Hercules Wimbledon's new South African-born signing Estle Viljoen has certainly made her mark in her first eight days with the club.

Her first race was the tough early morning Sri Chinmoy half-marathon held in Battersea Park.

Viljoen led for 12 of the 13 one mile laps but was overtaken by Jayne Lawrence in the closing stages.

However, the South African had the satisfaction of setting a personal best in a shade over 1 hour 20 minutes.

Less than a week later Viljoen was in action at the Stragglers Wedding Day 7km at Bushey Park.

In a much higher standard race she got among the prizes by finishing third behind the defending race title holder Maria Bradley and the experienced Anna Solly.

Just two days later Viljoen competed in the 26.2 club Hook Arena 10km road race in which the class of opposition was signalled by the appearance of Caterina McKiernan, winner of the Flora London Marathon.

With McKiernan's winning time of 33 minutes 16 seconds rewriting the course record, the chasing pack were inspired with Maria Bradley coming in second ahead of the UK international Mel Ellis.

In this company a tiring Viljoen could do no better than finish sixth but in doing so she went under 40 minutes for a road 10km race for the first time.

Her time of 37 minutes 40 seconds will, subject to confirmation, be a new Hercules Wimbledon club record.

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