Jingle Bels: Harriers men and women win more silverware at Lloyd Park

On November 26, Belgrave Harriers added to an already-heaving trophy cabinet for 2022, with the men securing silver and women bronze in the South of Thames Cross Country five miler.

Silver with a strong debut

Words by Conall McNally

A team of 10 Bels made their way to the first of three races scheduled at Croydon’s Lloyd park this season! This time, the team faced only two laps of a pretty firm four kilometre loop - at least by Lloyd park standards.

Leading the team home was Josh Trigwell, cementing himself now as a runner with the mettle to compete over cross country. He came home 4th in a strong field at the top end after Dom Nolan's fast start strung out the front of the field.

Trigwell was followed home by the increasingly reliable and increasingly dangerous Jonny Neville who went out hard with the second pack and held on for a top 10 finish in 9th place. Jonny trains hard and races harder, proving why he's a strong contender to bring home the winter plate and wear the covered #1 next season in the Surrey League.

About a dozen seconds behind him was Findlay Dyer, making his Belgrave debut and running his first cross country for two and a half years. As the youngest member of the squad we hope Findlay will be one to watch in the future, he ran a strong race and finished 12th.

Finishing the four scorers for the initial team competition was Conall McNally, who ran a strong race to finish 14th and put in a signature sprint finish (with textbook perfect form) to overtake a Kent runner on the line. Sprint finishes from McNally and Neville, however, were not enough to win the 4-scorer competition and Belgrave finished a close second, just two points behind Kent.

Luckily there was also an 8-scorer competition and following Conall home was Michael McCarthy and Neil Wilson, two returning stalwarts of Belgrave's road and cross country teams, who put in strong shifts to show that the depth of the engine room of Belgrave’s squad. They finished 21st and 23rd respectively.

Tom Lole was next over the line. Undoubtedly one of Belgrave's strongest marathoners, Tom went out hard and pushed through a difficult middle period in his race to pack in nicely with the Bels in front for a 32nd place finish.

Andrew Cumine finished off the scoring eight with a 36th place finish. His strong performance was not enough to wrestle the larger team competition from Kent as Belgrave again came second.

Rob Kelly, feeling slightly under the weather but a devotee to the cause of punishing himself over the cross-country surface turned up and turned out to finish 38th, showing why he's such a hotly pursued prospect in the south-west London running scene, with rumours of approaches from other team managers still hanging over him.

James Morris put in a signature spirited performance in his first cross-country race of the season. A strong finish lifted him to a final position of 91st. James rounded off, a strong performance from a core Belgrave squad, which proved that its strength is in its depth and in its collective spirit.

The Belles are running out of storage space for medals

Words by Charlie Dickinson

November has been a very busy month for the Belles, with races on every weekend. However, it's a large squad, so no one is expected to race them all.

Six of the team took part in the South of Thames 5-mile race, winning bronze medals in the four to score team race. They were just a couple of points behind second place Herne Hill.

The Belles were led home by Laura Goodson in 8th place. Laura is running very well this season but had woken up with a migraine. She shrugged this off, running perhaps her best race so far this winter.

Just a couple of places further back came cross country specialist Ella-May Hards in 10th and then Beth Brown in 11th, Belgrave packing at its best.

The final scorer was Mimi Corden-Lloyd, who liked the extra distance of this race compared with earlier races this season. Mimi moved through the field strongly in the second lap to finish in 14th.

Just a little further back Sarah Dewhirst and Mhairi Hall completed the Belles team in 23rd and 24th places. It was a strong run from Sarah and Mhairi had also felt unwell before the race but characteristically insisted on running.

Belgrave are fortunate to have such a strong women's team. No less than seven of the team have been asked to run for Surrey in the South of England Inter-Counties in December. Fifteen different Belles have already won medals in road and cross country team races this winter.