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Hercules Wimbledon veteran Jonathan Dobson made an impressive return to action after being sidelined for 31 months by a serious knee problem when he took runners-up spot in the Richmond Park parkrun on Saturday.

It was an amazing come-back for 46-year-old Dobson who beat all but one of the 180-strong field to clock a personal best time of 18 minutes four seconds for the parkrun. It was his first appearance in the Richmond Park event and only the second time he had competed in a parkrun event. His debut appearance was on Wimbledon Common in March 2008 when he clocked 18:05.

Dobson's last race was in June 2009 when he finished runner-up in the veterans category in the North Downs 30km multi terrain race in Kent in just over two hours. That summer he also took the Surrey veterans 5000m silver medal at Ewell Court in May. Earlier in the year he ran in the English and South of England senior men's cross country championships and also took part in the Prague half-marathon in March.

Back in 2008, he competed in four marathons abroad in Berlin, New York, Zurich and Tokyo. Soon after his appearance in the North Downs event he was forced to stop running due to a knee injury. Dobson thought he might never race again but now, after two operations on his injured knee, he has returned to racing. "It was an amazing feeling to run again", said Dobson. "However, it's not going to be a regular thing since the knee will not allow it."

Another Hercules Wimbledon runner in action in Richmond Park was Stephen McDuell who was ninth in 19:26. David and Claire Grima made their debuts in the Ashton Court parkrun in Bristol. David was seventh in 19:22 and Claire 22nd and second woman in 20:56.

Hercules Wimbledon's ground-breaking senior women's cross country team continued to make history when the squad finished a team for the first time in the South of England cross country championships at Stanmer Park, Brighton. Following their impressive victory in the opening Max Sports Surrey Ladies League meeting at the start of the cross country season and their silver medal-winning team performance in the Surrey cross country championships at Dorking earlier in January, they performed well in Brighton.

Hercules Wimbledon's Ruth Clifton had an outstanding run at Brighton where she finished seventh of the 335-strong field in the 8km championship in 31:05. Zoe Shannon was 25th in 32:28, Amy Aronson 77th in 35:12, Vikki Filsell 89th in 35:49 and Rosemary Fernando 133rd in 37:31.

The senior men were hampered by the absence of two top runners Andrew Penney and Alex Robinson who were unable to get down from their universities at Bristol and Durham. However, the club, which took the bronze medals in the Surrey championships, were still the third Surrey team to finish. They were led in by Kieran White who was 83rd in 55:29 with Matt Sharp 132nd in 57:21, Phil Glynn 159th in 58:25, Alex Urban 186th in 58:57, Sean Crummy 253rd in 61:26 and Stewart Bond 337th in 64:46.There were almost 750 finishers.

Teenager Liam White, continuing his come-back following a calf injury, was 26th out of 100 runners in the junior men's 8km championship in 28:16. Tim Livingstone and Ben Palmer were 58th and 77th out of 156 finishers in the men's under 17 6km championship in 22:55 and 24:20 while Cassian Hyde finished 66th out of more than 200 runners in the boys under 15 race in 16:35.

Zoe Illlis was 61st out of 200 runners in the girls under 15 4km race in 16:06 while Isabella Padt finished 78th out of 218 runners in the girls under 13 3km championship in 12:29.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon host the East Surrey League cross country relays on Wimbledon Common on Saturday. The relays start near the junction of The Causeway and West Place. The young athletes under 13 race starts at 2pm with the young athletes under 15 and under 17 and senior and veterans relays starting at 2.30pm.

Teenager Tim Livingstone secured his place in the Surrey team to compete in the annual English schools cross country championships being staged in Ilton, Somerset, in March when he finished sixth in the intermediate boys event at the Surrey schools championships at Priory Park, Reigate, on Saturday.

