Three for the Road

Silver for the Senior Men’s team

Warming up for the Southern Road Relay Championships next weekend, the Senior Men’s team took the silver medals in the Surrey County Road Relay Championships, while the M40 team bagged gold. And there were bronze medals for the M50 Men.

In the Senior Men’s Championships Fred Slemeck handed over to Dimos Evangelidis in fifth on the opening leg with 14:48, the second fastest HW time of the day. Evangelidis, who doubled up in the M40 team, clocked 15:13, taking another place. Teenager Henry Silverstein kept the team in medal contention with a solid 15:37 third leg, before newcomer Tom Drayton moved up into third place with 15:34. Ross Franks clocked the fastest HW time of the day with 14:41 to move up into second place, well clear of the third-placed team on the penultimate leg, leaving Joe Clark to anchor HW to the silver medals for the third consecutive year.

Just twenty minutes later, Evangelidis clocked 15.30, the fastest M40 time of the day over the 2.9 mile lap. The team led their age group on all four legs with Kieran White posting the second fastest V40 lap with 15:33 on the opening leg. Felix Allen (17:00) and David Grima (17:04) completed the team.

First leg runner Stuart Fraser was the fastest member of the V50 quartet which took the bronze medals. He was second on the opening leg in 16:49 with Stephen Haughton (20:16) slipping to third place on the second leg. Darren Franks, father of Ross, held onto the bronze medal position with a strong third leg in 17:51, before Simon Riley (19:48) anchored the team to the bronze medals.

Many thanks to all those HW members who volunteered their services as marshalls. Without you such events cannot take place!

This weekend, HW Senior, Vets and U13G, U15G and U17W road running teams are in action in the South of England Road Relay Championships at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. The Senior Men's A team will include new HW signing Alex Milne who ran 31:10 in the Kew Gardens 10km on Saturday 14 September, just two weeks after clocking 2:56:20 while competing for GB in the World 50km Championships where he finished 15th. 

The Italian Job

Lisa Thomas returned home from the European Masters Championships in Venice  with a full set of medals, after she anchored the women's V45 relay team to the bronze medal, to add to her gold in the W50 2000m steeplechase and silver in the 300m hurdles earlier in the Championships. Another HW athlete in action at the end of the Championships was Richard McDowell who missed out on a medal in the M40 half marathon by 16 seconds, finishing fourth in 1:10:08. 'It was a tactical race with a very fast first half and unfortunately I lost contact with the front pack to run the second lap alone', says McDowell.

A week earlier, he had a runaway win in the Surrey Bacchus Wine Marathon, over hilly trails with plenty of wine stops at Denbies Vineyard, Dorking (pictured below). 'Breaking with tradition I did actually partake of the alcohol this year, confessed McDowell, who ran a steady first lap before pushing on to win in 2:45:35, about 45 minutes ahead of the runner-up. Now it is back to more serious training for the British Masters Marathon Championships which is incorporated in the York Marathon on October 20th. 

Double Act

After a track season of PBs Gina Galbraith bagged the silver medal in the half duathlon at the Descente London Duathlon in Richmond Park on September 8.

Results

Saturday 14 September: Surrey County Road Relay Championships, Wimbledon Park Full results

parkrun

HW runners posted a quintet of wins. Warming up for Sunday’s South of England Road Relay Championships, Jonny Cornish made a winning debut at Brooklands where he won by almost two minutes in 15:59. Howell Craske headed home a 598-strong field on Wimbledon Common in 18:40, slicing eight seconds off his previous best set a year ago. Rob Tuer won at Holkham, Norfolk, in 17:58, Ellen Weir was top woman finisher in Bushy Park in 18:30 and Victor Hutchins won the Bugasee event in Germany.