Hercules Wimbledon's Alex Bruce-Littlewood warmed up for a testing race on the continent this weekend with a runaway victory in an inter-club five miles cross country race on Wimbledon Common last Saturday.

Bruce-Littlewood, 20, led the race from the start and despite the muddy and slippery conditions, with remnants of the recent heavy snowfall still evident, he had a 20 metres lead at the half-way point and then continued to pull away to win by 150 metres in 27 minutes 37 seconds.

"I've never run this race before but it was a good course," said Bruce-Littlewood, who was awarded a Christmas pudding for his victory. His next race will be on Sunday when he competes in the Lotto Cross Cup 10km cross country event in Brussels where he will encounter some of Europe's top runners. Recent winners of the event have come from Ethiopia, Kenya, Italy and the Ukraine.

After his Euro race, Bruce-Littlewood will focus on the Kent cross country championships which are being held on January 8 from Wilmington Grammar School, Dartford. He missed last season's championships but finished a good 19th in the English junior men's cross country championship in Leeds. Bruce-Littlewood will challenge for the senior men's title for the first time when he makes his first appearance in the Kent cross country championships since winning the junior men's title at Detling in January 2008.

Hercules Wimbledon had more than 20 runners in action in the inter-club race and had nine runners among the first 10. Adam Przedrzymirski (29:56), Justin Kelly (29:17), Phil Glynn (29:56) and veteran Peter Lee (31:22) were third, fourth, fifth and sixth to complete the scoring team of five which comfortably won the match against Milocarians and Wimbledon Windmilers. In the 18-a-side match against the Windmilers, Hercules Wimbledon won by 233 points to 433.

Other Hercules Wimbledon runners in the first 10 were Dave Grima (31:53), veteran Stuart Bond (32:04), teenager James Evans (32:51) and over 55 veteran Hugh Saxby (32:52). Medena Knespl, back home for Christmas from her studies across the Atlantic at Boston University, was second woman in 36:06 with Zoe Phillips third just three seconds later.

Over 45 veteran Frank Wood had a busy weekend. On Saturday he helped Hercules Wimbledon win the cross country match by finishing 16th (35:32) and then, less than 24 hours later, turned out in the Bedford half-marathon where he finished 152nd out of almost 1500 runners in 1:29:07.

Another Hercules Wimbledon runner to win a race on Wimbledon Common on Saturday was James Trapmore. Running for the King's College School staff team, he led the way home in the annul three miles race against teams from the school and the old boys.

Several Hercules Wimbledon runners were in action in a third race on the common on Saturday, the Wimbledon Common parkrun. Andrew Davies was 10th (19:07), David Harris 19th (20:35), and over 45 veteran Charles Hampden-Smith 21st (20:40). Rebecca Smith, 14, was fourth in the women's race (21:16).

Meanwhile, Hercules Wimbledon's Kieran White showed useful form when he finished runner-up out of almost 500 runners in the Bushy Park 5km parkrun on Saturday in 16:25, just eights seconds outside his best time for the course which he posted more than two years ago back in April 2008.

White will be among Hercules Wimbledon runners competing in the South of the Thames 7.5 miles championships cross country race at Farthing Downs, Coulsdon, on Saturday, starting at 2pm.

* Hercules Wimbledon's track and field training sessions take place at Wimbledon Park athletics stadium on Tuesday and Thursday evenings starting at 6.30pm and Sunday morning at 10.30am. Further details from coaching coordinator Maurice Sharp on 020 8337 8707.

*Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club hold mid-week road running training sessions for marathon, cross country and road runners from Lauriston Cottage, 6a Southside, Wimbledon Common, at the junction with Lauriston Road, every Wednesday evening from 7pm. Contact Pete Mulholland on 020 8761 4308 for more details.