18/10/09 - HHH claim cabbages galore at Cabbage Patch 10
Some of the club's best senior men came away from the Cabbage Patch 10 with a haul of no fewer than 5 cabbages, 12 cans and a wadful of cash as a reward for their fine efforts in the Cabbage Patch 10 in Twickenham, one of London's premier road races. Brian Wilder's 5th place in 53:07 claimed him a cabbage for finishing in the top ten and the club 10 mile championship, while Jeff Cunningham underlined his excellent recent improvement to also go home with a vegetable after placing 6th in 53:29. Simon Coombes finished inside 56 minutes for the first time in a 10 mile race, placing 19th in 55:59.
This was sufficient to ensure second helpings of cabbage for Brian and Jeff and to engender cullinary thoughts of his own as the efforts of this trio secured victory in the men's team race to build upon team success at the presigious Eastleigh 10K back in March.
Further back, Simon Phillips, aided by a new lightweight (and some would say contraband) club vest scorched his way to a richly deserved PB of 58:06 while Paul Shiel showed no signs of fatigue following his sub 3-hour run in the Lochness Marathon to record 62:48. James Ward put a spate of recent injuries and concerns for his health behind him to jog round in 63:08 while Ben Hallifax was happy with his time of 69:01 having suffered with injuries of late. Rupert Mainwaring clocked 73:37 while Debbie Jackson was our only female representative in this high calibre race, finishing in 80:28. (James Ward)
17/10/09 - Senior men place 35th in National 6-stage relays
A strong team travelled to Birmingham with hopes of a top 25 finish in the National 6-stage Road Relay Championship, but had to settle for 35th place in the high quality race. Moving up through the field all the time, the team progressed from 50th place at the end of the first leg to its final finishing position with Iain Lockett, so often our first leg runner enjoying the unusual role of anchor man.
As at last year's race, Alan Barnes kicked things off on first leg with a clocking of 18:37 and although running 13 seconds faster than last year found himself in 50th (compared to 47th last year) at the handover. Our revelation from the Surrey League race a week earlier, Chris Busaileh proved that run was no flash in the pan as he ran a fine leg to move up 5 places, recording a time of 18:25, our fastest man of the day. Dave Peters reached the age of 38 before finally making his Sutton Park debut, but was suffering from some heavy cold symptoms which will have held back his performance, although he still moved us up to 42nd position at the halfway stage with a time of 18:47.
To be outside the top 40 at halfway with 3 decent quality men having run was tough, but with 3 more good guys to come we were still confident of gaining a good few places before the finish. Things did not quite happen as well as we may reasonably have hoped, but Jeff Cunningham (up to 40th, 19:04) and top veterans Keith Newton (up to 37th, 19:29) and Iain Lockett (up to 35th, 18:59) did make some headway on some of the teams in front of them. All 3 will readily acknowledge this was not one of their best days, although all 3 did of course give it the best they could and were part of what was nonetheless one of our stronger efforts in this event and we will look to continue to improve beyond this level in the coming years.
HHH were 13th team from the South of England, representing a much stronger performance than our 24th placing at the Southern championships 3 weeks earlier and with a team time almost 4 minutes faster than our 46th placed team of 2008. If B teams were to be excluded we would be 10th Southern team, but B teams did of course run and 5 B teams were ahead of us, 3 from the South.A strong team travelled to Birmingham with hopes of a top 25 finish in the National 6-stage Road Relay Championship, but had to settle for 35th place in the high quality race. Moving up through the field all the time, the team progressed from 51st place at the end of the first leg to its final finishing position with Iain Lockett, so often our first leg runner enjoying the unsual role of anchor man. (Geoff Jerwood)
17/10/09 - Vic Maughn claims Surrey Vets cross country crown
Well done to Vic Maughn, who won gold in the M45 age group at the Surrey Veterans Cross Country championship at Richmond, with Mick Harran claiming the gold medal for first M70 and his son Tony winning the bronze behind Vic in the M45 category. Brian Shave was first M75. Vic placed 3rd overall in the race, which also incorporated the M40s, while Tony was 7th in the 40-49 age grouping for team purposes and, together with Ed Barrow, 22nd M40-49 (10th M40) these 3 claimed bronze medals for finishing as 3rd M40-49 team. HHH men also won bronze medals for the 3rd over 60's team, John Garber, Dave Wilson and Mick Harran being the successful trio. (Geoff Jerwood)
Click here to view the full results (hyperlink to Surrey County AA website).
10/10/09 - Men assume pole position in Surrey League title defence
Having won the Surrey League title for the past 4 years, Herne Hill Harriers' men's cross country team enjoyed a winning start to our 2009/10 campaign over the firm ground of a sunny Reigate Priory. Perennial close rivals Thames Hare & Hounds packed very well at the sharp end of the sharp end, with 4 men in procession between 4th and 7th places, but HHH benefited from having race winner Ben Whitby in our colours and this, allied to our superior depth in packing our 10 scoring runners into the first 27, was enough to see us win the team race on the day by 37 points.
