ANOTHER GREAT PERFORMANCE FROM OUR YOUNG BELSSaturday saw another great turnout from our Girls in the second Ladies match of the Surrey League on a surprisingly dry Mitcham Common. Allison ran her first race in Belgrave colours, and as our onlyrepresentative in the Girls U15/U17 race she came home a creditable 48th and even looked as if she enjoyed it, although it’s often difficult to tell with Allison, she gives nothing away (something we would all probably  like to see a little more of from some of our Coaches - oops, can’t believe I just said that). In the U13/U15 race our first lady home, again running X/C for Bels for the first time, was Isla in 4th, having moved up from 8th on the completion of the first 1k of the full 3k lap. Isla was only 10 seconds behind the winner - we have no doubt that she will find that extra 50 metres at the next match in January. Sister Hana, running in the U11 category, was placed 19th (and first U11), our second runner home, with Juliet only 22 seconds and 5 places behind her. With Freya, Chaiyla and Andie all running well, and Andie finishing with the biggest smile I have seen since September when I put on last seasons track suit top and found a fiver in the pocket, the Girls placed an excellent 4th team, a massive 14 places higher than our last outing at Nonsuch Park in October.To my knowledge that’s the first time we have had a full team (four athletes) turn out in that age group category, and in fact Belgrave was showing both an A and a B team in the results. Quite amazing, with a number of our runners missing with either illness or injury (broken arms included). Warren and I probably enjoyed watching as much as the Girls enjoyed running. And I finally discovered that my headgear is the cause of much merriment amongst our athletes. Apparently they could hear me cheering them on at various points on the course, and were able to spot me by my hat! And there was me thinking it was cool. Oh well, it’s back to being invisible, along with everyone else over 30.And a big thank you to all of the parents who showed up to give support when they could have been elsewhere, shopping in Westfield for Christmas presents and jostling with half a million others, or washing the car, or preparing for that dinner party, or putting up those shelves at last. Then again, I can see why you all turned out…….