Herne Hill Harriers youngsters competed in their final cross country events of the 2022-23 season which culminated with a couple of schools championship race events.
A number of Harriers represented their county schools teams at the English Schools Championship in Wollaton Park in Nottingham and three were part of medal winning teams at this major event.
The highest placed individual from the club was also the oldest as in her final school year before university Kaitlin Hewitt placed an excellent 42nd in the senior girls race and was the second team member of her Surrey Schools team, rounding off a very successful first full season of racing for her.
The London Schools junior girls team claimed bronze medals and their scoring team of six included Maeve Minielly 71st and Sophie Jack 90th as both took podium places on the day. Lily Kitto also raced as part of this squad, finishing 102nd, just outside the team scorers.
The London intermediate girls team went one better as they won silver medals with Orla Carroll in 43rd place playing a key role in their success.
Other Herne Hill athletes who raced for London were senior boys Alex Jack 166th and Harry Bell 188th, intermediate boys Alex Wilson 176th and Fabien Whitelock 285th and in the junior boys Caspian Holmes 128th and James Clements-Nash 155th.
Earlier in the week Herne Hill were dominant in the London Borough Schools year 7 and 8 championships.
In the Year 7 Boys race Edward Cunniffe was first, Zacchaeus Kelman was third. In the Year 7 Girls race Sofia Mendes was second, while Florence Mills was also second in the Year 8 Girls race. In the Year 8 Boys Caspian Holmes was first and Lucas Heath second.
There were also some very good road runs from senior athletes. Harriers star W40 athlete Gaby Reynolds scored a superb victory in the Kingston 20 miles race on Sunday, finishing as first female and seventh overall in an impressively fast 2:04.26 as she gets ready for an April marathon.
At the Friday Night Under the Lights 5km in Battersea Park Brandon Dewar clocked 14:57, Matt Cartwright 15:33, Joe Elliott 15:34, Ronan Tanguy 15:40, M50 Ben Paviour 15:49, David Moyse 15:50, Jack Brotchie 16:14 and Ross Brown 16:30 as these eight all showed good form leading into the upcoming men’s 12 stage road relays.
There was also a ground breaking event at Canary Wharf on Friday evening, where the Podium Underground races took place around laps of an indoor go kart track and attracted high quality men’s and women’s fields. Ryan Willmott qualified for the men’s semifinal, while M50 Simon Coombes and Andrew Georgeson both raced in the heats. All three enjoyed being part of a unique racing experience.
On Saturday morning at the RunThrough Hyde Park half marathon M45 athletes Ben Millar and Jon Key ran 76:45 (PB) and 81:18 as part of another busy weekend of racing for the club.
Geoff Jerwood