HERNE HILL HARRIERS

29/11/08 - Brian on song in Brockwell Park

At the HHH 6 mile open cross country race in Brockwell Park Brian Wilder coasted to victory over the 3-lap course to claim one of the fine pieces of club merchandise (Lincolnshire's finest porcelain to be precise) on offer to the winners of the various categories. His winning time of 32:32 was over 3 minutes quicker than second-placed Sarwar Khan who enjoyed a tremendous tussle with U17 Charlie Luscombe throughout the race before a late sprint to the finish line saw him emerge as the winner of this particular battle. Tim Ridley finished as the leading male veteran to claim the club M40 championship in 39:20.

Julia Wedmore followed up her bronze medal in the London championships with another highly impressive performance to finish as the leading woman in 38:20 and claim the club U17 championship. The outcome of the senior women's championship went down to the wire as Laura Nurse, hindered by a leg injury, bravely clung to the lead which she had established in the opening laps to fend of a determined last-lap charge by Helen Carter to finish in 43:44, just two seconds ahead. Sarah Allen claimed the club W40 title in 46:19.

A number of the club's young athletes were also strutting their stuff and, aside from those already mentioned, Zach Weller-Davies completed 2 laps (approximately 4 miles) in 24:23, followed by Lascelles Hussey in 26:02, John Tayleur in 27:24, Aisha Naibe-Wey in 30:12 and Leila Abandah 31:45.

Thanks to all who turned out to make this event one of the best contested club races for many years, particularly Tim Ridley and, as ever, Steve Bosley who marked out the course beforehand, ignoring allegations from an interested observer that local 4-legged canines had "fouled" most of the course flags and Anna Ashelford for the fine collection of photos of the racing action. Click here to view the full results.

29/11/08 - Christmas festivities commence in fun-filled song-fest

After the minor matter of the day's cross country race had concluded, the club's all-singing, all-cross country running contingent decamped to Thornton Heath for Saturday night festivities at the first of the club's Christmas functions. Tantalising Saturday evening viewing the X-Factor may be, but here though was a Tooting Tuesday equivalent - the HHH-Factor! Yes, clearly not having burst their lungs sufficiently in the mud of Brockwell Park and buoyed by a Club President who had clearly practised the art before, numerous members sang like never before in the karoke entertainment which followed the Chinese buffet.

So much of a hit were the mikes (for which various handling techniques were offered) that increasingly merried men and women would clasp whatever they could, lager bottles being a particular favourite, to join in mob renditions of karaoke classics, determined to savour a piece of the night, unrestrained by a panel of judges and unperturbed by a prospect of telephone voting. If this is anything to go by, it's going to be quite a December.. 

Special thanks to Sarah Allen for organising the function which was undoubtedly extremely well received.

22/11/08 - HHH claim medals in all of the colours across all age groups in London XC Champs

On a pardoxically cold but clear afternoon at Parliament Hill, the undisputed home of English cross country running, Herne Hill Harriers scooped a total of 8 medals in the London championships. Individually, Keith Newton claimed gold in the veteran men's race, while Katie Snowden won silver in the U15 girls' event, Lewis Lloyd bronze in the U15 boy's race, a feat matched by Julia Wedmore in the U17 women's race.

Our most successful team was the U13 girls who claimed gold in the team race and Katie's and Lewis's successes formed the bedrock of silver medal success for the U15 boys and bronze for the U15 girls. The senior men's team followed up last week's silver medals won at the South of Thames 5 mile championship by placing second for the 4th time in 5 senior fixtures this season to claim medals of the same colour.

Click here to read the report of the senior races. Click here to read Lewis Lloyd's report of the young athletes' races.

Click here to view the senior results. Click here to view the young athletes results (hyperlinks to www.race-results.co.uk). 

16/11/08 - Another win for Whitby as Jarvis and Phillips head to the seaside

James Jarvis went to Brighton for the day, but left his bucket and spade at home and instead competed in the Brighton 10K held over one of the fastest 10K courses in the country. On a overcast November morning he placed 12th in 32:21. Another eschewing the fairground attractions on the promenade pier was Simon Phillips who came away with another PB, lowering his mark to 37:00 to place 92nd despite a 6 second wait to cross the start line. More road running news appears in Tales of the Tarmac.

16/11/08 - Herne Hill Hellrunners?

Almost a dozen club members tackled the Hell Down South run at Longmoor Military Training Camp. Read more in Tales of Tarmac.

15/11/08 - Keith Newton places 2nd M45 in British and Irish Masters Home International

Keith Newton once again demonstrated what a fine cross country runner he is by placing 2nd M45 in the British and Irish Masters Home International race at Swansea and helping the England M45 team to gold. Iain Lockett placed 6th M40 and was the 3rd scorer in the gold medal winning England M40 team despite feeling very much under the weather. Roger Alsop was third scorer for Scotland's M40 team and 16th M40 overall.

