Hercules Wimbledon warmed up for the opening 2XU Surrey Men's cross-country league match of the season this weekend by posting their best ever performance in the England Road Relay Championship last Saturday.

In the four times Hercules have qualified for the event since 1998, the previous highest placing was 42nd in 2010.

At Birmingham's Sutton Park last Saturday, the sextet of Liam White, Kieran White, Matt Sharp, Alex Robinson, Jonathan Cornish and Fred Slemeck finished 30th out of 77 teams, and were the second placed Surrey club.

Once again, it was a true team effort with just 31 seconds separating the efforts of the fastest and slowest runners in the team.

Liam White (19 minutes 10 seconds) made a solid start bringing the team home in 59th place on the opening lap.

Kieran White (19:16) moved up three places before Sharp (19:10) gained another four places in the third leg and Robinson (19:18) moved the team up to 43rd spot.

As he was in the South of England relay, Cornish was once again the fastest member of the Hercules team clocking 18:47 in picking off 10 runners on the penultimate leg.

Anchor leg runner Slemeck (19:01) gained a further three places as he brought the team home in 30th position.