Belles 5th, Bels top 20 at Parliament Hill National XC classic
On a day of sticky mud, bright sunshine and stacked fields, Belgrave men and women both turned out their biggest teams in the history of the English national cross country championships.
Belles
Report by TM Charlie Dickinson
As well an excellent 5th place for the four scoring Belles in the National, the tremendous depth in this squad was illustrated by another eight athletes who all ran well. The points score of 203 was the lowest since the team finished 4th at Nottingham in 2014 - helped that year by a 7th place finish from Tish Jones. Samantha Amend was in both teams.
Early morning most of the course was covered by long grass but was pretty soggy underneath. By the time all the junior races had been run, the grass had been turned into the familiar Parliament Hill mud. But it was a bright, warm sunny day making conditions far more pleasant than the recent wind and gales.
A muddied Sarah Astin finds herself without company on the second lap. Photo by Leonard Martin
Belgrave were led home by a very fine run from Sarah Astin in 13th place, which was much higher than in her last National at Nottingham two years ago when conditions were considerably muddier and not to Sarah's liking.
“I loved being back at Nationals XC, easily one of the highlights on the athletics calendar, with the amount of runners and supporters that were back at Parliament Hill yesterday it was hard not to enjoy it,” said Sarah afterwards.
”I very nearly threw a hissy fit and stepped off the course so but I’m proud of myself for digging in, changing the race plan and ending up 13th, and I still weirdly love this course!!”
Next to finish was Rachel Brown who, despite feeling tired all week, managed to improve from 125th in Leeds three years ago to 54th this time. Rachel has been one of the strongest Belles this winter, and a very important member of the team.
On the first of the two laps Lea Adamson, now thankfully over her injury problems, was ahead of Rachel and looked to be running very strongly. But she then suffered from stomach pain and had to stop to be sick but managed to continue to the finish albeit much further back in the field.
Grace thriving in the mud.
Not far behind Rachel, Grace Richardson and Olivia Papaioannou were locked together in battle all the way. In the end Liv just managed to get ahead of Grace; excellent runs from them both. These were the four scorers, 5th out of a total of 104 teams who completed the race.
Next to finish was Ella-May Hards in the early nineties. Ella has made a remarkable improvement over the season, from 65th in the first Surrey league race in October to 93rd in the National (in 2019 the Belles first finisher came 98th). Ella just gets better and better.
There followed a small group in the 120s, led home by the ever-consistent Samantha Amend supporting the club as ever. Sammi is running a marathon next week as part of her Ultra build up so 8km around Parliament Hill is not much more than a warm-up for her. She finished just ahead of Flora Whyte, a great prospect in her first season for the Belles, and the unfortunate Lea Adamson who did so well to finish before being taken to the ambulance. Thankfully she was recovered quickly.
Sam Amend alongside Natalie Beadle after climbing the first hill. Photo Jess Lowe.
Only about 20 places further back came Natalie Beadle and Alix Vermeulen. Natalie has run well for the team all season and Alix finished strongly despite carrying an injury, otherwise she would certainly finished higher up the field. Then, well within the first 200, one of our most reliable and improving runners Sarah Dewhirst and finally Mimi Corden-Lloyd who said she was taking in a bit easy after running a half marathon the week before. Mimi finished just outside the top two hundred out of no less than 1010 senior women who completed the race. The incredible strength in depth of this team is a source of great pride for us.
Results
J. Gibbons (Reading) 29:00, 2. E. Bolton (Ribble Valley) 29:08, 3. B. Owen (Leeds), 29:23,... 13. S. Aston 30:45, 54. R. Brown 32:58, 67. O. Papaioannou 33:37, 69. G. Richardson 33:40, 93. E-M. Hards 34:30, 123. S. Amend 35:04, 126. F. Whyte 35:07, 127. L. Adamson 35:07, 144. N. Beadle 35:27, 148. A. Vermeulen 35:31, 182. S. Dewhirst 36:25, 209. M. Corden-Lloyd 36:52.
Teams
Leeds 54, 2. AFD 61, 3. London Heathside 160, 4. Tonbridge 176, 5. Belgrave Harriers 203.
Bels
Report by TM Steve Gardner
It’s dull to start with what might have been but a month out from the National we had Phil Wicks (three top 10 finishes), Alex Brecker (7th in 2019), sub-2:20 marathoners Dan Wallis and Reece Edwards and the prodigal Sam Gebreselassie all keen to collaborate on a tilt at a first team medal since 2004’s gold.
Almost inevitably a combination of injuries and personal circumstances meant only captain Wicks made it to the start line but it is in that context that an eventual top-20 finish - our best since 2015 - feels like a superb result.
Phil Wicks was first home in claret and gold. Photo by Laurel Bray
Indeed it was Phil Wicks who was first man home on the sticky sides of Parliament Hill. His 68th was outside his top 50 target but I’ll leave it to National ever-present Will Cockerell to pay tribute to that performance: “I think it's a top 5'er in the vest for him. Yes, he's gone quicker; but never bolder, truer, gnarlier. For 16 long years he's slogged around the National, and never in that time has he been bested by another Bel. Quite incredible.”
Second home was Henry Hart (127th), finally making his debut after months of flying around Battersea in Charlie’s training group but always somehow missing races due to marathons and niggles. He’s a very exciting prospect for the team.
On the home straight Jonny Scott, extreme right, trails Jonny Neville, wet beneath the blue suburban skies. Photo by Jess Lowe
Then all within 20 seconds of each other came the Battersea Beatles Jonny Neville (291st), Jonny Scott (296th), Conall McNally (314th) and Angus Lamb (317th). Remarkably the Fab Four have only missed a total of three races between them this season, with Neville and McNally Coming Together at every fixture. In particular Neville has excelled over the Long and Winding distances, managing to Get Back third Bel both here and at the Southern. You’re asking me, will their love grow? I don’t know. You stick around now, it may show.
Who finished first in the Revolver between Conall McNally (CM), Angus Lamb (AL), Jonny Scott (JS) and Jonny Neville (JN).
Just outside our scoring six with a solid run was James Nutt (333rd) in our colours for the first time for more than two years. Tightly packed a minute back were strong runs from Matt Edgar (398th), a returning Michael McCarthy (403rd) and Toby Fletcher (409th).
l-r Conall McNally, James Williams, Henry Hart, Jonny Neville, Valentin Rigori, Tom Lole, Toby Fletcher, Jens Van den Brande, Jonny Scott, Dave Walsh, Michael McCarthy. Kneeling l-r Angus Lamb, AJ Elsadig, Ben Hurley, Matt Edgar.
The next cluster of claret saw Jens Van der Brande, Ben Hurley and Tom Lole all done within 501, with a 20-second break before AJ Elsadig, a returning James Williams and David Walsh arrived in quick succession. Rob Kelly, Miles Horn and Lawrence Burton made it 20 Bels across the line within the hour mark; just outside was the welcome sight of V55 Patrick McDougall, before another debutant Sam Hodges enduring/enjoying his first taste of cross country. The 23rd and final Bel home was Will Cockerell who “gave it a good fist” for two miles before an achilles niggle-induced lack of fitness meant the game was up on his race effort - but still jogged it home to ensure his National appearance streak, now at 23, remains intact.