Belgrave wins across the board as Surrey League returns to Richmond Park
A fantastic day at Richmond Park saw Belgrave win the A and B Surrey League matches - and then the men’s team repeat the same feat in the afternoon, with claret and gold singlets across the line first in both races.
Belles
Words by Charlie Dickinson
It really was an incredible day for the Belles in the first Surrey League match of the season in a sunny but chilly Richmond Park.
They completely dominated the race, not only in outstanding quality, but with huge depth in numbers; the largest turnout ever.
Kate Axford was the outstanding individual winner, but then the first five scorers for the 'A' team all finished in the top ten making probably the lowest ever winning score of 32 in the history of the league. The next five making up the 'B' team all came in the top 25 with a score which placed them third, just behind a strong Thames Hare and Hounds team.
Kate Axford leading an early charge round the first corner. Photo: Danny Easton for Tracksmith
And the Belles train continued to come. With 25 taking part; if C, D and E teams were counted, they would have finished 6th, 9th and 18th out of the 30 A and B teams in the league. Runners and team managers from the other clubs seemed to be in shock.
Last season, Georgie Grgec of Herne Hill Harriers had dominated three of the races, once finishing over a minute clear. Kate Axford sat with her until half way through the second lap, then made her move down the hill before climbing up to the White House. By the time she entered the long finishing straight, her winning lead was nearly 100m. Amazingly, this was Kate's first ever cross country race.
Lea Adamson ran brilliantly. Photo: Danny Easton for Tracksmith
It was a delighted Lea Adamson's best ever league race finishing in 5th. This was after her strong relay leg at Sutton Park followed by a 20km road race in Paris the weekend before, hard training on Tuesday and Thursday and three pints of Guiness the night before the race. As a trainee doctor she must know what works!
Kristina Popadich is improving with every race, slowly getting back to her very best after a summer nursing her injuries. Here she finished very strongly in 7th, but we know there is more to come.
Kristina Popadich is on the up. Photo: Danny Easton for Tracksmith
Then in 9th and 10th, to complete the A team, two Emilys. Emily Lowery has newly joined the club and is not only an excellent cross country runner but also a very strong middle distance track athlete which bodes well for the NAL next summer. Emily Robbins has recently rejoined the club after seven years; she ran in this same fixture in 2016. In between, she got married and ran 2:51 in the London Marathon. Great to see her back.
Although bothered by a painful hip, Felicity Harrison nevertheless ran a very fine race in 12th, which normally would have easily scored for the A team. Here she was first scorer for the very strong B team. She was followed by four in the low to middle 20s: Rachel Brown, then another promising new recruit Karen Xiang, then great to see Sophie Cowper, always welcome, and captain Steph Hewitt running very strongly to complete a very low B team score.
Close behind still in the 20s were Natalie Beadle and Naomi Lenane then another new Belle Emma Davies in the low thirties with a fine first run. Then still in the top 50, Orna McGinley and Anna Sharp, thankfully back racing after her persistent knee injury.
All those who support the team are important because they add to the terrific team spirit and help the A and B team scores by pushing back runners form other clubs. There seemed to be runner after runner in maroon and gold.
In finishing order they were; Samantha Munday, Laura Goodson, Emily Bradley, Katarina Bonner and Clemmie Cooper. Then Phoebe Davies, Ella-May Hards, Lydia Gallyer-Barnett and finally Mhairi Hall and then Katherine Godfrey, who was just outside the top hundred. There were 259 who finished the race.
So, an excellent start to the league, but it's a long season with three more matches, so to win the league title the Belles let slip last year, the team need to repeat this excellent performance in the next match at Mitcham Common on November 11th.
Bels
Words by Steve Gardner
A horde of hungry Bels descended on Richmond Park to record our first Match 1 win in the Surrey League top flight since 2004.
Back row l-r: Whelan, Woodbridge (83), Rodda, Jackson, McNally (c), Fyfe, Tuffy, Ollie Smith, Gebreselassie, Hart, Anders, Edgar, Turner, Milner, Chard, Kelly, Rogers, Clarke, Le Grand, Rigori, Driscoll, Agustus, Hurley, Stone, Chang, Heyden. Kneeling l-r: Neville, Sommerville, Harry, Crowe-Wright, Wilson, Molloy, Gardner (TM), Kempson, Loxton, Williams, Bowers, Varley, Lole. Photo: Matt Holman.
