Hercules Wimbledon teenagers Liam White and Joe Toomey warmed up for this coming weekend's South of England inter-counties cross country championships at North London's Parliament Hill Fields by heading the field home in the second of this season's Sweatshop Surrey League races at Farthing Downs, Coulsdon, last Saturday.
The duo will be competing for Surrey in the men's under 17 race on Saturday. In the absence of White, Toomey took the honours in the opening league race at Reigate but with White back in action after taking a month out to recover from his hectic summer, Toomey was forced to give way to his more talented clubmate.
White had control of the race from soon after the start and battle through blustery conditions to win the two-and-a-half miles race in 15 minutes 30 seconds with Toomey 21 seconds down and the pair leading Hercules Wimbledon to a comfortable team triumph.
It was their second race of the day as, in the morning, they competed in the Lord Mayor's mile in the City which was part of the Lord Mayor's Parade celebrations.
Other Hercules Wimbledon runners in the youngsters' race were Ed Saywell (seventh in 16:48) and Ben Palmer (15th in 18:41).
Cassian Hyde was just pipped in the under 13 race where he was runner-up in 16:40.
Despite missing some of the top members of the team who were on the club trip to Cuba, Hercules Wimbledon gave an improved showing in the senior men's race. Kieran White led the Hercules Wimbledon contingent home covering the five miles in 30:11 to finish 10th out of more than 150 runners. Teenager Alex Robinson was second Hercules Wimbledon finisher in 41st place in 31:52 and used it as a warm-up for the tough Hell Raiser event through mud and water in Longmoor, Hampshire, on Sunday where he had a superb run beating a 3000-plus strong field to win in 1:04:52 despite, at 18, being the youngest runners in the field.
Phil Glynn, who missed the start in the opening Surrey League race at Reigate, bounced back by finishing 47th at Coulsdon in 32:14 and was the third Hercules Wimbledon scorer. Other Hercules Wimbledon runners in the senior men's race were Justin Kelly (50th in 32:21), Richard Xerri (53rd in 32:29), veteran Peter Lee (73rd inn 33:40), Deon Coetzee (76th in 33:51), Matthew Sharp (86th in 34:29), Adam Sikora (91st in 34:46) and over 55 veteran Hugh Saxby (101st in 35:23) completing the scoring team of 10.
Hercules Wimbledon's senior women gave another good showing in their Surrey Ladies League race, staged in pouring rain and high winds at Dorking last Saturday.
Marathon runner Claire Grima led the contingent in finishing sixth in 26:25 with Debbie Noel 32nd in 28:39, Jennifer Fernando 34th in 28:51, her twin sister Rosemary 37th in 29:08, Chantel Toussaint 41st in 29:36, Amy Dolan 51st in 29:56, Fenella Willis 77th in 32:29 and Rowena Hornshaw 85th in 33:21.
Hercules Wimbledon's Jamies Garnier showed useful track form in the Freshers Varsity match at Wilberforce Road, Cambridge, where he won the 400m in 51.6 and was also runner-up in the 400m hurdles in 60.2, his first attempt at the event. He also competed in the high hurdles and anchored Oxford to victory in the 4x400m relay.
Another Hercules Wimbledon athlete in the match was teenager Henry Husband who helped Cambridge to a comfortable team victory by finishing third in the 200m and running the third leg for the winning sprint relay quartet.
Meanwhile, over 50 veteran Martin O'Halloran and Andrew Davies were fifth in their respective parkruns at Roundhsaw Downs and Wimbledon Common in 21:23 and 19:03, respectively.
This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon are competing in the London cross country championships, which are being staged in conjunction with the South of England inter-counties championships, at Parliament Hill Fields on Saturday.
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