First HHH member home, however, was John Downes of Ireland, 4th in a high quality race that was won by Tim Hartley of England from last year's winner Bobby Quinn of Scotland and former Olympic steeplechaser Justin Chaston of Wales.  Former HHH man Martin McEvilly was a surprise winner of the M60 race for Ireland.

15/11/08 - Men see silver lining in South of Thames 5 mile championship

The men's cross country team came within a few places of winning the South of Thames 5 Mile XC championship for the first time since 1976, but were narrowly beaten to the title by Aldershot, Farnham & District over an unusually benign but still challenging Lloyd Park course.  Ben Paviour paved the way by leading the team home in 29:34 for 5th place, closely pursued by Tim Elsey - 7th in 30:00 - with Mike Boyle a couple of places further back in 10th in 30:19. After Sam Knight had closed the 4-man team in 30th place in 32:13, the team's score totalled 52, although this was ultimately inferiour to Aldershot's 45, forcing the quartet to settle for silver medals.

Every cloud, though, has a silver lining and this silver medal-winning performance ultimately sowed the seeds for success in the 8-to-score race. With 2 of our very best runners competing in the British Masters Home International race in Swansea and a number of our other leading runners opting to save themselves for tougher challenges ahead in the coming weeks, the opportunity was open for some of less prominent men to enjoy the limelight. Ed Barrow - 39th in 33:02, James Ward - 41st in 33:11, Simon Phillips - 45th in 33:31 and Tony Harran - 48th in 33:54 - grasped the bull by the horns and their efforts resulted in victory in the 8-man event and the right to etch our name onto the Brent Shield for the first time since 2001 as well as 9th position for the B team.

Ben Hallifax - 72nd man (79th overall) in 35:51, Steve Knight - 89th (78th) in 36:29, Rupert Mainwaring - 88th (103rd) in 37:58, Waldy Pauzers 95th (115th) in 39:24 (combining to close a C team in 20th), John Garber - 110th (137th) in 42:53 and Andy Lea-Gerrad - 121st (168th) in 52:41 ensured our strength at the front of the field was supported by depth throughout it. Mark Warmy, in his first appearance in red and black, actually finished second in the race in 27:19, but as a guest and was therefore ineligible to score in the team races.

Polly Rogers-Dixon, continuing her comeback, was the first woman from the club home in 35:35, but with all of our other leading women opting to miss the event for various reasons, the women's team was unable to mount a serious challenge for medals. Helen Carter - 15th (106th overall) in 38:15, Bernadette Kavanagh - 22nd (127th) in 40:48 and Katie Le Ruez - 23rd (128th) in 40:55 were the other scorers as the team placed 4th, while Sarah Allen - 29th (142nd) in 43:42, Jane Hersey - 30th (143rd) in 44:14, Fiona Pierce - 35th (150th) in 45:47 and Penelope Fixter - 36th (151st) in 46:03 closed a B team in 7th place.

Click here to view the full results provided courtesy of Don Turner.

08/11/08 - Men's Surrey League contest set to go to the wire

The Surrey League appears destined to end in another nailbiting finish after another great effort by the men's team over the rain-lashed Hercules Wimbledon course on Wimbledon Common in a race in which 36 red and black vests took to the start line. Thames Hare & Hounds again were better at the very sharp end with 4 of the first 6 finishers, but our superior packing, closing 10 runners in the top 26, ensured we again limited the damage to just a few points. Having lost the first race by 2 points we were 5 in arrears yesterday, so after 2 races just 7 points behind, a far closer position than this time last year when we trailed by 90 points at the halfway stage.
 
Following our 6 point margin of victory last season, the 7 point deficit over the first half of this season means that, incredibly, there is only 1 point between the 2 teams over the last 6 Surrey League races!
 
Special mention goes to Brian Wilder - 7th in 27:51 and John Carlisle - 23rd in 28:29 who both scored in their HHH Surrey League debuts. Brian was indeed leading the HHH challenge after three-quarters of yesterday's race until Iain Lockett used his strength and experience to pull through to finish 4th in 27:42 as first vet. It was also great to see Ben Paviour - 9th in 28:00 and Ben Woodd - 14th in 28:17 running really well and Chris Peach - 15th in 28:19 celebrated his birthday with an improved run. Alan Barnes - 11th in 28:04, Keith Newton - 12th in 28:07, David Robinson - 16th in 28:26 and Francis Marsh - 26th in 28:53, of whom the latter 3 are all vets, were our remaining scorers as we packed fantastically.

Despite  the atrocious weather conditions there was still a strong showing of red and black hoops assembled on the start line for the youths', boys' and colts' races. Click here to read Charlie Luscombe's and Henry Sutcliffe's report of these races.

