Herne Hill Harriers round-up: Katie Snowden learns valuable lessons in Holland

BY GEOFF JERWOOD

Herne Hill Harriers’ Commonwealth Games 1,500m finalist Katie Snowden opened her summer outdoor season at the highest level as she raced in the women’s mile race at the FBK Games IAAF World Challenge Meeting in Hengelo, Holland against a world-class field of athletes. 

Back on an international stage, Snowden placed 12th in recording her second fastest one-mile track time, clocking 4:29.56. 

The somewhat scrappy nature of the race with an uneven pace with athletes inevitably spiking each other was not ideal, but this was a vital first outing for this stage of the season. 

It was a race which will help Snowden as she continues to develop her racing craft with the European Championship Trials scheduled for the end of this month.

Another top Herne Hill female middle distance runner, Australian Chloe Tighe pulled off her biggest race win to date with a superb victory in the Elite Women’s Mile race at the prestigious 2018 Leonora Golden Gift meet in the Australian outback. 

Tighe surprised many by beating two established World Championship athletes.

Harriers National League track teams have got off to disappointing starts. 

The men’s British League team followed a very poor first match with an improved showing at Portsmouth, but they still finished last in eighth place.

The UK Women’s League team was badly-affected on Sunday by a very low turnout and inevitably finished seventh and last in their opening fixture at Bedford.

There were some excellent individual performances in both matches. Although Samuel Adeyemi was Herne Hill’s only event winner in the B string 400m in 48.42, this was a day of strong competition as Harriers are currently in the second highest men’s division in Britain. 

Second place results were achieved by Nicholas Atwell in the A 400m with 47.83 plus Rushane Thomas and Dan Ryan in the A and B 100m hurdles with 14.40 and 15.20 respectively. 

Third-placed athletes were in the field events, thanks to Stuart Thurgood’s 49.50m in the A hammer and 11.74m in the B shot, plus Sebastian Wilson Dyer Gough’s 7.05m in the A long jump. In the A pole vault Charlie Maw cleared 4.63m, a PB by 13cm, to finish fourth.

In the women’s team Herne Hill picked up event wins through Fiona de Mauny’s 800m front run in 2:14.14, Stacey Ward’s winning return to the track with 9:51.08 in the 3,000m and Michaela Obijiaku’s 13.25m shot put. 

Obijiaku placed second in the hammer, throwing 52.04m, as did Lakeisha Owusu-Junior with 12.40 and Lillian Matamola with 12.74 in the A and B string 100m races, Hazel Robertson in the B hammer with 40.19m and Charlotte Nicholls was second in the B string discus with 26.06m. 

De Mauny was second in the 400m in a season-best 60.11 and later came third in the 1,500m in 4:54.20.