Report by Will Cockerell, April 21, 2014

In 100 years, the 2013-14 Belgrave women's road and country season will still look tastier than a plate of Kung Pao shrimp. 33 athletes logged 129 appearances in 20 races, with newcomer Mel Wilkins leading the way with 13 runs.

The secrets of our success couple a great team spirit with the firm knowledge of how critical the engine room is to our success. Numerous times we have turned to non-recognized A-teamers for key scoring runs. A Goodwin for instance with telling returns at Portsmouth, Denbies and Croydon; a Barsham-Rolfe for coolly bringing the South of the Thames Championships home; and of course the headline writer's dream Abbie Friday for securing us the Surrey League.

The season started in rather soporific style, as the Surrey road relay, the Southern 4-stage, the Southern cross-relay and the National 4-stage, all brought modest returns. The beast was sleepy after its summer hibernation. But the first Surrey League lit the touch paper and we never looked back.

The first key hardware of the season came at the National 10 mile race in Portsmouth, with a welcome Silver behind Aldershot. We followed this up with two Golds at the South of the Thames 5 mile race, and then the National 10k up in Leeds. This meant we were now the reigning National champions at the 10k, half-marathon and marathon - an amazing feat.

Our Surrey League campaign continued apace at Coulsdon with newcomer Zoe Doyle leading the way - what a spectacular debut season for her; and we followed up with a gruelling win at the South of the Thames Championships on a filthy day with very slick conditions underfoot. An even wetter day followed at the 'Surreys' as our local girls nicked a welcome bronze; and then came an incredible day at Putney Vale for Surrey League 3, where our B team came third. The A team of Jones, Amend, Wilkins, Dillon and Doyle could just be the finest quintet in Surrey League history.

All eyes on the Southerns then. We knew we went into Parla Hill with a fighting chance and that AFD could not afford to be lax. They pointed three big guns our way, but with a mile of the race to go, we hadn't given up. In the end, they nicked us by 16 points, but it was a superb team race. Tish took individual bronze. We settled the Surrey League account with a minor scare, as one too many girls were given a lie-in, but a margin of 145 points indicates a safe buffer.

Onto glorious Wollaton Park for the National where we were hot favourites to hit hardware. The Aldershot and Charnwood juggernauts were paying full attention, and we were surprised that Rotherham's talented squad edged us out of the frame. All credit to them, and 4th in the nation is still a splendid return.

Onto the roads, and we comfortably defended our National half-marathon title, welcoming Sophie Carter into the fold; and then had a roller-coaster day at Milton Keynes in the Southern six-stage. 7th at half-way became 2nd after stage 4 thanks to TJ; Zoe held us firm, but then Sophie got into big trouble with an ankle injury. She heroically gritted through the pain to hang onto silver by 10 seconds. The National 6-stage saw us return to the top 10, the second best result in our history, and there's no doubt we can bring this number down further, as we were missing a few. Finally, after a remarkable streak at London (silver, gold gold), we were an unofficial 5th this year, minus several luminaries.

In summary, 5 Championships won, 3 Silvers and a Bronze. Kung Pao stuff indeed, and with many of the squad on a positive trajectory with their running, there's every chance for more fireworks in 2014-15. In the meantime, look for a good turn-out at the BUPA 10,000 in London on May 25, which doubles as the UK champs.

Here is a summary of the season's results (with 2012-13's result in brackets).

Belles 2013-14 appearances (2012-13 appearances in brackets)

Year Athletes Appearances