By Jonny Muir

The cross country season burst into life on Saturday, with Herne Hill Harriers claiming three individual victories and one team success.

The stand-out performance came at Wimbledon Common from Oscar Millard and the U13B team. 

A dominant Millard won the race by 79 seconds, with teammate Freddie Hodgson second, Daniel Craig-McFeeley fourth and Alex Ferri seventh, ensuring first place in the team competition.

Further individual winners were Saskia Millard (U15G) and Eloise O’Shaughnessy (U13G) at Lightwater.

Meanwhile, Ed Olsen and Lascelles Hussey ran strongly in the U17B race, finishing second and fourth respectively, while Malik Nehailey was fifth in the U15B race.

Harriers’ senior men’s squad were also in action at Wimbledon Common, starting their campaign with a third place overall.

Jorge Raso Gea was sixth in a race won by Ireland marathon international Paul Pollock, with Mike Cummings (11th), Simon Coombes (17th), and Mark Dooley (20th) finishing in the top 20.

Despite John Kettle closing Harriers’ scoring 10 in 48th, it was not enough to usurp Kent AC and Thames Hare and Hounds in first and second.

The club’s senior women matched their male counterparts, with a third-place finish spearheaded by Cathy Ansell’s individual third and Jo Ritson’s fifth.

On the road, second claim member Joe Morwood was the first Herne Hill athlete to the line in the Cabbage Patch 10, finishing ninth in 51.47, becoming club 10-mile road champion for 2013.

Less than 24 hours after competing at Wimbledon Common, Cummings was 16th in 54.17, closely pursued by Ben Paviour in 54.24 for 19th overall and first M40.

Jonathan Ratcliffe ran a season’s best of two hours, 41 minutes, 56 seconds at the Amsterdam Marathon, finishing 89th in a mass field. Robert Edwards was 373rd in 2:58.02.