Livingstone, 16, finished sixth out of more than 60 runners in 19 minutes 41 in the championship which was one of the qualifying races for the national. He can consolidate his selection with another strong performance in the South East England schools inter-counties meeting at Basildon on February 4th. His run at Reigate confirmed the form he showed at Coulsdon a week earlier when he won the young athletes race in the 2XU Surrey Men's cross country league meeting and was an improvement on his 10th place in the Surrey County championships at Dorking at the start of the month. His run was also a one place improvement on his performance at Reigate 12 months ago.

Livingstone was the best of the half-dozen Hercules Wimbledon runners in action at Reigate. Emma Headley, like Livingstone, running for Kingston, was 14th out of almost 70 runners in the intermediate girls race in 15:58 with Cassian Hyde, representing North East Surrey, 16th in the intermediate boys race in 20:33. Ben Palmer, representing Sutton, was 12th out of 45 runners in the senior boys championship. Aideen Boyle, representing Merton, was 48th out of 83 runners in the junior girls race in 15:27 with Sam Helm, also running for Kingston, was 51st in the junior boys race in 16:00.

At the other end of the age scale, two Hercules Wimbledon runners gained medals in the Veterans AC cross country championships on Wimbledon Common. Peter Lee was first over 45 finisher covering the 5.5 miles in 33:32 while Angela Kikugawa took the bronze medal in the women's over 45 championship in 51:42.

Hercules Wimbledon's Kieran White, a member of the bronze medal-winning Surrey championships team, warmed up for the South of England championships at Brighton with a runaway victory in the Wimbledon Common parkrun in a personal best time. White won by more than half-a-minute in 16:29 to slice two seconds off his previous best time for the course set on his debut appearance in the event in March 2007. He also posted the top age-graded performance of the race.

Husband and wife marathon runners David and Claire Grima continued their preparations for April's Virgin London Marathon with strong runs finishing fifth and 22nd respectively. David clocked 18:25 and Claire 20:02. She was also the first woman. Charles Hampden-Smith was second over 50 veteran and 25th out of 273 finishers in 20:15 before dashing off to race in an inter-club 4.9 miles event in Richmond Park in the afternoon. There he finished 40th out of 112 runners in 31:37.

Leading Hercules Wimbledon runner in Richmond Park was Phil Glynn who took runners-up spot in 26:31. Alexie Calvert-Ansari was fourth in 27:04, Alex Urban seventh in 27:37, Stewart Bond 21st in 29:24, Peter Collins 28th in 30:09 and Jeremy Purnell 39th in 31:12.

Matt Sharp, who is also running in the South of England championships at the weekend, warmed up for Brighton with another strong showing in the Bushy Park parkrun where he was third out of 864 runners in 16:54. Over in Richmond Park, over 45 veteran Steve McDuell was ninth out of 276 runners in 19:27.

Long jumper Emily Martin was the top Hercules Wimbledon performer in the South of England indoor championships at Lee Valley Athletics Centre, North London. She just missed out on a medal as she took fourth spot in the senior women's long jump with 5.56m. Teenager Max Mondelli just failed to make the men's under 17 60m final finishing runner-up in his semi-final in a personal best of 7.19 after also taking second place in his heat in 7.23.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon runners travel to the south coast to compete in the South of England cross country championships in Stanmer Park, Brighton. After winning the Surrey road relay title in September and taking the bronze medals in the Surrey championships at Dorking earlier this month, Hercules Wimbledon runners are confident of a good showing in the senior men's championship while the senior women will be aiming to consolidate their standing after taking the silver medals in the Surrey championships.

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club's senior women's team followed up their silver medal winning effort in the Surrey cross country championships with another strong team display in the third of this season's Max Sports Surrey Ladies League meetings in crisp conditions at Farthing Downs, Coulsdon, on Saturday. With one match remaining the squad looks set to finish in the top three for the first time in the club's history.

Marathon running mum Claire Grima, who led the team to the Surrey silver medals was again the top Hercules Wimbledon finisher in 15th place covering the testing five miles course in 36 minutes 13 seconds. Amy Aronson, who also featured in the medal-winning effort the previous weekend, posted another fine performance to take 22nd place out of almost 200 runners in 37:01 with Hannah Fernando 36th in 38:30, Jordan Folk 47th in 39:03 and Alison Purnell 71st in 40:38.

