Thrills, spills and chills on the Common

Women's Surrey CC League & 2XU Men's Surrey League

Saturday 11 January. Wimbledon Common was at its wettest after yet more rain the night before but the weather for the racing was glorious and the women's and men's fields were huge. A terrific women's team had been assembled - but there's many a slip and with three Belgrave girls near the front of the field the trail was lost and after a single lap a bunch of irate Belles were trying to forge their way back through the pack. Tish Jones managed superbly and in spite of having given away several minutes to what was now the main bunch, eventually won by miles. As a team the Belles won handsomely, have improved their league lead, and the B team finished third to boot.How different for the men! Another ding dong battle ensued between Johnny Gilbert of Kent and Paskar Owor. On the final lap, with our man forcing the pace, Paskar fell, and as he tried to rise was knocked down again by Gilbert who also went sprawling. This released guest runner Dan Davis of Leeds (running with a Belgrave number with the Ref's permission) who then led to the finish. The rest of our team were some way back and we placed a lowly 8th on the day. We seem to have maintained our league place of 5th but the whole situation has closed right up and the position is 5th Belgrave (1602), 6th Clapham Chasers (1603), 7th Ranelagh H (1621) and 8th South London H (1640). These four will be fighting it out in the last fixture to decide which of them gets relegated. Our current league form gives the Team Manager the shivers for with another result like today's it'll be us taking the plunge!Womens: 1 T Jones (Belgrave H) 30:58; 2 F Love (Clapham C) 31:51; 3 C Elms (Dulwich R) 31:52… 5 S Amend 32:04; 7 M Wilkins 32:30; 9 M Dillon 33:02; 12 Z Doyle 33:15; 17 J Rhodes 33:36; 23 D Noel 34:34; 28 Z Smith 35:01; 33 V Goodwin 35:37; 44 F Maddocks 36:25; 50 C Thompson 36:56; 54 H Barsham-Rolfe 37:05; … 196 finished. Teams: 1 Belgrave H 33; 2 Thames H&H 114; 3 Belgrave 'B' 145; 4 Herne Hill H 147; 5 Dulwich R 175; 6 Clapham C 180; … 46 teams. After three matches: 1 Belgrave H 165; 2 Herne Hill H 357; 3 Thames H&H 386; 4 Dulwich R 468; 5 Clapham C 480; … 17 Belgrave B 1325… 42 Belgrave C (one match). 52 teams.Mens: 1 D Davis (Leeds City gst) 28:34; 2 (scoring 1) J Gilbert (Kent AC) 28:44; 3 (2) P Owor (Belgrave) 29:01; … 45 (43) M Trees M50 32:21; 54 (50) W Cockerell M40 32:49; 59 (54) M Welsh 33:08; 61 (56) N Bundle 33:15; 81 (69) K Hegvold M50 33:58; 113 (81) R McHarg M50 35:14; 122 (83) M Young 35:32; 125 (84) T Corbett 35:40; 161 (87) A Luce M40 37:30; 162 S Addicott M40 M40 7:37; 168 F Logan 38:20; 181 F Ward M50 39:13; 188 T O’Neill M60 39:50; 216 D Anderson M50 43:06; M Taylor dnf … 246 finished. Teams: 1 Herne Hill H 209; 2 Kent AC 265; 3 Thames H&H 298; 4 Ranelagh H 438; 5 South London H 476; 6 Hercules Wimbledon AC 490; 7 Clapham Chasers 593; 8 Belgrave H 609; 9 Walton AC 717. After three matches: 1 Kent AC 670; 2 Herne Hill H 722; 3 Thames H&H 801; 4 Hercules Wimbledon AC 1354; 5 Belgrave H 1602; 6 Clapham Chasers 1603; 7 Ranelagh H 1621; 8 South London H 1640; 9 Walton AC 2272. Under 13. 1 T Korkmaz (Herne Hill) 15:12; … 7 Z Addicott 17:25.