Medals Galore

Above: gold medals for the U15 Boys and Girls

The Club turned out in force for the Surrey Cross Country Relays at Nonsuch Park on 27 September, pocketing four team golds, two silvers and a bronze, backed up by a host of excellent performances outside the medals. The event, now in its second year, combines the Bruce Judd Junior Cross Country Championships, previously held in Stoke Park Guildford, with the Senior Championships, which used to run as Road Relays in Wimbledon Park.

An impressive 25 Hercules Wimbledon teams, featuring over 70 athletes of all ages, competed over a course (3k for juniors and 5km for seniors and vets) which may have been a tad too dry on a day that was a touch too sunny to be considered real cross country – but no doubt that there will be plenty of rain, wind and mud to compensate over the next few months!

Once again it was the tried and tested U15 Boys trio of James Fraser (10:22), Max Harrison (10:43) and Theo Creed (9:54) who took the gold medals, riding the crest of a winning wave having been crowned champions at the Southern (SEAA) Relay Championships at Aldershot the previous weekend. Behind them Thomas Hennigan, Dylan Gilbert and Anas Briki came home in fifth. Ivan Derian, Joseph Sutherland and Cyrus Sheikh were 8th, and Xavier Cochran, Senan Smith and Evan Cotter 14th.

For the U15 Girls, the gold medal winning team comprised Anna Wait (11:30), Freya McAndie (12:25) and Jessica Wood (11:40). Mae Fleming, Ava Wallace-Shafie and Sofia Templeton were 11th; Laurie Agnarson, Rosie Richford and Alice Pegram came home in 15th; and Sophie Kneen, Sofia Amrani-Hussain and Blanka Domsodi 17th.

The U17 Women’s team (left) of Rose Evans (11:49), Leah Paulson (12:11) and Isabella Harrison (10:55) also repeated the dominance which saw them take the SEAA title at Aldershot, albeit racing in reverse order his time around. Iona Alexander, Elizabeth Hartsock and Martha Eminson were eighth.

Not to be outdone, the U13 Boys were also in on the gold rush, with Rafa Garcia-Davis (11:30), Daniel Albert Fitzsimmons (11:23) and Thomas Smith (11:34) clinching the win. Etienne Cochran, Ben Leather and Luke Templeton were 11th, with Augustin Mowat and Edward Townsend, and Isaac Stevens and Adrian Fitzsimmons making up two incomplete teams.

The Senior Men’s team, which included four U20s, won the silver medals. Pancho Panchev (U20) completed the first leg in 15:41, followed by fellow U20s Noah Fernandez (15:50) and Thomas Homes (15:55). Sam Peters clocked 16:33, Tom Davies (also U20) ran 17:10 and U23 Isaac Lutaya brought the team home in 17:34.

The U17 Men also won silver medals, thanks to Max Barckhahn (9:57), Harry Allen (10:24) and Sam Dyson (10:18). Zach Elliott (11:10), Max Watson (12:34) and Owen Xu (10:42) were 12th.

The U13 Girls team of Alexia Gaudin (12:26), Chloe Mason (12:47) and Elena Pringle (12:34) took home bronze medals. Sasha Allen (13:12), Rachel Wiseman (13:15) and Meis Bultan (13:15) were 7th; with the team of Laura Shala (13:14), Luna Bultan (13:46) and Martina Barbarossa (14:03) in 10th, closely followed by Isis Grey (13:06), Cassidy Cooper (13:45) and Naomi Jalloh (14:45) in 11th.

Top: the gold-medal winning U13 Boys; above, the Senior Men, minus Sam, silver medal-winners, along with the U17 Men (above right). Below left, the U13 Girls with their bronze medals

The Senior Women’s team of Alex Binley (19:38), Allie Donoghue-Hunt (22:42), W40 Anastasia Hancock (20:23) and Tasminder Marsh (22:43) were sixth; while the Men’s V45 team, actually a mix of M50 and M55 athletes, since there was no V50 event, were fifth (below right). M55 John Foley led off in 18:17, followed by M50 Andrew Davies (19:43), M50 Craig Howard (22:24) and M55 Peter Lee (20:17) .