A wet Sunday morning did not deter the usual huge number of runners and spectators alike taking to the streets to support the annual festival that is the London Marathon.
There were at least 25 runners from Herne Hill Harriers who completed the 26.2 miles course in good times, with many of these being personal bests. Ollie Mills and Sophie Gunning led the red and black charge with PBs as they were crowned as club men’s and women’s marathon champions for 2023.
Mills improved his previous best time by over a minute with 2:31.28, while Gunning’s 2:53.48 took almost 20 minutes off her PB as both ran strongly throughout.
Next Harriers finishers both also ran lifetime beers as Ryan Willmott and M45 Ben Millar clocked 2:39.0 and 2:43.54 respectively. Next was Alex Gutteridge 2:45.09, Max Rose 2:45.25 and Jonathan Ratcliffe 2:46.26. The latter was sixth in the M55 category.
Jack Brotchie ran 2:49.13 while pacing another athlete to a PB, then the runners flooded in as Ed Crowther 2:52.40, Alex Russell 2:54.19 in his third marathon in as many days, Carl Delaney also doing a pacing job with 2:58.44, Andrew Georgeson 2:59.35 all ran under three hours.
More Herne Hill finishers were M50 Trevor Chilton 3:03.21, Marcus Harrow 3:05.23, Laura Donnelly 3:06.50, Gen Huss 3:12.49, M55 Robert Nagorski 3:13.43, W40 Suzanne Swaine 3:17.15, another W40 Loren Gartside 3:25.02, M55 Andrew Simms 3:29.09 on his birthday, Beth McHugh 3:34.26, Ruth Chalmers 3:35.25, Annabelle Acres 3:35.27, W50 Ellen Walsh 4:08.46, Zoe Boland 4:33.33 and Tooting Run Club leader Tahir Shams ran 4:57.52.
Another big result was achieved in the London Mini Marathon for young athletes where one of Herne Hill’s newest members Eliza Nicholson won the London Borough title for age 15-17 girls on Saturday morning. Nicholson is an exciting young talent who has enjoyed an excellent cross country season and is off to a good start to her summer on the road and track.
The racing weekend kicked off well at the Friday Under the Lights 5km in Battersea Park. Sam Bramwell ran a superb 14:31 for a big PB, impeccably paced. New man Morgan Roberts showed no fear, setting off very quickly and hung on to record an exciting debut run at this distance with 14:56.
Andrew Clarke 15:21, M50 Ben Paviour 15:48and Seve Loudon 16:09 completed Harriers finishing line up for the men, while among the women Sarah Grover clocked 17:37 and Charlotte Davies 17:55 for more PBs.
Over in the USA two Harriers athletes clocked middle distance times which are among the fastest recorded by club members in their events. Arlo Ludewick followed up his recent fast season opening 1500m with 1:49.61 for 800m for only his second time under 1:50 at the Virginia Challenge meet in Charlottesville.
Having recently already clocked PBs this season of 15.44 for 5000m and 2.10 for 800m, Phoebe Anderson ran 4.15.97 for 1500m at the Wake Forest Invitational in North Carolina for a seven seconds PB and a time which has only ever been bettered by Olympian Katie Snowden and former Australian champion Chloe Tighe in the club annals.
Also in the States over the weekend sprint international Kristal Awuah ran 11.70 for 100m and 23.75 for 200m at the LSU Alumni Gold in Baton Rouge, while Ore Adamson long jumped 6.02m at the J Fred Duckett Twilight in Houston, Texas as their outdoor seasons gather pace.
On Saturday a number of athletes raced at the Woodford Green Open Meeting with U17 Khalil Sesay running a good 17.26 for 150m and 36.46 for 300m. Isaac Ogunlade followed up his recent 400m with 22.69 for 200m. U20 Mine Ebriku ran 17.59 for 150m and 38.63 for 300m, while Beatriz Maulicino ran 45.80 for 300m at a busy meeting.
Geoff Jerwood