Belles take Southern relays silver as men qualify two teams for Nationals
Belgrave women bagged the team silver medal at the South of England 4-stage road relays at Aldershot. In the men’s 6-stage, Belgrave finished 13th and qualified a B team for the Nationals.
Kate Axford is willed up the final hill by the Bels.
Silver for the Belles at Aldershot
Words by Charlie Dickinson
Helped by a terrific last leg run by Kate Axford, the second fastest of the day, a very strong Belles 'A' team came through the field to snatch silver medals in the South of England 4-Stage road-relay Championships at Aldershot. The 'B' and 'C' teams also again confirmed the Belles strength in depth by finishing 17th and 29th out of 61 Southern teams.
The Championships has now thankfully moved back to Rushmore Arena where it had been for many years before being moved to Crystal Palace a decade or so ago. The two-lap undulating 6km course is both challenging for runners and very good for spectators who can see their teams for much of the circuit.
Although perhaps not quite at her best, Steph Hewitt led the Belles 'A' team off on the first frenetic leg. Many weaker teams put their strongest runner on the initial stage to give them a better race, so positions can be misleading. Aldershot's Steph Twell ran away from the field to give their team a large lead, but Steph hung on well bringing the team home in 22nd place with a very satisfactory run.
Kristina Popadich had not raced since the six-stage version of this race in April. After a longstanding injury she has steadily rebuilt her fitness over the summer months. Here, she ran an excellent stage showing her real class, taking no less than 13 places bringing the team home in 9th place.
On stage three Felicity Harrison moved the team up to 7th place with another very good run. By this time the Aldershot 'A' and 'B' teams were well out in front with TVH in third place. However, the SEAA rules state that no club can be awarded two lots of medals, so the silver and bronze medals were still up for grabs.
When Kate Axford took over on the final leg, she had a 71 second deficit on TVH's 2:30 marathoner, Tracy Barlow. Excitement grew as the commentator easily picked out Kate with her blond bobbing ponytail as she charged down the hill into the bowl of the arena on the first lap, having already swept past two teams and was now a mere 100m behind Barlow.
Although she tired slightly on the second lap, she gradually hauled in the TVH athlete finishing ten seconds ahead at the finish to the delight of her team. Her run was the second fastest of the day and ten seconds faster than the legendary Steph Twell.
Orna McGinley and Samantha Munday led off for the 'B' and 'C' Belles teams. They kept together for most of the race with two very good runs finishing in 25thh and 26th place. New recruit Karen Xiang took over for Orna running a very similar time bringing the 'B' team up to 19th. Despite not feeling too well, Leonora Lynn came along to complete the team and still did remarkably well improving the team to 24th.
Triathlete Rachel Brown has had a difficult summer with a persistent back injury hampering her competitions. But Rachel is an outstanding competitor and despite a lack of training ran the third quickest of all the Belles bringing the team up to 15th. Ella-May Hards is back training now after a summer of duathlons maintained the 'C' team's position in the mid twenties.
It was wonderful to see Samantha Amend back with the team looking very well after a long period of injury and illness. She had a solid run bringing the 'B' team home in 17th place. Flora MacPherson did likewise for the 'C' team who finished in the top half of all the clubs in the South of England.
Felicity Harrison closing the Belles’ third leg in 6th position.
Bels secure two spots at Nationals
Eoin Molloy worrying a Norwich runner.
Words by Alex Janiaud
Having roared the Belles across the finishing line to their silver medal, two Belgrave men’s teams would go on to qualify for next month’s national road relays.
The ‘A’ side opened with its fastest runner of the day, Ollie Garrod, who completed his leg in 15th position. The team would edge nearer to the front and peak at ninth thanks to Philip Wicks and Sam Sommerville, before settling in 13th.
The ‘B’ team, meanwhile, advanced up the field with every leg, with anchor Lloyd Kempson able to place the team in 27th. Eoin Molloy had an excellent debut for Belgrave with the ‘B’ side’s fastest leg.
Such is the depth of the men’s setup now that the men’s ‘C’ and ‘D’ sides featured runners who have represented the club’s top teams in prior races. Interest in joining the club is high and the standard is rising. The Belgrave men are working hard and are getting closer to emulating the successes of the women’s team.
Results
Ollie Garrod, leading the team out on leg 1, was our quickest Bel on the day.
Recent joiner Charlie Rogers scored well in the A team here at Aldershot and at the county relays a fortnight earlier.
Belgrave second claimer Dylan Evans won team gold in Shaftesbury colours but will return to the claret and gold for the Surrey League.