Indeed the HHH team on paper looked capable of achieving a bigger margin of victory with our main opponents missing 3 or 4 key men, but we are notoriously slow starters in this league and had some men trying to regain fitness at the start of the new season and one or two recovering from missed training through illness. We will therefore be happy enough to have the early pole position and will hope to increase our lead from hereon in. With 3 races to come, in November, December and February we should have one or two of our own guys to bring in from our Reigate line-up and can reasonably expect some to improve on their positions in the Reigate race.
Ben Whitby's timely arrival just 15 minutes before the race start was played down at the time by the HHH team management, but as things transpired his fine win proved crucial to our team victory, although we are always at pains to point out, quite correctly, that every team member's performance is vital to the cause. Ben had Ugandan international Paskar Owar for company for at least 3 of the 5 miles, but eventually romped away to a 33 seconds margin of victory, with the 3rd and 4th placed men, fine runners in their own right, around a minute in arrears of the winner.
Our remaining 9 scoring team members packed superbly despite giving Thames an early head start with their first 4 highly placed men. Chris Busaileh had a brilliant run in his Surrey League debut to finish an excellent 8th, a perfect illustration of a young and relatively new team member who is enjoying both the competitive and social aspects of being part of the HHH team. Jeff Cunningham is also improving with just about every race, as witnessed by his best Surrey League placing to date in 11th. Our veterans are among the very best in Britain, Keith Newton and Iain Lockett still being good enough for 14th and 17th respectively in a quality senior men's field, while Alan Barnes also achieved a top 20 position in 19th.
So far, so good, but it was our final 4 team counters whose positions helped gain us the vital ground on our rivals. Jonny Henderson (21st - also in his first Surrey League race in HHH colours), David Robinson (another top vet, 23rd), John Carlisle (24th) and Tim Elsey (28th) ensured we closed 10 runners well inside the top 20 whereas Thames had to wait until 38th, 41st and 42nd for their final 3 counters, all 3 of these runners finishing behind our 11th man and first non counter, Simon Coombes (37th).
With over 30 red and black vests on the start line, albeit not quite as many making it to the finish line, we also again turned out very well in quantity as well as quality, something we always like to see at these races as safety in numbers is never a bad thing to have and to supply almost 20% of the field in a 9 team contest can have its own value in psyching out at least some of the opposition. Well done, therefore, to all who made the trip down to Reigate as you will all have played your part in kicking off what we hope will be our 5th successive league title winning season provided you continue to give similar support to the remaining races.
The club had another individual winner in the male league races at Reigate, as 12 year old Merhawi Tesfaldet won the U13 colts race by an even bigger margin than Ben achieved in the senior race and over a shorter distance, as he finished 37 seconds ahead of the nearest pursuer from his own age group and was indeed 3rd overall in the race in conjunction with the U15 boys and U17 youths, against boys up to 4 years older than him. He is certainly a talent to watch out for.
Not to be outdone, our team in the combined U15 and U17 age group race were also clear winners. Well done to Zach Weller-Davies (3rd in his combined age group), Sam Woods (8th), Jordan Maurice (14th), Tim Leake (15th), Joe Kidson (19th) and Dominic Wynes-Devlin (21st) who made up this successful young team.
In the separate Surrey Ladies Cross Country League held earlier in the day at the same venue, our senior women's team placed a close 4th in the opening league race of the season, spearheaded by very fine runs by Karen Ellison (4th) and Suzie Richards (5th). HHH were 2nd team in the U17's, 3rd team in the U15's and 5th team in the U13's, with Katie Snowden and Alexandra West winning the U17 and U15 races respectively. (Geoff Jerwood)
Click here to view the men's results (hyperlink to Reigate Priory AC website).
Click here to view the women's results (hyperlink to Reigate Priory AC website).
03/10/09 - Herne Hill return to cross country roots
Herne Hill Harriers returned to hold an event on Streatham Common for the first time in over 30 years as our athletes competed over a hilly 6 mile course of three laps in preparation for their assault on the men’s and women’s Surrey League which begins the following weekend. The event commemorated the club's 120th anniversary and its longstanding connections with Streatham Common and surrounding areas.
Chris Busaileh was the first athlete home winning in a highly creditable 34:20 having pulled clear of clubmates Jonny Henderson and Simon Coombes who vied for second place up to the very last uphill straight, where Jonny took the initiative and pulled clear. The ever consistent Vic Maughn took the veterans championships title, for fourth place overall, followed by a surprise but welcome return to the red and black hooped vest by Tom Conlon, once again racing for the club he has so successfully represented for over 35 years.
Suzie Richards ably won the women’s race in under 40 minutes to show her zest for a tough harrier’s course, whilst under 20 athlete Julia Wedmore dug deep to complete the final lap to finish second.
Officials, timekeepers and the twenty two participating athletes (of all abilities and ages) then repaired to the local Pied Bull pub, a former headquarters of Herne Hill Harriers, to celebrate the return of cross country running to the Common in our 120th anniversary year. A successful and enjoyable return which should not prevent the common’s use for such an event to await another 30 years. (Valdis Pauzers)
