Herne Hill Harriers’ senior men’s team started their defence of the Surrey Road League Championship title with a convincing team victory at the Sutton 10k on 1 May, the first in the series of summer road races that form the league.
Led home in second place by marathon international was Brian Wilder in 33.15. The Harriers’ scoring 4 clocked a combined time of 2:17.21 compared to the second placed team time of outside 2:19.
Harriers’ Basil Wallace was the team’s second counter finishing well in 3rd place, exactly a minute behind Brian, with Geoffrey Barnard close behind in 34:29 and Jeff Cunningham closing the A team quartet in 35:22.
Although not scoring in the Harriers’ winning team, Mike Boyle’s 35:49 won him the prize for the first over 50 in 18th place overall.
Elsewhere, Herne Hill Harriers’ senior women athlete, Cathy Ansell, produced a top early season run to win silver medal in the BUCS Championships for British students. Cathy negotiated 25 laps on the track at the Bedford Athletics Stadium in a time of 35.24.95, only 13 seconds short of the club’s senior women’s record.
In other news, Herne Hill Harriers enjoyed a successful Olympic torch relay run on bank holiday Monday to celebrate and promote the club’s Olympic heritage. Pupils from St Jude’s School in Brixton and Henry Cavendish School in Balham took part in the run carrying an original Olympic torch from the 1948 London Olympic Games, starting from the Herne Hill Velodrome and finishing at Tooting Bec Track, home of the Harriers.
Club patron and former Olympian, Lord Terrence Higgins started the relay run. Former Olympian, Shani Anderson and Former Commonwealth athlete, John Greatrex were also present to meet and talk to the young athletes.