The final fixture of the Surrey Cross-Country League was held on a gloomy Saturday afternoon on the Epsom Downs racecourse. The six races through the age groups featured strong performances from Herne Hill Harriers, with the highlight being a dramatic last day win for the under 13 boys’ team to claim the league title.
The boys went into this match lying second after three of four races with a deficit of 31 points behind the strong Hercules Wimbledon squad. A seemingly unassailable gap was closed thanks to Harriers’ boys filling all three podium positions on the day and the snatch and grab was completed by the fourth team member placing 10th. After result’s were finalised the team in red and black became league champions by just five points.
Saturday’s winning team was made up of winner Josiah Aldham, runner up John Reynolds, third placed Henry Kucerov and Ben Thomas in 10th. They were backed up by Ted Jones 13th, Anton Thomas 15th and Conor Harrow 31st. In the overall league scores, Kucerov and Aldham finished equal second in the League.
The Herne Hill women also produced a narrow on the day team win, by a single point ahead of Belgrave Harriers, but the latter had a bigger cushion going into the final race and despite Herne Hill winning the last two of the four league races, the Belles successfully defended their title.
Individually, though, it was a different story as two red and black clad women impressively finished first and second in the overall standings. England international Lucy Jones again emphasised her quality and her improvement over the last six months as she romped to a 54 second win around the testing 8km course. This was Jones’s third league race win in a row, and again she was chased by her training mate Sophie Tooley who finished third on the day to give her a silver medal score for the season and a famous 1-2 for the club.
The other A team scorers at Epsom were Grace Leyland 11th, Gaby Reynolds 13th (first W40) and Charlotte Davies 24th. The B team were second on the day and in the league, their scorers being Leonie Biemolt 27th (third W40), Sarah Grover 29th, Helena Keenan 39th, Chloe Wright 60th and another W40 Karen Ellison 70th. Reynolds finished third W40 for the league season.
Harriers’ super Saturday continued later in the afternoon on the continent as a World Athletics indoor track meet in Metz, France was the scene of Tokyo Olympian Katie Snowden’s opening race of 2025.
Following a three months injury layoff before Christmas, Snowden got off to a more than encouraging start as she placed fourth in an international 1500m field, with her clocking of 4:06.44 seeing her top of the very early season UK women’s rankings, albeit with the biggest and no doubt fastest races on the horizon in the coming weeks.
Also on the track over a busy weekend, the England Athletics Indoor Age Group Championships were held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. A handful of Herne Hill athletes made the trip and although none returned with medals there were some excellent results with four national finalists.
Jasmine Nkoso placed fourth in the under 17 women’s shot with 12.60m on Saturday to continue her fine season. Fred Hake was sixth in the under 20 men’s 400m with 50.54 on Sunday after the previous day having clocked 49.75 to win his heat and then 49.72 to qualify from his semifinal. Maalik Adamson was an outstanding seventh in the under 20 boys long jump with 6.74m
In the sprints Princess Okama finished eighth in the under 17 women’s 60m final on Saturday with 7.79. This was her third race of the day, having earlier won her heat in 7.75 and then qualifying from her semifinal with a PB 7.66. Ella Rennie found sixth in her semifinal with 7.87 insufficient to advance to the final, having earlier run 7.89 in her heat. On Sunday Rennie then reached the 200m semifinal, clocking 25.44 after running 25.28 in her heat.
There were more top results at the Surrey League. The senior men produced their best result of the season as their third place on the day saw them move up to fifth in the final league table. The B team also placed third on the day as part of a strong turnout of 34 runners.
The A team comprised Sam Bramwell in second place for two successive league races, Morgan Roberts with a breakthrough run in ninth, Joe Morwood 21st, Andrew Clarke 28th, Daniel Shaw 36th, Harry Roberts 41st, Fabien Whitelock 52nd (second U20 both on the day and overall), Sam Brashaw 58th, Tom O’Mahoney 61st (third U20 on the day and overall) and Joe Elliott 68th.
The under 13 girls were third both on the day and in the league. They were superbly led by race winner Skyla O’Brien, who also jointly claimed the overall league title with another athlete having the same points score. Charlotte Bishton was 13th in her first ever club race, Paras Ubhi 17th, Genevieve Meek 24th, Eva Burke 28th and Emma Johnson 34th.
The combined U15/U17 boys were third and also third in the League, with Luca Boulton 16th, Leau Roch 22nd, Alfie Bryan 29th, Noah Turner 32nd and Herbie Clark 54th. Tommy Clerkin, although not racing at Epsom finished second and Leau Roch third in the final standings.
The U15 girls finished fourth on the day, with Sofia Mendes fourth, Annabel Wainwright seventh and Florence Mills eighth. The girls finished sixth in the League. The under 17 girls were fifth on the day and third overall, with Maeve Minielly eighth at Epsom and Lily Kitto 13th.
Geoff Jerwood