26/07/09 – Paviour takes third in Elmbridge 10K
Ben Paviour warmed up for next week’s British League match with a useful outing on the road in the Elmbridge 10K, placing 3rd in 33:02. Simon Phillips produced his best performance yet over this distance, scoring a huge PB of 36:10 after maintaining his strength in the latter stages of the race when others faltered. James Ward was a model of consistency in recording 36:45 – just a second quicker than in last month’s Dysart Dash 10K – while Paul Shiel improved his time from the previous week to close the team in 40:41. Ed Barrow finished in 40:58 ahead of Helen Sharp in 42:38, after which Xander Beck finished in 44:54, within his target time of 45 minutes in one of his first races for the club. Rebecca Barrow – who clocked 45:21 – was just 2 seconds quicker than Debbie Jackson who recorded 45:23 while Louisa Harrold finished in 46:03. (James Ward)
25/07/09 – Women take a breather ahead of trip north
With a vital UK Women’s League match in Gateshead approaching next weekend, many of the club’s top female performers opted to miss the Southern Women’s League match, but 8 hardy souls nonetheless ensured a presence in their match at Kingsmeadow. Katherine Le Ruez had a busy afternoon, covering both hurdling and middle-distance events while Briony Phillips and Barbara Macanas covered the throwing events with ease. Monica Lobefaro also returned to action with a determined display in the 3000m in which she won the B string race.
Despite these efforts the team could finish only 4th, but with so many missing, this was nonetheless a spirited display ahead of next week’s big match. (James Ward)
Match result: Team Southampton – 98; Harrow AC – 67; Bedford & County AC – 59; Herne Hill Harriers – 54
22/07/09 - Another second place in Rosenheim League
Our finishing position may not have mattered, but Herne Hill Harriers completed the group stage of the competition with a 6th second place in 6 matches.
Match result: Belgrave Harriers - 77; Herne Hill Harriers - 61; Serpentine RC - 58; Croydon Harriers - 35; Striders of Croydon - 34; Hercules Wimbledon - 31; South London Harriers - 4
19/07/09 - Young athletes secure promotion with divisional title
The club's young athletes secured the first track & field prize of the season in the form of promotion back to the premier division. The team was also strong enough to win the divisional decider with primary opponents Havering Mayesbrook.
Match result: Herne Hill Harriers - 427; Havering Mayesbrook - 423; Orion Harriers - 316; South London Harriers - 259
18/07/09 - Katie and Julien win big again
A week after their gold medal winning triumphs at the All England Schools Championships, Katie Snowden and Julien Allwood again produced winning performances, this time in their England international debuts at the British Schools Home International for U17s in a wet Antrim in Northern Ireland. In the U17 women's 800m Katie beat highly rated Scottish runner Sarah Kelly and London and England team mate Georgia Bell into 2nd and 3rd places in a time of 2:08.18. At the end of the afternoon Katie was also a key member of the winning England team in the 4 x 300m relay.
Julien Allwood meanwhile defied unhelpful weather conditions to produce a winning triple jump of 14.45m, only 2cm short of his legal personal best and HHH club U17 record set earlier this summer. The club had another representative at this meeting, as also racing for England was Funto Fubunmi-Alade, who replicated her 3rd placing from last weekend's English Schools in the U17 women's 200m in 25.25. (Geoff Jerwood)
18/07/09 - HHH enjoy another successful open meeting at Tooting Bec
Despite conditions not being ideal, Herne Hill Harriers enjoyed another successful and well-attended open meeting at Tooting Bec.
Click here to view the results.
18/07/09 - HHH place second in BAL Cup semi-final
Herne Hill Harriers men's team placed 2nd in the BAL 10 in 100 Cup semi final fixture at Hendon, a match that crams 10 track & field events for both men and women into 100 minutes and then closes with medley relays for both genders. Pitted against out British League rivals Blackheath & Bromley and Thames Valley Harriers we were comfortably beaten by Blackheath on this occasion. However a fighting performance from our team saw us pip TVH into 3rd place by just one point and leaves us with an outside chance of qualifying for the final if we prevail in a paper match for 2 final places between the runners up in each of the 6 semi-final matches.
