"ANOTHER SOLID PERFORMANCE BY THE BELLE'S"

Author: Charlie DickinsonPhoto Credit: Matt Welsh L:R, Helen White, Charlie Dickinson, Sarah McKelvey, Zoe Doyle, Zoe Smith, Jo Rhodes, Megan Bailey, Felicity Cole, Christina Pennock, Lizzie Goldie Scott, Sally Underhill, Saron Haileselase.

Belgrave was very well supported again this season with no less than eleven starting the second Surrey League match on Mitcham Common. This has recently become quite a well used, although not popular venue, the narrow paths soon after the start making it difficult for a field of almost 400 runners. However, the race was well organised and the teams were blessed with some sunshine even though there was a cool breeze.

The team were led home again by joint captain Zoe Smith finishing in 8th. This was a very good run by Zoe although perhaps she was still suffering from tired legs after her excellent 2nd place the week before in the South of Thames.

Next came Saron Haileselase, only just back in training after suffering from a very nasty cough for several weeks. Saron withstood a fair amount of pushing on the early tight part of the course, and then suffered from the stitch. She hung on gamely to finish in 18th place.

Sally Underhill had perhaps one of the best runs of the day finishing less than 30 seconds behind Saron in 28th. She started fast, and although she found the second lap tough, should be very pleased with her run. Sally has had to overcome her own injury and health problems as well as a very busy social calendar, but it was good to see her back to her best.

Sally was followed closely home by the ever reliable Zoe Doyle, thankfully back now from her long-term injury problems, Zoe was so missed by the team last year.

Completing the scoring five for the A team was the ever improving Christina Pennock, in 51st. Christine has now become an integral part of this team, steadily moving up a few places with every race.

Jojo Rhodes has missed an awful amount of training and racing since mid summer with Achilles and calf muscle problems. Starting cautiously, she passed many on the second lap, and although finishing much further back that she is used to, it was a run which should give her great confidence.

Another very good run was by the next finisher, Lizzie Goldie-Scott who came in a little after Jojo. Again, Lizzie has had injury problems recently and was not expecting much from this race. However, she is a very strong runner and she should be very pleased with an excellent performance.

Felicity Cole finished just behind Lizzie in 75th place, it was so good to see Felicity back running, always such a reliable member of this team.

The Belles final finisher was Megan Bailey who, as always, ran well and again showed a very determined and strong finish. Megan was just outside the top 100.

Unfortunately, two Belles who started the race had to drop out after the first lap, so the B team only had 4 runners.  Sarah McKelvey had turned her ankle a couple of weeks ago in training and her ankle became too painful to continue.

Helen White had run really well in the race the week before and also recently in training. She was pushed over at the start, but this didn't stop her. She did, however, develop severe stomach cramps during the race and eventually had to pull out.

           Flic Cole  in pursuit                          Lizzie Goldie -Scott in action  Jo Rhodes in a chase                        Sally Underhill making up some ground 

Results: Results URL

1. A. Brown (HHH) 21.11,  2. S. McCall (SLH) 21.12,  3. G. Sanders (Ranelagh) 21.14,  8. Z. Smith 22.06,  18. S. Haileselase 23.07,  28. S. Underhill 23.35,  31. Z. Doyle 23.42,  51. C. Pennant 24.29,  63. J. Rhodes 25.01,  72. L. Goldie-Scott 25.25,  75. F. Cole 25.34,  102. M. Bailey 26.54.

Teams.

1. SLH  76,  2. Ranelagh 92,  3. HHH 107,  4. CC 132,  5. Belgrave A  136,.....  22. Belgrave B 520.