Herne Hill Harriers’ girl’s teams produced a clean sweep of team wins in the junior age groups as they continued their excellent start to the Surrey cross-country league season.
After two matches the U13G and U15G have a clear lead in their age categories, while the U17W have moved into contention for their league title.
Racing at Nonsuch Park, the U13G squad showed great strength in depth by closing their scoring athletes with four in the top-10. Lulu King continued her good form in her debut cross country season by leading the team home in third place, chased by Clarissa Nicholls. Lily Newton was fifth and Amy Miller closed the team in ninth. Sandwiched between them was 10-year-old Maisie Collis who finished an impressive sixth, but under league rules cannot score until her 11th birthday in January. Behind Miller were Eva Holland, another U11, and Abigail Cunningham in 12th, meaning that Herne Hill Harriers had seven finishers in the top-12.
The club’s U15G packed just as well with four finishers in the top seven - Eloise O’Shaunghnessy (second), Ella Newton (fourth), Zoe Tompkins (sixth) and Tatiana Cooke (seventh) – meaning the team has a clear lead in the league table after two matches.
The U17W were led home by Kate Brown whose strong finish ensured she finished second. Daisy Setyabule was third and Alex Rispoli eighth, meaning Herne Hill won by six points from Guildford.
A little further up the age pyramid, four Harriers’ athletes were in cross-country action for their university teams. Lewis Lloyd – racing in the colours of Cambridge University as their team captain in the varsity cross country race on Wimbledon Common – was second, but saw his team beaten by Oxford.
Further afield, Katie Snowden, Hannah Edwards and John Tayleur represented their university sides at the Leeds University Cross Country Relays on a testing course at Bodington Hall.
Snowden was fifth on a very competitive first leg racing for a Nottingham University team that eventually placed seventh of 27 complete teams. Snowden narrowly overhauled Scottish international marathon runner Susan Partridge on the run in. Her time of 11 minutes, 50 seconds, for a long two miles stood up as sixth fastest overall.
Edwards’ run, timed at 12.27, was also impressive as she ran the second fastest time on second leg as she moved her Liverpool University team up from 11th to fifth, and was a major reason for their fourth team placing by the end of the race. Leeds University fresher Tayleur enjoyed home advantage as he clocked an official time of 11.14 on the anchor leg of the men’s race for one of the host’s strong teams.
Full results are on www.surreyleague.org