Big win for Sam at Hackney Half Marathon

Sam Bramwell – photo credit Graham Smith
17-year-old David Aisa Miller half marathon debut

The weekend saw more excellent road racing performances from Herne Hill Harriers athletes which included a win in what BBC News called the biggest half marathon in London, the Hackney Half Marathon. At least 20 from the club completed the course on a warm Sunday morning.


Sam Bramwell was a clear winner of the event for the second successive year as he recorded a runaway PB of 67:56 to claim the victory and defend his title from 2022.


Bramwell was almost three minutes ahead of good opposition. After his recent 5km road time of 14:31 in Battersea Park this performance further underlined his strength and his undoubted potential.


Matt Cartwright also improved his PB substantially as he placed 18th in 73:35. Other Harriers in the results include Terry Sweet clocking 81:39, 17-year-old David Aisa Miller ran 84:30, Will Ellison 84:37 and Pedro Henrique Pinto 85:23. 


Herne Hill’s senior track and field team placed second in the opening Southern Athletics League match at Tooting Bec on Saturday.

Harriers men’s sprints were strong in both scoring team and non-scorers and inevitably they made up a very impressive 4 x 100m relay team which streaked home to win in 43.2. 


Men’s team captain Andris Thorpe won the A string 100m into a headwind with 11.2 and U17 Rikaion Smith ran the same time and won by the same margin in the B string race. In the non-scoring, Rajay Robinson and Byron Robinson ran 11.2 and 11.3 respectively. Thorpe was then second in the 200m in 23.5 and U17 Fred Hake was a clear winner in the B race, again in 23.5. Harvey Kande ran 52.6 for second in the 400m on his 18th birthday.

The field event athletes produced some good performances. Dante Clark long jumped 6.22m and Chuk Nebechi won the B string with 5.09m. Sprinter Fred Hake impressed; doing his GCSE field event, he cleared 11.01m in the triple jump.


The middle distance was a mixture of the young and the older. U17 Mori Alimi in his first match ran a commendable 2.04.8 for second in the 800m and veteran Mike Tay won the B string in 2.07.5. Alimi later claimed another second in the 1500m 4.13.5. In the B string 1500m M50 England cross country international Simon Coombes produced a B string win in 4.17. M40 Jeff Cunningham ran a solo 3000m steeplechase to win in 10.58 and U20 Harry Bell came second in the 3000m in 9.04.1, a PB by 0.3 of a second. 

The women were led by Joyce Kalombo and Jaydine Robinson. Kalombo won the A string 100m in 12.8 and was second in the 200m in 26.1, both into strong headwinds. Robinson won the long jump with 5.39m, only 6cm off her best and also javelin with 20.65m. Kalombo also gained maximum points in the B string long jump with 4.96m.


The women’s 3000m saw a double win win for Jenny Nandi and Cecily Day. Nandi’s time of 10.50.3 was just three seconds outside her best and Day took almost a minute from her previous best with 10.50.6. 


Two young athletes rounded off the afternoon in the 2000m steeplechase. Racing only against each other, Kaitlin Hewitt came out top with 7.48.3 with Izzy Perry just behind in 7.49.0. Hewitt’s run was a debut at this event, while Perry knocked a 45 seconds off her previous best to conclude a successful first league match of the summer.

Geoff Jerwood

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