The Senior Men's team made a first foray in the campaign to seize back the Surrey Cross Country League trophy relinquished to Belgrave Harriers last season, as they finished in second just 22 points behind the current Champions in Match 1 on Wimbledon Common. The fixture on 10 October was hosted by Belgrave, with HW supporting (the reverse of last year's match) and for an exhilarating moment it looked like a win for HW, until the un-named athlete in 30th position turned out to be a Belgrave runner and the top two League positions switched. Given how many key athletes were missing, it was still a great start.
Standout performance came from new second-claimer Jamie Crowe of Central AC. Following on from winning The Great Scottish run the previous weekend, he pushed serial winner, international Jack Kavanagh, all the way, and was leading until the final kilometre, when Kavanagh moved ahead to take the win.
Impressively, next home in 11th was U20 Jack Hobden, home from Birmingham University, and still riding high after his exceptional leg at the National 6-Stage Relays. Jack Dickson (a 4:06 mile man) on his HWAC debut was third home for the Club in 21st, a few seconds ahead of George Mallett, demonstrating the curious truth that new Hercules dads run faster!
Packing into 37th, 38th and 40th were Freddie Hessian, Ed Mallett and U20 Pancho Panchev, with M45 Richard McDowell in 47th, Vitaly Baranov, breaking into the top ten for the first time in 63rd; and Eoin Brady (65th) ,fresh from competing in the SEAA Fell Racing Championships on the Isle of Man, closing the scoring ten.
The U16 Boys (Thomas Hennigan, Max Harrison, Ivan Derian and Fredric Bolton) were first, as were the U18 Men (Harry Allen, Sam Dyson, James Fraser and Joseph Sutherland). The U16 Girls and U18 Women were second.
The U12s featured in this League for the first time, with the Boys' team, led in by Freddie Flemming, finishing second and Molly Hoskin, running solo on this occasion, in 7th in the Girls' race. The U14 Boys were third and the U14 Girls sixth, while the Senior Women (right) also finished in sixth.
Left, Jamie Crowe with eventual winner Jack Kavanagh tucked in behind; and below left, Jack Hobden. Photographs by Martin d'Haese
