Herne Hill Harriers round-up: Ebbisham League title victory as boys maintain 100 per cent winning record

Herne Hill Harriers boys’ team retained their Ebbisham League title by triumphing in the final match at Coulsdon on Sunday, writes Geoff Jerwood.

They won on the day by 17 points from South London Harriers despite having a number of regulars absent due to other sport commitments and injuries.

Harriers were the winners of all three matches during the summer despite the disruption of their track at Tooting being closed for three months while being resurfaced.

The keynote to the victory was consistency in both U13 and U15 age groups with strong mutual support to compete in as many events as possible to maximise their points total.

The team spirit shone through with athletes chipping in to fill unfamiliar events to keep the team in the lead throughout the afternoon. The Herne Hill boys team have won the Ebbisham League for nine of the last 10 years.

The club’s youngsters claimed an impressive haul of medals at the Will Bolton Cross Country Relays at West Wickham on Saturday. A team comprised entirely of U17 men placed third in the senior men’s relay as there was no separate category for their age group.

New team member Mori Alimi led off very well to place sixth on the first leg and 10th fastest overall on the day with 13:42 for the 4km undulating loop at Sparrows Den.

Track star Keeran Sriskandarajah, who tops the UK U17 men’s rankings for 600m this year clocked 14:23 on second leg.

Up-and-coming Harry Bell ran superbly on leg three (14:06) to hand over to Robin Bebbington, who brought the team home (14:31).

Their men’s B team also contained no seniors and had three more U17 men and one U20, they did well to finish eighth overall. Alex Jack (14:38), David Aisa Miller (15:18), Fabien Whitelock (14:46) and Evan Cowell-New (15:49) formed the quartet.

The younger age-group relays were over a 3km loop and with teams of three instead of four. This event saw Harriers U15 girls placed first and second in their age group. Orla Carroll (14:12), Sophie Jack (13:56) and Orla Wright (14:13) were the winning trio ahead of Maeve Minelly (14:57), Martha Brennan (15:10) and Lily Kitto (14:52) for the second-placed B team.

The U13 girls and boys teams both won their events with the U15 boys placing third to add to the medals collection. Caspian Holmes (12:46, Edward Cunniffe (13:28) and Lucas Heath (13:45) were the gold medal U13 boys, while Jasmine Nkoso (16:55), Sofia Mendes (16:10) and Florence Mills (15:08) repeated the feat for the U13 girls. The U15 boys team was led off by 300m and 400m track star Fred Hake (13:26), followed by Archy Atkinso (12:48) and Dylan Gillies (15:56).

In a separate race for U11s before the relays, Fabien’s younger brother Zac Whitelock and Marney Miller had picked up the first winning medals of the day for the Herne Hill squad.

Herne Hill’s older athletes brought home some more team medals on Sunday at the Surrey Road Relays in Wimbledon Park.

The senior women’s team were second in this county championship event, with Grace Leyland fourth on the first leg with 18:03 for the hilly three-miles course in and around the park. Jenny Nandi held on to this position, closing in on the first three teams with an impressive 17:43, before late addition Charlotte Kenyon moved up into second place on the third stage (18:53). The race leaders now had a big lead, but Harriers’ silver medals were sealed on the anchor leg through W40 Gabriel Reynolds (17:00).

In the oldest of the age categories, Herne Hill fielded two complete M60 teams of three runners each, with the A team claiming silver medals. The honours went to Victor Maughn (18:49), Mark Bebbington (19:43) and Mike Boyle (18:05).

The senior men’s A team of six runners placed fifth and comprised Angus Butler (14:38), Ryan Willmott (15:18), M40 Jeff Cunningham (15:26), Tom Irish (16:10), M45 Jon Key (17:02) and Seve Loudon (15:59).

The M50 team placed fourth courtesy of Mohamud Haile (18:20), Rob Nagorski (18:48), Mark Standing (21:59) and Richard Stansfield (19:56). The M60 B team was Gary Budinger (23:32), Valdis Pauzers (21:48) and Tom Conlon (19:58).

The senior men’s B team was filled by Tom Foster (17:15), Caleb Barnes (19:31), M55 Keith Newton (17:56), M60 Ian Strong (30:36), M45 Deron Fagan (17:29) and Willmott (15:47) racing again.

The women only had half of a B team, but featured an eye-opening first leg run from U20 Kaitlin Hewitt (18:09). Jemima Hayward Bhikha held on to sixth place (20:32) at the halfway stage but with no further team members to come.

Brandon Dewar posted a PB at the Copenhagen Half Marathon on Sunday (68:34).

Dewar has recently recorded an impressive series of fast times over a range of distances from 800m, 1500m, one mile, 3000m up to the half marathon.