Although it isn’t quite yet time for the clocks to move forward an hour in the UK, the USA collegiate outdoor track and field season is already under way, writes Geoff Jerwood.
The first of Herne Hill Harriers’ student athletes in the States to compete was long and triple jumper Ore Adamson who opened her campaign in the long jump in Texas on Saturday.
Her university of Texas San Antonio held an invitational meet in which she jumped 6.06m, her best mark of 2022, having jumped 6.02m indoors exactly a month earlier.
Adamson’s performance cements her position in the UK top-20 female long jumpers of all ages for the year and places her eighth among the U23 women. This represents a good early year mark on the board from which she will seek to move further on, along with her current overall sixth place on the UK women’s triple jump list and second U23 based on her indoor season.
Ten Herne Hill athletes represented the London at the English School Cross Country Championship in Tonbridge.
The highest placed Harriers athlete was Poppy Craig-McFeely, whose 15th in the senior girls race rounds off a strong winter season. She recently occupied the same position in the U20 women’s race at the National Cross Country Championship.
Craig-McFeely’s fine run led her team to fifth place, the best position achieved by a London team in this year’s event. Also contributing to the senior girls success as a scoring team member was Phoebe Bowen, who finished 78th, racing older athletes in this year’s age grouping.
The junior girls were eighth with three Herne Hill athletes among their scoring team of six runners. Orla Wright was 69th, Orla Carroll 84th and Sophie Jack 115th.
The intermediate girls team were 10th with Eva O’Hanlon scoring for the team in 90th and Vivi Marshall, a non counter, finishing 211th.
The junior boys team that came ninth had Alex Wilson as their sixth scorer as he placed 130th.
Dylan Gillies was a non-scoring back up in 296th, while Oak Buchan finished 214th in the intermediate boys race.
Herne Hill claimed two overall team wins for the season as the U15 girls and U17 men prevailed in the final fixture of four in the Downs Cross Country League at Epsom Racecourse on Sunday.
Jack McLennan won the U13 boys title and Florence Mills was first U13 girl overall for the season.
Overall third places were achieved by Nathaniel Meek (U11 boys), Harry Bell (U17 men), Maeve McInelly (U13 girls) and Orla Carroll (U15 girls).
Runners had to compete in all four matches to be eligible to win awards and three on the day age group winners who had not raced the full league season were Keeran Shriskandarajah (U15 boys), David Aisa Miller (U17 men) and Sophie Jack (U13 girls).
Brandon Dewar and Georgie Grgec were clear male and female winners of the RunThrough 10km races at Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford on Saturday morning.
Dewar clocked 32:21 on a windy and slightly undulating course, just over a minute clear of second place. Grgec is now on the comeback trail having won a Surrey League cross country race earlier in the month which was her first race for almost 18 months.
Saturday’s 10km victory was her first competitive outing at this race distance for nine years and yielded a very good PB of 34:21.
Her winning margin over the next fastest female was a huge seven and a half minutes with only three of the men able to finish ahead of her.
Bryn Reynolds (34:12) placed 61st overall at the Eastleigh 10km on Sunday. Simon Wade was 100th in a PB of 35:22.
Tom Foster finished 48th (30:54) in the Victoria Park five-miles road race on Saturday. Sarah Allen was fifth over-50 female (42:31).