A depleted Belles team protected its Surrey Cross Country League lead, while the Bels stayed in touching distance with their rivals in the third round of the competition.

Juliet Hodder storms to third

The Belles finished third on the day in the Surrey League match at West Horsley Place, but they remain first overall after three matches with a lead of 68 points going into the final league race on February 8 at Epsom. They still a good chance of retaining the league title. The Belles B team were first again, extending their big lead in the B team competition.

Juliet Hodder had a fine race leading the Belles home in third place overall. She is also joint third in the individual standings. Ruby Whyte-Wilding had her best league outing too finishing in 10th. In 18th, Penny Oliver repeating her good run in the Surrey Championships the week before. The ever-reliable Karen Xiang was 21st, and Lucy Peters completed the A team. Lucy has improved form 70th, to 40th and now 26th in the three league races so far, fast becoming a great asset to the team.

The B team train followed, led by another vastly improving runner, Lara Mangan, in 37th. Nat Beadle was 38th, Ella-May Hards in 40th, Olivia Lucas in 41st and Lydia Gallyer-Barnett in 44th. These five all had their best runs of the season.

Not far behind came Orna McGinley in 50th, Lucy Austin in 62nd and Meg Ellison in 68th, Lucy and Meg having very promising debuts for the team. Then Mhairi Hall in 70th who together with Orna acted as Team Managers on the day, Sarah Riceman in 74th, Laura Goodson in 80th, Lois Kasperkowicz - who is U20 - in 81st, Bethan Goddard - finally able to have a race - in 97th and finally Chloe Mangan in 108th, well within the top half of the field of 235 runners. 

Special mention and thanks to Don Anderson who brough both marquees along on a very cold day.

Full results are available here.

Bels stay in the fight

Words by Alex Janiaud

The Bels will need maximum firepower - and a little bit of luck - at next month’s season finale if they are to have any chance of reclaiming the Surrey League title.

The boys put on a battling performance at West Horsley Place, with highlight performances coming from Sam Gebreselassie (seventh), Dan Jarvis (eighth, non-scoring), James Hancock (10th) and Andy Fyfe (11th). Andy will defend a three point lead from John Sanderson in the ‘Golden Spike’ competition in February. Rian McCawley, Phil Wicks and Eddie Jodrell all finished in the top 30.

Despite no team race victories so far, the team has improved significantly on last year, having accumulated 719 points after three rounds compared with 912 at the same stage in 2024. A good turnout is needed to ensure second in the team standings, and while the 160 point gap to Hercules Wimbledon may prove tough to overhaul, stranger things have happened in this sport.

Full results here. All photos by Danny Easton.