HHH event winners were Toby Adeyemi in the 400m, by a margin of just one hundredth of a second, and long jumper Paul Oluyemi, who was a class above his opposition with 3 of his 6 jumps exceeding 7m. Jeffrey Ocrah was very narrowly beaten into 2nd place in the 100m, while Thomas Ashby missed out on winning the shot putt when overtaken in the last of 6 rounds. Tim Elsey confirmed his recent good form in the 1500m with another 2nd place performance. Blade Ashby, Didier Sorel and Byron Robinson all did well to place 3rd in their respective events, while Didier added an optional extra when filling in at the discus circle at the very last minute when Thomas was delayed on the underground. As team manager I had to ask no less than 10 athletes to run 800m during the week leading up to this match before Chris Busaileh agreed to run round the event to help our overall team points tally. This run, and Didier's last round standing discus throw proved crucial in allowing us to overtake TVH at the death and put ourselves in the running for a place in the 10 in 100 final next month. (Geoff Jerwood)
Match result: Blackheath & Bromley Harriers - 85; Herne Hill Harriers - 72; Thames Valley Harriers - 71; Epsom & Ewell Harriers - 80; Havering Mayesbrook - 20; Basildon - 9
13/07/09 - Vets secure comfortable win at Battersea Park
Our vets gained quiet satisfaction from this convincing victory on a pleasant sunny evening. It showed that our final position at the top of the table is no fluke, despite the narrowness of two of our previous wins. We have won all four divisional matches this season, and eighteen out of the last twenty.
We know that our sprinters are good, but yesterday evening they were outstanding. Not content just with winning the four 200m races, these wins were by wide margins. However, the best was to come, when the 4 x 100 team recorded 47.2, almost a second faster than the M40 club record time set in the league final three years ago. Last night, one of our team was under 40, so I think we ought to declare this the inaugural M35 4 x 100 record.
Two of the sprinters were also busy in the jumps. This was Kwei Sankofa’s first outing as an M50 (his birthday was during the British Masters where he competed as an M45) and he won both high jump (1.50m) and long jump, confirming that he is a necessary boost to this age group.
In the absence through injury of Akin Oyediran, M35 Paul McKay also cleared 1.50m in the high jump and covered the long jump. Paul and Kwei each made big contributions to our points total.
It was nice to welcome M35 Chris Christou for his league debut. He won the javelin with 35.59m and may well throw much further. Chris adds yet more strength to our ranks. Another winner in the field was Des Austin, with 31.99m in the hammer.
Overall, it was a classic team performance, with every event being filled. This was only achieved through athletes putting themselves out to compete in two or more events. There were perfect examples of that at middle distance, where both Bob Creed and Mike Mann doubled at 800/3000, putting team need before the clocking of faster times.
We now look forward to our fifth consecutive appearance in the league final, which will hopefully see our first win. (Dave Wilson)
Match result: Herne Hill Harriers - 129; Hillingdon - 110; Serpentine - 86; Ealing Southall & Middlesex - 69; Hercules Wimbledon - 45; Metros - 44; St Mary's Richmond - 19
11/07/09 - Julien Allwood and Katie Snowden win English Schools titles
No fewer than 9 of the club's blossoming young talents finished in the top 7 in their respective events at the English Schools championships in Sheffield. Julien Allwood won the Intermediate Boys' triple jump with a heavily wind-assisted jump of 14.70m while Katie Snowden underlined her status at the fastest U17 woman in the country by winning the Intermediate Girls' 800m in 2:10.49. Julien and Katie are both rewarded with a call up for the England team for the Home Countries Schools International in Antrim which will take place a week after their national title victories. Funto Fabunmi-Alade also won bronze in the Intermediate Girls' 200m, breaking an 11 years standing club record in the process, setting a new standard of 24.65 in her heat before placing 3rd in the final in 24.86, a time which was also better than the previous record.
