virtue of Blackheath & Bromley Harrier’s victory in their final match and their superior number of match points, but we can of course take some satisfaction from having inflicted their own defeat of the season at Battersea as our promotion charge ignited.

Click here to read James Ward's report and view the results.  

Match result: Herne Hill Harriers – 126; Eastbourne Rovers – 90; Queens Park Harriers – 68.5; Holland Sports – 62.5