Full results are available by clicking here (hyperlink to Ranelagh Harriers website).

08/11/08 - Resilient women battle to third in Surrey League as U17s shine again

Match 2 of the Surrey Ladies XC League was held at Lightwater, Guildford on a flat but quite muddy course.

The teams across the various age groups with hit by a number of late withdrawls and absences, but the senior women's team battled to claim 3rd place in the behind Belgrave Harriers and South London Harriers while the U17 women's featured some inspired performances from Julia Wedmore and Aisha Naibe-Wey. Click here to read Julia's report of the girls' races.

Karen Ellison maintained her high standards despite perhaps not being at her utmost best to again lead the senior team home in 25:03 for 7th place followed by one of 2 new recruits who joined in the week prior to the race, Harriet Owleg, who placed 8th in 25:09. The second reinforcement, Rosalind Kieran, was the team's third scorer, finishing 25th in 26:10. These strong performances set the foundations for a result which keeps the team in sight of league leaders SLH despite dropping to third in the league overall, albeit only 3 points behind Belgrave. Clare Pauzers - 33rd in 26:31 and Helen Sharp - 39th in 27:02 closed out the team.

Helen Carter - 40th in 27:04, Katie Le Ruez - 57th in 28:00, Rebecca Barrow - 63rd in 28:17, Carolyn Grainger - 91st in 29:47, Sarah Allen - 99th in 30:09, under 20 Lucy Smith - 109th in 30:51 and Penelope Fixter - 131st in 32:05 supported our leading runners to ensure we closed two teams on the day.

Click here to view the full results across all age groups (hyperlink to Surrey County AA website).

05/11/08 - More awards for club members

At the Sports Action Zone Youth Acheivement Awards in Albert Embankment English Schools long jump champion Paul Oluyemi won the award for achievement in athletics and Javonique Eka won the award for secondary student of the year. The awards were presented by Linford Christie, Darren Campbell and Christine Ohuruogu. Congratulations to both Paul and Javonique.

03/11/08 - HHH leap to 10th in Power of 10 rankings for 2008

Herne Hill Harriers is delighted to have been ranked 10th in the Power of 10 rankings for 2008 after no fewer than 15 of its athletes met the UK standard for their particular age group. This placing is testimony is testimony to the club's committment to youth development and the national success enjoyed by its veteran men's road and cross country team. For further information, please click here (hyperlink to UK athletics website).

01/11/08 - Men regain Reigate relay title as women finish second

Rihanna and her infamous umbrella may have been nowhere to be seen in a rainy, wind-swept Reigate Priory Park, but both the men's and women's cross country teams stuck it out to the end in what were, at times, atrocious conditions in the Reigate Priory XC relays over the challenging 2.5 mile course, to come away with team prizes.

The men's 6-man team of Keith Newton - 14:16, Sam Knight - 15:22, Kevin Quinn 13:46, Alan Barnes 14:09, Dave Robinson 14:25 and Tim Elsey - 14:35 combined to reclaim the trophy relinquished last year. Kevin's time was also the second fastest of the day.

The "B" team comprising of James Ward  - 16:01, Paul Shiel - 16:49, Keith Newton (again) - 15:24, Kevin Quinn (again) - 14:58, Ben Hallifax - 17:24 and Deron Fagan - 14:59 - placed 8th while the "C" team of John Garber - 21:13, Steve Knight - 17:16, Andy Lea-Gerrard - 22:42, Ed Barrow - 18:26, James Ward (again) - 17:19 and Waldy Pauzers - 19:15 - finished 24th.

Karen Ellison - 16:13 - set the women's team on its way before Ceri Diss - 17:05 - and Polly Rogers-Dixon - 17:09, both returning to racing after lengthy absences, provided the the strong support needed to claim the spoils.

The "B" team of Amelia Hickman - 19:56, Clare Pauzers - 18:26 and Rebecca Barrow - 19:45 placed 13th followed closely behind by the "C" team of Suzanne Swaine - 19:13, Sarah Allen - 20:54 and Katie Le Ruez - 19:30. Penelope Fixter also ran as part of an incomplete "D" team in 21:40.

Click here to access the full results (hyperlink to Reigate Priory AC website).

01/11/08 - Nigel Stone appointed Club Chaplain

At a recent meeting of the club’s Executive Committee, the decision was taken to appoint the Reverend Nigel Stone as Honorary Club Chaplain. He is already a HHH member and a local Church of England Clergyman. During the track season Nigel is often to be found on the timekeepers' stand at our league matches and other club meetings, and in the winter at some cross country events.

Further details of this new role will hopefully be included in the next edition of "Red & Black" Magazine, but from now onwards Nigel is available to discuss matters of pastoral or spiritual concern with any club members. He is contactable on 020 7582 6424 or by email - nigel.stone@southwark.anglican.org.