Despite missing Zoe Pike and Jennifer Fernando, the two other members of the silver medal-winning team in the Surrey championships, the weakened Hercules Wimbledon squad still managed to finish fifth on the day to hang onto third spot overall.

Teenager Imogen Willis was the top Hercules Wimbledon performer in the young athletes races finishing 20th in the under 15 girls race in 22:05.

Hercules Wimbledon's senior men were also in action at Coulsdon and consolidated their position in the top division of the 2XU Surrey Men's cross country league despite missing three of the club's Surrey bronze medal-winning team Fred Slemeck and Andrew Penney who have returned to university and Matt Sharp, who was unavailable. Once again, Alex Robinson, who led the club to the Surrey bronze team medals at Dorking the previous weekend, was the top finisher. He failed by just five seconds to take the individual hours as he raced home in runners-up spot in 28:52.

Kieran White was 10th of the 172 finishers in 29:50 with teenager Liam White, showing his best form since returning from a calf muscle injury, finishing 13th in 30:04. Liam, who took the individual bronze medal in the Surrey under 20 championships, was also the top under 20 finisher. Dominic Kirayfi was 52nd in 32:04 with Alexie Calvert-Ansdari 58th in 32:17 and Joe Toomey, along with Liam White a member of the Surrey junior men's silver medal winning team, 65th and second under 20 finisher in 32:39.

Veteran Peter Lee (70th in 32:53), Phil Glynn (72nd in 32:56), Sean Crummy (76th in 33:11) and Alex Urban (82nd in 33:40) completed the scoring team.
Hercules Wimbledon's youngsters dominated their event filling five of the top six places in the under 15 and under 17 2.5 miles race. Tim Livingstone battled to victory in a tight finish in which he sneaked home just two seconds clear in 15:42 to lead the team to victory. Ben Palmer was third in 15:47 with Cassian Hyde fourth and second under 15 finisher in 15:59. Ross Vance was sixth in 16:31 and Augustin Mallon 13th in 17:19. Alex Bond and Matt Gibbons were 11th and 12th in the boys under 13 race in 20:09 and 20:43, respectively.

Sprinters Dwayne Dowding, Richard Agyapong, Hamed Agboke and Kyran Mitchell-Nanton flexed their muscles for the winter indoor campaign with victories in the South London Athletics Network open indoor meeting at Sutton Arena. Dowding won his 60m race in 7.04, Agyapong clocked 7.22, Mitchell-Nanton 7.25 and Agboke 7.37. Veteran David Harris won his pole vault competition with 2.60m while Emily Martin was third in her 60m race in 7.87.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon are competing in an inter-club cross country match in Richmond Park on Saturday. The race, over 4.9 miles, starts near to Roehampton Gate at 2.30pm. Some of the club's youngsters will also be in action in the Surrey schools cross country championships at Reigate on Saturday morning while Sunday sees Hercules Wimbledon athletes in action in the final Surrey Sportshall meeting of the winter at Guildford's Spectrum Leisure Centre. The meeting starts at 1pm. Also over the weekend, some of the club's seniors will be in action in the South of England indoor championships at Lee Valley Leisure Centre, North London. Action takes place on both Saturday and Sunday.

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club's senior women's team continued their outstanding season by taking the silver medals in the Surrey cross country championships staged at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking, on Saturday.

It was the club's best-ever performance in the event. The only other time Hercules Wimbledon got among the medals in the senior women's championships was in 2006 when the club secured the bronze medals. That was also the year the club fielded a senior women's team for the first time.

After gaining a shock win in this season's opening Max Sports Surrey Ladies League meeting at Bagshot in October, Hercules Wimbledon were confident they could get among the medals and gaining runners-up spot just 12 points behind the winners was a superb performance.

