Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club’s top track and field runner, Dwayne Cowan, faces a nail biting time to see whether the selectors include him in the team for the IAAF World Athletics Championships which begin in Doha at the end of this month, writes Tom Pollak.

Meanwhile, the club’s women’s squad lifted the Rosenheim League Trophy for the first time in a tight finish to the competition at Kingston.

Cowan, 34, battled to fourth place in the British 400 metres championships in Birmingham on Sunday after qualifying for the final eight in winning his heat. His best this season of 45.77 seconds in an international meeting in Switzerland at the end of June was just outside UK Athletics qualifying time for Doha of 45.30 so the best he could hope for is place in the 4x400m relay squad.

However, he was below his best form in the crucial trials in Birmingham clocking 46.66 in winning the first of four heats and then improving to 46.46 in finishing a disappointing fourth and just outside the medals in the final.

One of Hercules Wimbledon’s three sprinters in action in Birmingham managed to reach the 100 metres final. Theo Etienne, who reached the European indoor championships 60 metres final in Belgrade in 2017, was the fastest of the trio in winning his heat in 10.45. He then ran a faster 10.34 to take fourth place in his semi-final to scrape into the final where he finished ninth into a stiff 1.9 metres per second headwind in a slower 10.54.

Richmond and Twickenham Times:

The Miller brothers, Rechmial and Chad were third and second in their respective first round heats, with a strong following wind, in10.68 and 10.78. By the time of the semi-finals, the wind had turned and was in their faces. They both finished seventh in their races with Rechmial clocking a faster 10.57 and Chad a slower 10.85.

Team manager Heather Jones was delighted with her women’s team after they lifted the Rosenheim League trophy for the first time at the Weir Archer Athletics Centre, Kingston.

Highlight of the team performance was a British women’s over 50 veterans record by Lisa Thomas in the 2000 metres steeplechase. Her time of 7:51.40 improved on the 7:52.31 she posted when competing for Surrey in the South of England inter-counties match at Ashford, Kent in July.

Three days later, she improved on her British record when she clocked 7:50.15 at an open meeting at Tooting Bec on Saturday. It was the fifth time she has bettered the previous record of 8:08.69 set by Jane Pidgeon of Notts in taking the bronze medal at the World Masters Championships in Lyon, France, in 2015.

It was a solid team effort as Hercules Wimbledon found winners hard to come by in the Rosenheim League final with teenagers Danisha Banee (200 metres in 26.85) and Georgie Clarke (1500 metres in 4:54.94) the only Hercules Wimbledon successes.

Rosenheim League women’s trophy: 1 Hercules Wimbledon 59pts; 2 Belgrave (holders) 56; 3 Serpentine 38; 4 Sutton & District 33; 5 Epsom & Ewell 23; 6 Kingston & Polytechnic 7.

Without any of their top sprinters, the men’s team failed to retain the trophy they won last year with Pete McLeod , who has competed for Hercules Wimbledon in all 11 Southern and Rosenheim League matches this summer, filling in. The closest Hercules Wimbledon came to an individual win in the men’s match was in the 800 metres where Ross Franks lost out by 0.62 seconds in finishing second in 1:58.90. Former Swedish international Christer Hagberg also missed out in the discus by just 23 centimetres finishing second with 41.28 metres.

Rosenheim League men’s trophy: 1 Belgrave 85pts; 2 Hercules Wimbledon 60; 3 Holland Spots 53; 4 Serpentine 51; 5 Epsom & Ewell 49; 6 Kingston & Polytechnic 48; 7 St Mary’s Richmond 35; 8 Walton 23.

Hercules Wimbledon’s Jonny Cornish got under four minutes for 1500 metres when he clocked 3:59.54 in a British Milers Club’s Gold Standard meeting at Watford. It took more than five seconds off his previous best time for the distance.

Also at the open meeting at Tooting Bec, veteran Hagberg produced his best form since returning to the sport this summer in winning the men’s hammer and discus with throws of 48.58 and 41.81metres, respectively. Hagberg, 45, now based in London, achieved his best hammer throw of 57.14 metres more than 20 years ago in 1998 and has a best discus to his name of 60.39m achieved in 1999.

This weekend, Hercules Wimbledon’s youngsters are in action in the Lily B Girls League finals at the Weir Archer Athletics Centre, Kingston on Saturday. South of England girls under 15 high jump champion Mabel-Rose Scales and English Schools and South of England boys under 15 100 metres silver medallist Freddie Arkell are among six Hercules Wimbledon athletes competing in the England age group championships at Bedford over the weekend.