Hercules Wimbledon's most promising young sprinter Max Mondelli faces several months out of action after breaking his left leg in two places.

The double fracture occurred when he was tackled during the final 15 minutes of a two-hour pre-season rugby training session at King's College School's West Barnes Lane sports ground. Mondelli, was taken to Kingston Hospital where doctors discovered he had broke both the tibia and fibula bones just above the ankle.

They immediately operated on the injury and inserted a metal place with seven screws to assist in the healing process.

Mondelli, 14, is now hobbling around on crutches causing him another problem - blistered hands.

He will have to endure several more weeks in plaster before he can start physiotherapy and moderate exercise, including swimming.

Mondelli burst onto the athletics scene in style this summer and in his first season won 14 of his 20 sprint races.

He posted a best 100m time of 11.38 seconds for 100m in the English schools championships in Birmingham in July, a time which ranks him 11th in the country in his age group.

He finished fifth in the schools championship.

His title successes came in the South East England schools inter-counties meeting and Surrey County and Surrey schools championships.

He was also runner-up in the South of England and fifth in the England under 15 100m championships.

His mum, Le Hua, said: "This is a major setback for Max and he is deeply upset. He will be out of action for at least six months and will need further surgery early next year to remove the metal plate and screws which will also set him back by a few months.

"However, as he is young and we're hoping for a full recovery except for a possible damage to the ligament just above his ankle which may cause stiffness and pain when he does sport in future."

She added: "The plaster is due to come off in about four weeks when he will start physiotherapy and some exercise such as swimming.

"He is still keen to compete in athletics and would like to try to run next summer.

"However, as he will be moving up an age group most of the people he will be racing against will be older than him so it will be quite a challenge.

"The injury was really bad luck and is quite frustrating for him although he is even talking about playing rugby again."

Hercules Wimbledon's senior men just missed out on a set of medals in the annual Surrey County road relay championships at Wimbledon Park on Saturday despite posting their fastest ever time on the course.

The six-strong team clocked 1 hour 31 minutes 29 seconds, almost three minutes faster than 2009 when Hercules Wimbledon took bronze medals and two minutes faster than their time in 2008 when the team also finished fourth.

Teenager Andrew Penney got the team off to a solid start bringing them in fourth on the opening leg in 15:08. Matt Sharp (15:49) dropped a place before Mike Halman (15:29) got back into fourth.

Two other Hercules Wimbledon teenagers, Liam White and Alex Robinson, both clocked 14:38 on the next two stages, the fastest times ever posted by Hercules Wimbledon runners for the almost three miles circuit.

White got Hercules Wimbledon into third place while Robinson took them clear some 15 seconds ahead of their nearest rivals.

With just 28 seconds covering the top four teams, anchor leg runner Richard Xerri (15:47) face a tough test but was unable to hang onto a medal position and came in 29 seconds behind the bronze medallists.

Alex Urban (15:47) was the fastest member of the B team which finished 11th.

Anchor leg runner Peter Lee (16:30) was best of the veterans over 50 team which finished 10th while Hugh Saxby (17:17) was fastest of the over 50 team which finished sixth.

Third leg runner Micheala Knespl (19:20) was the fastest of the women's quartet which finished fifth. Other members of the team were Hannah Fernando (19:23), Debbie Noel (19:27) and Masumi Dobson (19:51).

Marathon runner Claire Grima, had her first race a few weeks after becoming a mum, to anchor the women's B team to 16th place. She clocked 19:30 on the anchor leg.

Hercules Wimbledon's over 45 veteran Pete Clarke posted the top age-graded performance when he finished fifth out of 183 runners in the Richmond Park parkrun on Saturday in 19:14.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon compete in the Lily B Girls League finals at Ewell Court on Saturday.

* Hercules Wimbledon's track and field training sessions take place at Wimbledon Park athletics stadium on Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting at 6.30pm and Sunday morning at 10.30am. Further details from coaching coordinator Maurice Sharp on 020 8337 8707.

*Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club hold mid-week road running training sessions for marathon, cross country and road runners from Lauriston Cottage, 6a Southside, Wimbledon Common, at the junction with Lauriston Road, every Wednesday evening from 7pm. Contact Pete Mulholland on 020 8761 4308 for more details.