In addition to these wins and Funto's excellent bronze, HHH youngsters were prominent in a number of other events spanning the age groups. Lewis Lloyd followed his superb BAL senior men's debut at 800m with another PB, this time at 1500m as he placed 5th in the Intermediate Boys' final with 4:04.65, while training partner Hannah Edwards placed a fine 6th in the race Katie won with a season's best time for her. Others who achieved 6th positions were Jade Phillips (Senior Girls' 100m), Asha Forde-Scille (Senior Girls' triple jump) and Matthew Walcott (Senior Boys' 110m hurdles), while Blade Ashby placed 7th in the Inter Boys' 100m hurdles. Gabriella Roseje, Charlotte Kanini-Parsons, Hazel Ashby, Jonathan Grant and Taj Johnson all also did well to be selected to represent their county schools team at this big meeting which has often been described as the kids' Olympics. (Geoff Jerwood)
11/07/09 - HHH hold of resurgent Kingston & Poly to continue promotion push
The Southern Men's League team remains on course for promotion after another very narrow victory, this time over host club Kingston & Polytechnic AC on a damp afternoon at Kingsmeadow. In danger of relegation after some indifferent results in earlier matches, Kingston & Poly came out fighting, fielding the strongest team they possibly could which would have made short work of us, had we not been ready for another tight battle. Yet, once again, we were able to not only match our primary opponents, but beat them with another very solid team display, collectively scoring sufficient points to ensure what might, on paper, appear to be a comfortable victory. Make no mistake, it was far from that. (James Ward)
Match result: Herne Hill Harriers - 112; Kingston & Polytechnic AC - 106; Medway & Maidstone - 71; East Grinstead AC - 50
08/07/09 - Rosenheim League team secures place in final
Herne Hill Harriers comfortably qualified for the Rosenheim League final on 12 August by yet again finishing second place behind Belgrave Harriers at Tooting Bec. With arguably its strongest line-up so far this season, the team scored highly in most events and very nearly did enough to win. (James Ward)
Match result: Belgrave Harriers - 72; Herne Hill Harriers - 66; Hercules Wimbledon - 48; 4 Serpentine RC - 41; Croydon Harriers - 40; Striders of Croydon - 27; South London Harriers - 22
05/07/09 - Herne Hill cause surprise in UK Women's League
Our women's team bounced back strongly from their disappointing first match to surprise other clubs and finished an excellent 3rd place in the second match two at Coventry. Indeed, we contested the lead for much of the match and actually led with only a few events to go. Throughout the afternoon the team responded to the challenge by filling unusual events and performed superbly, scoring four A string and two B string wins as well as a achieving a number of high placings. From the first event, the hammer where Barbara McAnas and Sharon St Luce Boyce secured 6 valuable points, we accumulated points, no doubt surprising many of the clubs who may have written us off after the first match – underestimating the spirit of the red & black vests!
Denise Osei confirmed her excellent recent form with an A string sprint double supported by two second places in the B strings from Jade Phillips and Michelle Watson who also covered the 400m for the first time for the club in that event. Harriet Owles was again an excellent 2nd in the 800m while Karen Ellison, Helen Sharp and Helen Carter picked up valuable points in the competitive distance races.
We were very strong in the long and triple jumps with A and B string wins in the triple jump through Jane Ejimafugha and Asha Forde Scille, while in the long jump Jane was 2nd in the A string to complement Charlotte Nyame winning the B string. Jennifer Honeyball was our other winner in the pole vault, clearing 3.10m.
