Herne Hill Harriers National mens and womens teams consolidated their positions at the top of their Divisions by performing superbly in the second round of matches over the weekend, the men came second and moved to the top of Division One of the BAL by 2.5 points and the women also came second but maintained their lead in the Division and with one match remaining have a clear gap between them and the promotion places.
The clubs men’s British League team travelled to Gateshead which had been buffered by the heavy storms two days before and although conditions were windy it was the clubs athletes that were swept to a series of excellent performances to maintain their strong placing in the Division. The mens team now sit proudly on top of BAL National 1, the second tier in UK club team league athletics for the first time ever. Some of our younger men’s team members who were event winners all started with the club as young athletes. Blade Ashby (A string 110m hurdles), Julien Allwood and Taiwo Aderini (A & B string triple jump), Tayo Andrews (B string high jump) and Jonathan Grant (B string long jump), while under 23 Irish star John Travers won the B 800m and our sprint relay team produced the goods with a great win. Promotion to the Premiership suddenly looks very possible with two matches remaining.
On Sunday our womens track and field team followed the mens example by finishing second in the match and now have a four point gap between themselves and the third placed club with one match remaining. Teamwork and club spirit was the key element to their success with only three A string wins from Jessie Knight in the A string 400m, Cathy Ansell in the 3000m and the sprint relay team of Rosanta Yarde, Jessie Knight, Michelle Watson and Shanice Harrison but the club also enjoyed B string wins from Laura Dowsing & Hannah Edwards & in the 800m and 1500m and Briony Phillips in the shot putt and throughout the afternoon athletes rose to the occasion to earn second and third places and keep the points total ticking over. After two matches Herne Hill Harriers and Crawley who both won promotion last season have a clear four and three point lead over the next placed club with one match remaining as they try to strive for a rarely achieved double promotion.
19 young athletes from our club will be competing in the English Schools Championship this weekend in Gateshead. Good luck to all.
A fuller report on our National League teams will be added during the week.