Leading the squad home in the 8km event was marathon mum Claire Grima who was 16th out of 143 finishers in 33 minutes 26 seconds. Amy Aronson and Zoe Pike finished 21st and 22nd in 34:12 and 34 14 with Jennifer Fernando completing the silver medal-winning quartet by taking 27th place in 34:25. A record 12 Hercules Wimbledon runners took part in the race.

"That was another tremendous effort by the team," said Hercules Wimbledon women's team manager. "We thought we could get among the medals but you can never be certain until it happens. We are now looking forward to another good performance in the third Surrey Ladies League meeting at Coulsdon on Saturday where we will certainly aim to finish in the top three."

Hercules Wimbledon's senior men's team also got among the medals and the club was the only one at Saturday's Surrey championships to gain medals in both senior races. The youngest member of the medal-winning sextet, Alex Robinson, led the way to a set of bronze medals by finishing eighth out of 215 runners covering the testing 12km course in 40:12.In close pursuit came Andrew Penney (13th in 41:20), Kieran White (16th in 41:37) and Fred Slemeck (17th in 41:37). The team was completed by Matt Sharp (37th in 44:08) and veteran Peter Lee (52nd in 45:09). Hercules Wimbledon had a record 20 runners in the senior men's championship and other leading finishers were Alexie Calvert-Ansari (59th in 45:50), Phil Glynn (67th in 46:45), David Grima (69th in 47:00) and Alex Urban (75th in 47:12).

Hercules Wimbledon's sole individual medallist was teenager Liam White who is battling his way back to fitness after being out of action for some time with a calf muscle injury. He managed to take third spot in the junior men's 6.1km championship in 20:33 to lead the club to silver medals in the team event. Joe Toomey was ninth (21:56), and Nicholas Costello 18th to complete the team.

Tim Livingstone (21:44) and Augustin Mallon (23:12) were 10th and 20th in the men's under 17 6.1km championship. Hercules Wimbledon fielded runners in all five men's championships. Ross Vance led the team home in the boys under 15 4.2km championship finishing 21st in 14:43 with Cassian Hyde 28th (15:06), Alex Lloyd-Jones 29th (15:19) and Matt Newton 57th (16:34) Alex Bond (56th in 14:26) was the first Hercules Wimbledon finisher in the boys under 13 3.4km championship.
Two Hercules Wimbledon teenagers had fine runs in the girls under 15 4.2km championship. Emma Headley and Zoe Illis finished seventh and eighth in 16:01 and 16:05. Isabella Padt was the top Hercules Wimbledon finisher in the girls under 13 3.4km event finishing 14th in 13:49.

Hercules Wimbledon's James Trapmore finished 12th out of 155 runners in the Middlesex cross country championships at Wormwood Scrubs in 41:31.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon's men's and women's cross country runners will again be comnpeting at the same venue, Farhting Downs, Coulsdon, for the third of this season's league meetings. Following their medal-winning performance in the Surrey Championships, the club's senior women's team will be going flayt out to boost their standing in the Max Sports Surrey Ladies League. The senior women's race starts at 12noon. It will be followed by a joint under 17 and under 15 race at 1pm and a girls under 13 race at 1.30pm.

The women are followed by the men who will be in action in the third 2XU Surrey Cross Country League Division One meeting. The young athletes race over 2.5 miles is at 2pm with the seniors, racing over five miles, due to start at 2.30pm. After their third spot in the Surrey cross country championships, Hercules Wimbledon's senior men's team will be aiming to consolidate their position in the top division after a shakey start to the season.

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club's supervet Charles Hampden-Smith, started 2012 in fine style with no less than five races across the turn-of-the-year weekend. Hampden-Smith, who recently completed his first marathon, took part in two events on New Year's Eve and three races on New Year's Day.

On Saturday morning he ran in the Wimbledon Common parkrun where he was 18th out of more than 200 runners in 20 minutes 12 seconds. A few hours later he was in action in Hercules Wimbledon's five miles event where he was 21st in 32:43.