We fielded a total of 41 men to cover the alchemy of front-end quality and the deepest of engine room depth; both absolutely necessary to win a Surrey League match in this era, but still only won the fixture by two points from defending champions Hercules Wimbledon.
Second claimer Ian Crowe-Wright took a Surrey League win for the first time in three attempts, and it’s another illustration of the league’s quality that our 13:28 man doesn’t walk it every time. He spent much of the race in a pack with Dulwich new boy Max Milarvie, Thames second-claimer Jack Millar and HHH gem Sam Bramwell before pulling away at the top of Sawyer’s Hill on the second lap to cross the line some 12 seconds clear of second place.
Our next two scorers were instrumental in tipping the maths in our favour. Andy Fyfe’s return to our colours was a sight for sore eyes; he last represented us in 2019 before leaving for his native Edinburgh AC but rejoined us as his first claim English club just in time for this match.
He’s now in the best form of his life and his 5th place here is a serious improvement on his 57th at Mitcham Common, the last time he raced a Surrey League - or indeed any cross country fixture.
Max Heyden’s [#96] recent move to Battersea triggered a squabble for his second claim signature but a word in the ear from Cottage training partners Fyfe and Gebreselassie ensured he made the right decision. The 13:50 man’s [ahem] tempo effort here was good enough for 9th place. Can’t wait to see his full gas effort later in the season.
Henry Hart [#6] couldn’t quite repeat his 5th place from last year’s opening fixture but his 19th here claimed some big scalps; he was followed 17 seconds later by the ever-present Sam Sommerville [#8] who recorded his third top 30 in this league. That’s five men in within 29 points; Wimbledon’s quintet all scored between 8-21…it’s gonna be very tight.
Our next three are brilliant examples of sacrifice and decision-making that were each the difference between 1st and 2nd by hometime. Eoin Molloy [73] moved from Galway to Battersea earlier this year and has gradually rebuilt his fitness after the initial shock of the demands of a City job for an American law firm. He ran this one extremely smartly, working his way through the field to pass two teammates and Clapham’s 2:16 marathoner Nick Bowker in the final 200m. Eoin’s a fighter and we’re very glad to have him.
Then two men who could easily have been elsewhere: Lloyd Kempson [#26] turned down a commercial opportunity at the Manchester half in favour of a Surrey League scrap, and Sam Gebreselassie [#13] is far from his fittest and nursing a sore ankle. Both have finished in the top 5 in previous SL fixtures, both chose to do this for the sake of their teammates. Three significant scores in the 30s; boys, thank you.
Ninth and 10th to go then, and a pair of Conalls would do very nicely. C Whelan [#78] is an Irish orienteer who starting training with us at Battersea in the summer and showed promise in the autumn road relays; this was his best run for us so far. Captain Conall McNally [#1] has been been in something of a running funk over the summer but was presented with his three-star badge before the race in recognition of his Winter Plate treble, and maybe that did the trick: back on his favourite surface, he ran out of his skin to complete our ten within 49 scorers. Superb.
Onto the second ten and our B team, where we have two consecutive league titles to defend. Neil Wilson [#70], the returning Ollie Smith [#53], Charlie Rogers [#79], Jonny Neville [#12, six days after a PB at the Chicago marathon!] and Ollie Jackson [#81] are all low 15-minute 5k runners who we’d have been delighted to have in our A team, let alone the Bs, a few years ago.
Then Sam Rodda, who as our third second-claimer doesn’t score here, was followed by James Turner, Rob Kelly, Louis Clarke, George Loxton and Sam Harry. Of those only Turner hasn’t run under 16 minutes for 5k but he surely will soon; and it’s that 20-man depth that makes us such a force in this competition.
Bels 21-41 would make this report a novel but a few special mentions to: newcomer Charlie Le Grand for choosing to vault not skirt the fallen tree on both laps, a fiesty debut from Daryl Chard - much more to come, we think, the returning Ben Hurley who was 5th V45, Charlie McCarthy for finishing the course despite turning his ankle early on, and to V70 Terry O’Neill for proving a point to his juniors by not (quite) coming last. Good lad.
All eyes on Mitcham Common next. Herc will be stung by that narrow defeat and have top runners to come in from the road races (Cabbage Patch, Bath, Manchester and Oxford halfs, Great South Run) that competed with this fixture. We’ll need the same effort and then some to stay top.
Results
All photos by Belgravian Matt Holman or Danny Easton for Tracksmith.