The fabulous under-13 trio of Oscar Millard, Mohammed Ali and Freddie Hodgson finished first, second and third in the latest round of Surrey League cross country action, as Herne Hill Harriers’ junior athletes dominated at Lloyd Park.
Herne Hill won the U13B team race at Croydon and an U15/U17B squad were third, with Paul Burgess finishing second individual. However, there was another frustrating result for the senior men’s squad, with the 10-man team matching the sixth-place finish achieved in the first fixture at Coulsdon.
South London Harriers, Hercules Wimbledon, Belgrave Harriers and Herne Hill were closely matched in the fight for third place, but a lack of depth again cost the senior men’s squad. Chris Busaileh impressed in 12th, while Mike Cummings (21st), Simon Coombes (22nd) and Alan Barnes (28th) bolstered the top-end. Jeff Cunningham (42nd) and John Kettle (48th) squeezed in a fantastically-competitive top-50. Mohammed Ismail (56th), Jack Hillier (62nd), Deron Fagan (69th) and Dave Robinson (70th) made up the scoring ten, leaving Harriers just 39 points shy of South London in third.
The U13B lifted the disappointment with a superb one-two-three combined with Jacob Alley’s 11th place, which confirmed Harriers’ runaway victory. In the U15/17B event, Billy Black (fourth), Paul Chabolah (22nd) and Malik Nehali (35th) gave support to runner-up Burgess as the team finished third.