From out of the Gloom a voice said to me, “Smile and be happy, things could be worse.”

So I smiled and was happy, and behold, they did get worse.

Generally speaking the conditions at the National this Century have been benign, but in the four years when they haven’t… In car parking parlance, for every three free parks of the car, the other time has seen it clamped, towed and damaged in transit!This may not have been up with the brutality of Bristol ’02 and Alton Towers ’11; and nothing can usurp the horrors of Sunderland ’13; but for the sheer “no let up” factor, it takes some beating. If you weren’t knee-deep in muck, you were climbing or descending, and for the brief km of good going in the woods, everyone guns it. But that’s the National for you.

SENIOR WOMEN 8k.

We attempted to strengthen our spine with the excellent Sophie Carter, but the day before, she blinked and it’s hard to blame her. She couldn’t have known conditions would be this severe – I expect someone had a word of doom in her ear; and as an alternative she ripped round the Bourton 10k for third. The key with cross-country for the unconverted is to get them out on a kind course and let its charm do the rest.

A warrior in wrong attire

More galling for Charlie and Will was to see the splendid sight of Belgrave shorts cantering along in 25^th place, none other than club ledg Smurph, the most prolific National points scorer in our history, but this time in a Vale Royal vest! Sarah’s last National for us was in 2010, when she fought a solo vigil in Leeds, before relocation and the babes came along. We’ve tried every trick in the book to get her out since, but the fates transpired against. Finally, a few weeks after her switch and she’s back in action! Ooff. Ah well, even with her we’d have missed bronze by 3 pips… Congrats to Sarah, and we still have her higher-claim on the track.

Fantasy photo-op

In a start of sparkling audacity Mel crested the famous hill start with a 20 yard lead over Oswestry’s Lavender. Foolhardy? Perhaps a tad, but Mel is a fearless street-fighter, and such stunt work cost her less than a handful of places, for a magnificent 17^th – the same as Tish two years ago. Mel was plainly “all in” for the rest of the race, and to this observer with 10 minutes to go, it appeared a place in the 30’s was a threat, such was her clear exhaustion. But she never gives up, and her pacing will improve as she grows in experience.

Delivery room flashbacks

Sam is no lover of the heavy stuff, but she’s a strong and effective XC runner, and was only a shade down on optimum here, with yet another marvellous National from JJR keeping her honest the whole way. At both here and Sunderland, Jojo scored 3^rd, such is her knack of rising to the occasion. ZLD’s true calling is a 1,500 on a balmy June night in Watford, but she was out there to nail down 16/16 cross-country races for us since she joined. Sensational consistency. This may not have been A1 Zoe, but the perfect sound bite after summed it all up: “that reminded me of child birth…”A very short way behind came our loyal lieutenants ZS and Flic, giving us insurance and peace of mind. Oh! And chuck in the ever-improving Gemma into that mix, too. Rieko ran well, with adrenaline to spare after breaking down on the M4; which just leaves Alison, whose trick last year of pacing Gemma Steel for the first half-mile, was swapped for giving the field a five-minute head-start.So, Rotherham’s pesky starlets were back, and HHH nicked us as well, all credit to them. No answer to AFD of course, and Bristol were outstanding as they so often are. But Charnwood were way down this time, and the message to us all is clear. If we keep lobbing these grenades at the nation, they’re gonna start doing some damage. And three consecutive years of top-6 at the National is fantastic; so well done team, and thanks to the mucky pup supporters for screaming themselves hoarse.1 L Partridge (AFD) 30:07; … 17 M Wilkins 32:25; 69 S Amend 34:35; 82 J Rhodes 34:51; 124 Z Doyle 36:21; 147 Z Smith 36:53; 168 F Cole 37:34; 174 G Farrell 37:43; 310 R Trees 40:39; 496 A Heydenrych 44:48. 865 finished.Teams: 1 Aldershot F&D 38; 2 Bristol & W 53; 3 Rotherham 189; 4 Herne Hill H 276; 5 Belgrave H 292; 93 teams closed in.Full Results SW

SENIOR MEN 12k

Right, thanks ladies for stirring the porridge to a lovely creamy texture, follow that lads [all 2,005 of you]. After the heroics of Brighton we took our foot off the gas a little, with a niggly Andy given a rare pass, and Gus, on the comeback trail, but it’d have been crazy to risk him here. PO couldn’t wriggle out of work, and then our double National champ Nick Goolab popped up on Friday sounding out a run. To my eternal regret I hadn’t gambled on him, as his comeback was slated for late-March. In truth though, this could have turned him off XC for a while, so perhaps for the best!

Bert Footer Joined

After a hugely frustrating season, one of the greatest Belgravians of all time was back in play. It was the fifth time Phil has won the Parker Bowl as our top scorer at the National, to draw him level with Bert Footer who achieved the feat between 1925-1935. Only Gerry North has won more. Phil had a harsh run, minus a winter background, and he explained afterwards: “every time we got to a period of good running I’d take out several guys, but as soon as the mud came, they’d take me straight back.” But he never stopped fighting and nine years after he first led us home here, nothing’s changed. The Reading half is next where he can banish these horrors in under 64 minutes!

Where are you, lad?

Taras has been to multiple European XC Championships as a Junior, but he’ll not have experienced this. After weeks of sickness TT had a blinder although he met trouble in one deep part. A runner ahead wiped out and became submerged in the goop. “Mate!” Taras called out. “Shout where you are – I don’t want to trample on you!” Alex, Roy and Nick were all their customary rock solid selves; the pick of the bunch being Roy. Our captain marvel just keeps on improving and is around 3 minutes up on last year.The hard-bitten Cockerpillar went in search of his 15^th National score, but had to exterminate Messrs Pikett and Smallwood. Not a chance, never saw them, but they had a fab duel for the honour, with Luke prevailing by 14 ticks. And close behind me was mountain-goat Patrick who was perfectly content for the whole 49 minutes, to give our 9-to-score return a real shot in the arm.So, 15^th. Respectable stuff, but has us yearning for more. Scroll back to Coulsdon in October and you would never guess that band of misfits would defeat one of the all-time greats of English XC [Tipton] four months hence, or for that matter recent champions Aldershot.A fine season ends, with a Championship gold, three silvers, and plenty more solid returns. Well done and thanks to all, especially Charlie for his tireless work on the day.1 C Hulson (Sale) 39:12; 38 P Wicks 41:42; 72 T Telkovsky 42:48; 173 A Miller 44:44; 192 R Maddams 45:03; 255 Nick Bundle 45:59; 343 L Pikett 47:30; 361 N Smallwood 47:44; 433 W Cockerell 48:32; 503 P McDougall 49:21; 2005 finished.Teams: 1 Notts AC 213; 2 Bedford & County 265; 3 Leeds City 355… 15 Belgrave H 1073; 145 teams closed in. 13^th out of 74 teams at 9 to score with 2370 points.Full Results SM[gallery_bank type="individual" format="thumbnail" title="true" desc="false" responsive="true" animation_effect="bounce" album_title="true" album_id="11"]p.s. the Daily Telegraph comment on the race here:  http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/active/11429049/The-greatest-running-race-you-have-never-heard-of.html