Hercules Wimbledon’s Liam White finished ninth out of more than 300 runners in the English national men’s U17 cross country championships at Roundhay Park, Leeds, on Saturday.
White, who won the Surrey title the previous weekend, covered the testing 6km course in 20 minutes 31 seconds, just over a minute behind the winner.
It was the best performance by a Hercules Wimbledon runner in the U17 race although Harry Lydiate of the former Hercules AC finished fifth in 1956.
He was one of three Hercules runners in the race, with Joe Toomey 101st (22:24) and Geordie Logan 111th (22:35).
Alex Robinson (36:32) finished 55th out of more than 200 runners in the junior men’s race. The new Surrey U20 champion was less than three minutes behind the winner and gave the best performance by a Hercules Wimbledon runner in the event since Dave Clarke finished third in 1978, also in Roundhay Park.
Cassian Hyde was 23rd out of almost 300 runners in the U13 3km race, clocking 12:10. In Hercules Wimbledon’s history, only Jonathan Burgess, who now lives in Australia, has fared better finishing seventh in 2006 and 15th in 2005.
The senior men finished 27th out of more than 100 teams, equalling the club’s best achievement in 1975 and 1976.
Adam Przedrymirski (43:40) was 154th out of more than 1,400 runners, with Phil Glynn 317th (46:24), Gervase King 321st (46:27), Richard Xerri 353rd (46:58), Deon Coetzee 387th (47:27), Jamie Helmer 548th (49:36) and Belal Aly 898th (54:32).
In the U15 4.5km event, Joe Clark (16:02) was 49th out of more than 320 runners. Ben Palmer was 190th (16:17).
Instead of the English national events, Kieran White was in action at Friday’s Inter-Services Championships in High Wycombe. He clocked 39:58 to finish eighth in the 10km event, leading the RAF to team success.
Hercules Wimbledon’s Hugh Saxby clocked the fastest time for an over-55-year-old in Veteran Athletic Club’s 5.8-mile cross country race on Wimbledon Common on Saturday. He finished second (35:41)..
David Grima was eighth out of more than 160 runners in Saturday’s Wimbledon Common parkrun (19:25) and 42nd out of 1,800 runners in the following day’s Tunbridge Wells half-marathon (1:26.08).
Hercules athletes are in action at Saturday’s Surrey indoor track and field championships at Sutton Arena. Their cross country runners contest their final inter-club race of the winter over 3.87 miles in Richmond Park on Sunday (3pm).
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