In the throws, Briony Phillips set a new PB in the discus with an excellent 40.20m while Barbara McAnas was an excellent 4th in the B string and we were strong in the shot with a 2nd and 3rd placing. On the day we only failed to cover the B string pole vault and 2000m steeplechase and the day concluded with an excellent 2nd place for the sprint relay team in 48.9, their best time for many years.
We were only denied 2nd place by a half point which was frustrating, but now stand 5th in the league table and 3.5 points clear of the bottom two clubs. If we can take a similar team to the final match, we can again challenge and look forward to moving up the division after a superb day for the women's team.
Many thanks to Mike Bond who inspired the team to such a performance. (Steve Bosley)
Match result: Coventry Godiva - 233; Herts Phoenix - 216; Herne Hill Harriers - 215.5; Reading AC - 200; Leeds City - 186; Aldershot, Farnham & District - 148; Gateshead - 147; Channel Islands - 115.5
05/07/09 Veterans haul in national medals
Our 7 representatives achieved a very respectable tally of medals at the British Masters track & field championships at Birmingham. Masakatsu Kondo recorded a championship best performance of 6.26m in winning the M45 long jump, and there were also gold medals for Bob Fraser in M60 200m and Mike Mann in the M60 1500m and 5000m.
John Garber won bronze in the M65 800m and 1500m and Brian Shave won silver and bronze in the M75 5000m and 800m respectively. Kwei Sankofa narrowly missed out on a medal in the M45 200m, as did Allan Long in the M65 long jump. (Dave Wilson)
04/07/09 - HHH spoil Blackheath's British League party with sensational match win
After a solid start with a 5th placing in our opening match at Cardiff, Herne Hill Harriers British Athletics League men's team kicked into gear big style with a sensational victory in our second fixture, the first ever BAL match to be hosted by local rivals Blackheath & Bromley Harriers. Starting as we meant to carry on with a double first in the hammer courtesy of the ever reliable Stuart Thurgood and Mark Hanily we held the lead throughout a glorious afternoon and ultimately prevailed over the promoting club by 6 points at a superb venue for such a day of thoroughly enjoyable action. Even the BAL Chairman commented that the standard in most events was more than worthy of the third tier of top British club league athletics. This excellent win moves us up to 3rd in the league table, but level on points with the top 2, which means that another good result in our next match at Leeds could see us challenging for promotion in our final fixture at Kingston.
Two HHH club records were set, as our 4x100m relay team displayed much better baton exchanges to record 41.82 to beat a record set back in 1991. Such was the quality of the race that our quartet of Byron Robinson, Jeffrey Ocrah, Idris Ojuriye and Robert Graham were only placed 3rd, but we relish such competition. Thomas Ashby was another whose contribution was immense, as he pole vaulted, high jumped and threw discus and shot as our A string man in all four events. His best effort was surely his PB pole vault of 4.00m, which equalled the club U20 record. (Geoff Jerwood)
Match result:- Herne Hill Harriers - 341; Blackheath & Bromley Harriers AC - 335; Kingston & Polytechnic AC - 290; Thames Valley Harriers - 282; Cardiff AC - 275; Harrow AC - 257; Leeds City AC - 209; Swansea Harriers - 195
04/07/09 - Girls leave it late in Lily B League
Our girls' team won their Lily B match today at Guildford by clinching victory in the final relay of the day, the U17 women's 4 x 100m.
We were In contention all afternoon and, by the end, the match score was Reigate Priory - 210, HHH - 209 and Bracknell AC - 208. A double win in the U17 discus from through Gabriella Rosejee and Chauntelle Stafford then put us in the lead going into the relays. We didn't field U13 and U15 teams due to injuries and early departures in the day, but our U17 team beat Bracknelll to clinch our second win of the season.
There were several fine individual performances as athletes warmed up for the English Schools championships with Charlotte Kannini Parsons, Gabrielle Rosejee and Hannah Edwards all winning events and there was another excellent performance from Alex West who continued her improvement this season by beating the 5 minute barrier in the 1500m for the first time. (Steve Bosley)