After seeing the New Year in Hampden-Smith faced an even more challenging task on New Year's Day as he was aiming to take part in three events around 10 miles apart. He started at Bushy Park at 9am where he was 47th out of 350 runners in an identical time to that at Wimbledon. Then, he jumped in his car and drove the 10 miles to Nonsuch Park where the parkrun started at 10am. With a few minutes to spare he toed the starting line he was 17th out of 125 runners in 20:59 and hardly had time to catch his breath before jumping back into his car for the 10 miles dash to Riddlesdown, just south of Purley. There the parkrun was scheduled to start at 11am and, again, Hampden-Smith had a few minutes to relax before he was off again. He managed to finish 25th out of 176 runners. Then he managed to grab a quick coffee before driving back to his Wimbledon home for lunch and a well earned rest.

Hampden-Smith, who is 50, was delighted with his achievements. "Last year I managed two parkruns on New Year's Day at Wimbledon and Richmond. This year the scheduling of the three parkruns made it possible to do them all but it took careful planning. The masochist in me thought it might be fun and a good start to 2012. I spent around an hour the night before working out the routes I should take and where I should park. I wasn't alone and estimate about 30 others did the same thing. Not that I'm suggesting this makes me less mad but it's good to know that I'll have company in the asylum."

Hampden-Smith, who has secured a place for his debut in April's Virgin London Marathon, added: "I was helped by the fact most people were still in bed at that time of day and the roads were quite quiet. As a result it helped to enable me to arrive with about 10 minutes to spare at Nonsuch Park and Riddlesdown." He also thought it was good training for the London where he will run 26 miles 385 yards.

He will be hoping to stay on course in April after twice taking the wrong turning at Portsmouth where the multi-terrain nature of the course made it quite testing. Although dry and sunny it was just above freezing at 1C at the start and quite windy. The course was mainly on coastal paths and pavements but also crossed the pebble beach at two points.

A record 69 runners took part in the Hercules Wimbledon 5 miles multi-terrain event on Saturday. It was won by Alex Bruce-Littlewood in 26:46, almost half-a-minute ahead of the runner-up. Matt Sharp, competing in his second race in two days, was third in 28:14, 24 seconds ahead of clubmate Phil Glynn. Alexie Calvert-Ansari was seventh in 28:58, David Grima 10th in 29:49, Ruth Clifton 12th and first woman in a women's course record time of 30:29 and over 45 veteran Pete Clarke 14th in 31:26. It was Clarke's second race of the day. A few hours earlier he made a winning debut in the Old Deer Park parkrun in 18:40 finishing more than half-a-minute clear.

Another Hercules Wimbledon runner to win a parkrun event on New Year's Eve was James Trapmore who triumphed at Brockwell Park in 16:20. Zoe Shannan was first woman inn the Wimbledon Common parkrun on New Year's Eve finishing 10th in 19:40. Amy Aronson was third woman in 20:17. Jeremy Purnell led three members of his family over the line in the Brueton parkrun in the Midlands on New Year's Eve. He was 14th in 19:36 with wife Alison fourth woman in 22:02 and son Nathanial 90th in 26:25.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon athletes are in action in the annual Surrey cross country championships on Saturday, which are being staged at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking, for the first time. Senior men's team manager Fred Green is confident his squad can add to the medals it recently gained in the South of the Thames championship on Wimbledon Common. The sextet took the silver medals there last month and Green emphasises Hercules Wimbledon are the reigning Surrey road relay champions.

Senior women's team manager Janet Fernando is also hoping her squad will also return with medals after winning the opening Max Sports Surrey Ladies League team event in October and taking third place in the second match in Richmond Park. The women's 8km championship starts at 11.10am. Youngsters hoping to do well include Cassian Hyde in the boys under 15 4.2km race, Emma Headley in the girls under 15 4.2km race and Tim Livingstone and Ben Palmer in the men's under 17 6.1km race.

Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club - NEWS