Marathon Milestone for Milne

Alex Milne shattered Hercules Wimbledon Chairman Dave Clarke’s 37 year old Marathon Club record today in Seville over the fast flat course through the beautiful city, clocking 2:11:41 to finish in 30th in a race won in 2:03:59 by Ethiopian Tola Shura Kitata in a dramatic photofinish.

‘It wasn't long ago that a 2:19 marathon was the dream’, says Alex, but since 2022 he has been whittling his time down again and again to the 2:14:03 PB set in London last year, which he was targeting in Seville. ‘I threw a lot at this race despite a relatively short build, including some weeks above 180km with three sessions, two weeks of heat adaption training and a short taper’, he says. ‘I also got fitter by racing cross country.’ That included the final two Surrey Cross Country League matches, which saw him finish as top male individual over the four fixtures. He finished fourth in the Surrey County Championships and spearheaded the historic victory in the Southern Championships, coming home in seventh. ‘Most importantly I was healthy on the start line of Seville unlike in Valencia two months ago, so it was good to get redemption here’, he says.

‘Thankfully we had perfect weather for fast times (8 degrees, 1 mph wind) and with the pancake flat course I thought a sub-2:13 might be possible given recent sessions. I felt amazing from the start so knew a PB was on and found myself having to hold back in the first half. There was wonderful support from family, friends and spectators out on the course, and it helped running the majority stride for stride with Dan Nash, especially when everything started to hurt in the latter stages. I counted down each remaining minute and only at 40k did I realize a sub-2:12 was within reach. From there I gave everything to the line, crossing it completely spent and stunned to have run a time I hadn’t believed possible.’

‘Congratulations on smashing my record!’ cheered Dave Clarke, whose pre-super-shoes time was set in Stockholm in 1989. ‘Alex has trained so diligently over the last few years and fully deserves the very impressive performances that he has achieved, not only on the roads but also over the country!’

Also taking advantage of the fast course and conditions were Simon Woodington, who finished in 3:38:47, and Charlie Davidson who notched up a 15-minute PB in 3:42:52.

Photo by Canofotosports

Leading Man

Above: Alex Milne, overall men’s top scorer, in the mix at the start

On 7 February the Club, supported by Belgrave Harriers, staged the final match of the Surrey Cross Country League on a rainy, muddy, puddly Wimbledon Common, at the end of which the Senior Men’s trophy, which has been in the Club's possession for five of the last seven seasons, was handed over gracefully to Belgrave, their first Men's League title since 2002 – albeit with a vow to get it back again next season! 

While the team finished fourth overall, there were reasons to be cheerful, as Alex Milne finished third in the race and individual Senior Men's Champion over the four matches, while Ruby Carter, who was absent at Wimbledon, still took the Senior Women's title. Dillan Quinn was the top U20 Woman and Claire Grima second W45. In the U13 competition Charlie Pearl reigned supreme, with a clean sweep of four victories. 

Coach Ben Noad was full of praise for Anne and Knut Hegvold's crop of talented U20s who have been introduced to the Tuesday night training group and have made an impressive step up to senior racing throughout the season.

Team-wise, across the four matches the U13 Boys finished runners-up, as did the combined U15/U17 team and the U15 Girls. The U13 Girls were third, as were the U17 Women. Despite fielding a much depleted team on Saturday, the Senior Women enjoyed their highest ever finish in fifth overall.



Left: U20 Pancho Panchev splashing on through the mud and rain to finish fourth scorer.  Thanks as always to Cassie Chen for the great photos!

UK Indoors

On the weekend of 14/15 February Andrew Penney was one of four HW athletes invited to compete in the UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham, where he ran an indoor PB of 8:01.67 in the 3000m. in the 60m 17 year old Maia Heward-Mills, on a winning streak after taking both the England and SEAA Indoor U20 titles, made it to through to the semi-finals in which she lined up next to Dina Asher-Smith. Unfortunately thanks to a niggle she was unable to match her best time of 7.44, which would have been enough to see her into the final. Also coming back from injury, Freddie Arkell opted to go in the 60m rather than his favoured 200m and was unable to progress from the heats, while in the Senior Men's 60m Chad Miller was fourth in his heat.